Hum Kaun Hai? (2004) User Reviews

The movie sucked

[varunsharma · 3/10 · 18 September 2004]

The movie is exact copy of "The Others". They just took the pain to translate the movie in Hindi. The only new thing they could think of was the Veeru part. And that part, I believe, was added to get Big B a little more part in the movie. Or may be to make this movie a little bit longer. The best part of the movie was, there was no songs in it and i loved this part. Someone might like this movie who hasn't seen "The Others". But If you haven't seen any of those I would suggest better watch the Hollywood version. Nicole Kidman did a good job in the movie. Dimple Kapadia was not even close to Nicole Kidman. But she wasn't bad either. But i would say the concept of both the movies, which is same, is pretty good.

A poorly done remake with good cast.

[DesiBaba · 4/10 · 14 December 2009]

Movie has few things going for it other than decent cast. Dimple Kapadia and Amitabh are both excellent as they almost always are. It is not a carbon copy of its Hollywood counterpart, there are themes on afterlife and incarnation added in to appeal to the desi audience. The kids, who play a crucial role in the movie, I felt were poorly chosen. I know they are just a couple of young kids, but they acted atrociously. In fact they did not act, they made faces that they were told to. The director clearly did not know how to make the kids put in a good effort. That basically ruins much of the movie, they are both too annoying and they overact so bad that you cannot sympathize for their characters, which was the premise for the suspense and fear that builds up in the original "The Others". The remake could have been remarkable in the right hands.

Bizarre!

[AishFan · 4/10 · 22 November 2004]

I don't even know what to say for this movie. It's just so weird. From the trailers, I was expecting some huge comeback of Amitabh and Dimple in a romantic thriller. Yeah, definitely wasn't that. However, Dimple gave a very powerful performance. She justified her role of an intense, paranoid, and mentally tormented woman. Amitabh's role was totally screwed up. Where the heck did Dharmendra come from? I've had enough of his stupidity in Kis Kis Ki Kismat. Now I have to listen to his nonsense again. The movie didn't make any sense until the very ending, which took me a while to understand. Then, I was like ooohhhh, and it seemed kind of interesting. Sadly, the movie was coming to an end. Note to scriptwriter: Make sure your movie makes sense from the beginning. :-)

Hum Kaun Hain

[sandhirflora · 4/10 · 26 May 2005]

Hum Maun Hain- is the reaction that one guage after coming out from this thriller-horror drama of débutant director Ravishankar Sharma and débutant producer Soni Juneja (son of veteran producer Toni who along with his brother Tito produced films like Do Anjaane, Ram Balram, Mr. Natwarlal, Insaniyat, Johnny I Love You, Teri Kasam etc.). A credit which definitely this spooky flick deserves is that it is not deviated from the original plot of its inspiration, the Nicole Kidman starrer "The Others".(if the subplot of Dharmendra is ignored). This is a rare phenomenon when one looks at all those remakes of their Originals, in Hindi films. The problem here is that the original is so good that a lot is been expected from this one and comparison is bound to come. And here it misses the points. There are plus and minus points as usual. Other Plus points are- apart from keeping original plot intact, there are no songs, no forced humor or any of box office ingredients (violence/Sex) and a good length of about 2.10 hrs. Because of all these, definitely first time producer-director duo deserves a thumbs up ! It is indeed a brave attempt. But there are those negative points, which over weighs and thus turns this product into a mediocre, average fare. The narrative of original film is brilliant with taut screenplay blending well on technical as well as Dramatic scale and yet having an experimental edge. Here firstly, the screenplay by Soham Saha is weak in the sense he does not adapted the original in the right context keeping Indian Background and values in mind. He kept the Christianity faith dominant from the original, which an average Indian moviegoer find little hard to digest. Dialogues (Talat Rekhi) are uninteresting. The pace of the film is slow which in the second half appears dragging and slack. The treatment is over simplistic where they hardly played around with Potential elements such as Camera, Sound or Background Score (Sanjoy Choudhury), a must for such a thriller. Moreover, the drama though is controlled but yet at places it tends to get melodramatic. Example is the Kabhie Kabhie type of couplets by Mr. Bachchan (not needed). Performances are Average as a lot more is expected from Protagonist (Dimple Kapadia) who definitely is not in her best form. Actors of caliber Amitabh Bachchan (Special Appearance) and Dharminder are wasted in their respective roles, where they are not really required. Child artists-Hansika Motwani and Amman gets loud. Ishwar Bidri is capable of better camera-work than what is seen here. Production Values are also below Average and so are visual effects, though thankfully they are not used much. The whole sub-plot which is an addition involving Dharmendra and Vikram Gokhale is not complimenting the original drama. The pertinent questions of existence of dead in the world of living ones and the time frame in which the life form exits-are left open for debate which is a proper thing to do but is too abrupt. All in all, if looking for a different film, with novelty in concept than surely this film is quite ahead of all those run of the mill releases.

very good movie

[mvskiran-1 · 10/10 · 17 February 2007]

Be it a remake of "The Others" in Hindi, but was made very nicely for our bollywood context. Performances of all actors including the kids was just amazing. It may be a disappointment to bollywood/bigb fanfare because of his subdued role but overall it is a great movie. Bollywood moviegoers should inculcate a habit of opening up and try to watch something different than the song/dance numbers. Dimple Kapadia was just mind blowing just like she was in Lekin (1990). I had watched the movie all over again after seeing the end to observe the performances more closely. I felt Moushmi stole the show the next time. Also, the girl kid made more sense in her performance. Though the narration felt a little weird during my initial watch, it all made complete sense and opened out at the end.

An excellent movie

[ijzeren_jan · 9/10 · 24 May 2009]

Yes, it's a remake. So what? Sometimes it seems like one of the greatest compliments Hollywood can ever give to a foreign movie is exactly that: it's so good that it deserves an American remake. However, when Bollywood does the same thing, it's immediately considered plagiarism or even worse, stealing. I firmly disagree with such an approach. In India, the same thing is true: without a home-made remake, the movie would probably not be seen at all. Therefore, what really counts, are the merits of the movie itself. If the story is good, does it really matter whether the script is original, based on a book, based on real life, or based on another movie? In my opinion Hum Kaun Hai is a masterpiece. A thrilling movie with a fascinating storyline and equally fascinating characters, all excellently portrayed by the actors who play them. I've been watching it in full concentration, and couldn't help being completely absorbed in a way that happens to me rarely, till the very last minute.

I am pleasantly surprised by the fact that the creators of the movie have carefully avoided the numerous traps one can see way too often in Bollywood movies: songs, dance, colourful clothes, heart-touching love stories, children with watery eyes, unlikely coincidences, artificial happy endings, misplaced comedians trying to be funny... None of these are the case in Hum Kaun Hai. For a Bollywood movie, it is a fairly atypical one, and in my humble opinion it's one of the best Bollywood movies I have ever seen.

It should be mentioned that the lack of songs of entirely made up for by a wonderful background score that is pretty much a masterpiece in itself.

I heartily recommend this movie. It deserves to be watched and subsequently judged by its own merits, not merely by comparing it to another movie.

Actors have done a great job !1

[srijansonal · 10/10 · 2 April 2006]

I have seen the movie and I liked acting by Dimple Kapadia, Amitabh bachchan and Mausami Chatterjee very nice. The movie might be on similar lines with ' The others' but it has managed to keep the audience seated for long. Dharmendra and Amitabh bachchan has been seen together after a long time. The best part is that even the child artists have shown a great deal of maturity in their acting. Some scenes are puzzling but when you get to know about the truth, the concept and the feelings of the dead, you start comparing it with the incidents in your own lives. The End of the movie was little unusual as it brought the living and the dead together and that was the only part of the movie which was rather not acceptable.