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The Indian film industry does what it does best in this film, a strong mix of romance, initially thwarted, plenty of intrigue, a bit of comedy and plenty of song and dance.
Aarti Sehgal (Karisma Kapoor) is a headstrong girl, and she has decided she wants to visit Palankhet, the place where her rich father and his first wife met. Her stepmother doesn't approve but she gets her way and goes there. We soon discover that the stepmother and her brother are manoeuvring to get control of the Father's assets by getting the girl married off to the brother's son. When they get to the place, the hotel is full and Raja Hindustani (Aamir Kham), a poor taxi driver puts her up at the house where he lives with his aunt and uncle. Raja Hindustani means King of India, and accurately reflects Raja's self image.
While Aarti spends some time there, Raja shows her round in his taxi, but what he interprets as mutual love is not quite how Aarti sees the relationship -- for her it is more of Lady Client and Taxi driver. However, after a rebuff, Raja persists and you can guess the outcome.
They get decide to get married against the Aarti's parents' wishes, and a certain amount of sabotage goes on, with the stepmother taking advantage of Raja's hot temper to make him let himself down, especially at expensive cocktail parties and the like. The storyline stutters at times, and the momentum of the plot loses its way a little. But heck, just listen to the music.
When Aarti first goes on the trip, two servants are sent with her to look after her; Gulabo (played by Veeru Krishan) and Kammo (Mavneet Nishan). Gulabo is a very camp man, given to wearing floral hats and making effeminate gestures. Kammo is a somewhat masculine woman, although her face is 100% female and her body language is entirely female too. She dresses in clothes that would be taken as ambiguous in the west, but they are certainly not standard Indian female attire. Strangers who have reason to talk to them get confused about their gender, and they repeatedly mention the fact that something is not right. Indian reviews tend to refer to them as two opposite-sex transvestites, but in western eyes that is overstating things a little.
HF July 2004
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