The winning pair of David Dhawan and Govinda decided on separation by mutualconsent in the late 1990s. Not that the two would never work together again,but that they would be free to work with others, while doing an occasionalfilm together. Gossip magazines went riot speculating that the two werehaving ego clashes and that each wanted to prove that he was solelyresponsible for the duo's long run of luck at the box-office. Somewhatreminiscent of the Salim-Javed tussle earlier. The battle, if such it can becalled, continues today with both Dhawan and Govinda having an equal numberof wars won to their individual credit.However, as a result of the separation, there emerged various Dhawan clones,all eager to cast Govinda in their films and exploit his immense talent forcomedy. The latest in this genre is Hadh Kar Di Aapne, directed byManoj Agrawal, which is a mad, mad, mad film. Govinda is at his flamboyantbest, costar Rani Mukherjee matches him line for line, and the script iswickedly absurd. Nevertheless, Agrawal has decided to take no chances, andincluded Satish Kaushik, Johnny Lever, Navneet Nishan, Paresh Rawal, TanaazCurrim, Himani Shivpuri, Nirmal Pandey, Ritu Shivpuri, Tinnu Anand, Govinda,Govinda, Govinda Govinda and Govinda in the film.
Yes, that's right, Govinda plays his entire family in Hadh Kar DiAapne -- grandfather, grandmother, mother, father, sister and himself. Agimmick, and one that is thankfully not carried too far. Even so, one missesKader Khan -- one kind of thinks of him as Govinda's father!
Sanjay Khanna (Nirmal Pandey) and his wife, Anjali (Ritu Shivpuri), want adivorce, but are unable to drum up any evidence against each other. Anjalidecides to pretend she's going on a tour of Europe, so that she can catchher husband unawares and procure evidence of his philandering. To avoidraising suspicions, she sends her friend, also Anjali Khanna (Rani), in herstead.
Meanwhile, Sanjay decides to hire his friend, Raj (Govinda), an amateurdetective, to track his wife and check out who all she is meeting up withabroad.
Raj and Anjali join up for the same tour, and fall in love. That's when Rajdiscovers that Anjali is the girl he's supposed to be tracking for hisfriend. Misunderstandings galore later, all ends well. Only, you are leftwith a splitting side.
The highlight of the film is a comic sequence towards the end, in whichGovinda is trying to pulley Satish Kaushik up to Rani's balcony and managesto send up a donkey instead. It is a vintage Govinda scene, and Satish-avery reputed hand at comic scenes-plays his bit with equal dexterity. Theentire film is worth seeing just for that one sequence.
Hadh Kar Di Aapne is miles better than Dulhan Hum Le Jayenge,David Dhawan's latest, released just a few weeks ago. Looks like this roundgoes to Govinda.
Copyright © 2000 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.