Pyaar To Hona Hi Tha (1998)

Director:

Anees Bazmee

Writers:

Anees Bazmee (dialogue)
Anees Bazmee (screenplay)

Release Date:

15 July 1998 (India)

Tagline:

It could be your Love Story

Plot:

Sanjana loves Rahul, but Rahul treats Sanjana as a friend. He is attracted to Nisha, and announces that he will be marrying her soon...

Plot Keywords:

Affair | Fear Of Flying | Train | Remake | Airplane

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Ajay Devgan	...	Shekhar
Kajol	...	Sanjana
Bijay Anand	...	Rahul Bajaj
Kashmira Shah	...	Nisha
Tiku Talsania	...	Kumar Mangat (as Tikku Talsania)
Reema Lagoo	...	Babhi - Shekhar's Sister-in-law
Harish Patel	...	Rahul & Sanjana's Boss
Anjan Srivastav	...	Shekhar's Father
Om Puri	...	Inspector Khan
Remo Fernandes	...	Himself - title song
Jaspinder Narula	...	Herself - title song (as Jaspinder Nirula)
Mushtaq Khan	...	John (as Mushtaque Khan)
Ghanshyam Rohera	...	Ram Singh (as Ghanshyam)
Ashish Balram Nagpal		(as Ashish Nagpal)
Adi Irani	...	Receptionist

Also Known As:

Pyar To Hona Hi Tha (India: Hindi title) (alternative spelling)

Runtime:

India:156 min

Country:

India

Language:

Hindi

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

India:U

Filming Locations:

Annapoorna Studios, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India

Company:

Baba Films

Movie Connections:

Remake of French Kiss (1995)

Nice remake of "French Kiss"

Pyaar to hona hi tha ("Love had to happen") is a well-done, very close remake of Lawrence Kasdan's French Kiss for an Indian audience. As such, it's an enjoyable, lightweight, fluffy, if inconsequential comedy which, despite its sometimes garish use of colours certainly has its moments and is at times even better than the original.

Ajay Devgan and Kajol share much better chemistry than Kevin Kline and Meg Ryan (they got married pretty soon afterwards). Devgan's thug is a lot slicker than Kline's, and his moustache is much superior. Meg Ryan played her character in a cute, whiny, bratty way, whereas Kajol is equally cute in a more wacky, goofy way. Jean Reno was pretty good as the police officer, but Om Puri is even better.

Whereas casting and character interplay are actually better in this remake, technically the American original is, of course, much superior. Some of the continuity problems and location inconsistencies are downright annoying. I also don't find the slapstick scenes (like the airplane scene) too funny, but thankfully there's only a few of them.

Overall a very enjoyable movie, especially if compared to the original.