Main Hoon Naa

''Main Hoon Na'' () is a 2004 Hindi-language masala film directed by Farah Khan and produced by Gauri Khan and Ratan Jain under the banners Red Chillies Entertainment and Venus Movies. The film, which marks Farah Khan's directorial debut, stars Shah Rukh Khan, Sushmita Sen, Suniel Shetty, Amrita Rao and Zayed Khan, alongside Kirron Kher, Murali Sharma, Kabir Bedi, Boman Irani, and Naseeruddin Shah. In the film, Major Ram Prasad Sharma is sent on a covert mission to pose as a college student and protect the general's daughter from a dangerous rogue soldier and reunite with his father’s long lost family.

Development for the film began as early as 2001; however, it faced a number of delays during production. ''Main Hoon Na'' is notable for approaching the Indo-Pakistani conflict from a neutral perspective. Filming took place at St. Paul's School and the surrounding state of West Bengal. The film is also the first production of Red Chillies Entertainment.

''Main Hoon Na'' was released on 30 April 2004 to positive reviews from critics and became a commercial success by grossing ₹84 crore, thus becoming the second highest-grossing Indian film of 2004, only surpassed by another Shah Rukh Khan-starrer ''Veer-Zaara.''

At the 50th Filmfare Awards, ''Main Hoon Na'' received 12 nominations, including Best Film, Best Director (Farah), Best Actor (Shah Rukh), Best Supporting Actress (Rao), Best Supporting Actor (Zayed) and Best Villain (Shetty), winning Best Music Director (Anu Malik). A snippet of "Lament" from Light of Aiden (Celtic Version) is used throughout the film.

Plot

India and Pakistan launch ''Project Milaap'', a prisoner exchange program, in an attempt to de-escalate tensions between the two nations. Raghavan Dutta, a former Indian special forces soldier discharged for executing Pakistani citizens in revenge for his son's death, runs a militant group with a former comrade, Captain Khan, where he sets against peace between the two rival countries. During a press conference, Raghavan attempts to shoot General Amarjeet Bakshi, but Brigadier Shekhar Sharma takes the bullet for him. On his deathbed, Shekhar informs his son, Major Ram Prasad, that his wife and Ram's stepmother, Madhu, and their son and Ram's stepbrother, Lakshman Prasad, who is also known as Lucky, had abandoned him 20 years ago since Shekhar had cheated on Madhu with Ram's late biological mother. Shekhar requests Ram to reconcile with his estranged family and that his ashes will be immersed by both his sons, stating that he can finally be at peace only if his family forgives him.

Meanwhile, General Bakshi sends Ram on a undercover operation to protect his estranged daughter, Sanjana, who is studying at St. Paul's College in Darjeeling. Ram reluctantly accepts when Bakshi informs him that Lucky is also studying in the same college. Bakshi convinces Ram to enter the college as a student than as a teacher, in order to better watch over Sanjana. Upon arriving, Ram struggles with adjusting to college life as he is much older than all the students, including some professors. Ram encounters Sanjana and her crush, but both do not want to be near him due to his age. A college student helps Ram hack the college computer to find out Lucky's identity, only to learn that Lucky is actually Sanjana's crush. During a race to capture the college flag from the roof, Lucky ends up hanging off the roof of the university, but Ram heroically saves his life. As a result, both Lucky and Sanjana agree to befriend Ram, who soon moves in with Lucky and Madhu as well. Outside a theatre, Ram saves one of his classmates, Percy, from an attempted murder by Khan, and captures Khan in the process. However, Ram's own identity is discovered by Raghavan, who then arrives at the university masquerading as the new physics professor after his gang kidnaps Madhav Rasai, a physics professor, and threatens him to resign and recommend Raghavan as "Professor Raghav Dutta" in his place.

Ram also brings Madhu and Lakshman closer by helping them bond during his stay there. Meanwhile, Ram falls in love with his chemistry professor, Chandni, while Lucky also falls in love with Sanjana after Ram and Chandni give her a makeover. During a prom, Ram thwarts Raghavan's gang from abducting Chandni. After meeting with Sanjana, Ram requests Raghavan to drop them both off with her father at her hostel, where Sanjana reconciles with her father. After that night, Sanjana and Chandni discover Ram's true identity as an army officer. At the same time, Raghavan learns about Ram and Lucky's relationship and reveals Ram's true identity to Lucky and Madhu.

On being confronted by Lucky and Madhu, Ram breaks the news of Shekhar's death and informs them that Shekhar's last wish was that they reconcile. As they are unwilling to accept him yet, Ram leaves their home and the university, but his revelation shocks them. Later, Raghavan holds the whole university hostage and demands the cancellation of Project Milaap along with the return of Captain Khan and Ram as hostages in exchange for all the students' and teachers' lives. On being informed about this situation, Ram immediately returns to the university; along the way he encounters Madhu and apologizes to her for having concealed his true identity.

At the university, Ram informs Khan that Raghavan is doing nothing for the country and is only carrying out a misplaced feud on the Pakistanis for killing his son, and offers an opportunity to Khan to do something for the country. Accompanying Khan, Ram enters the building and gets subsequently shot by Khan. Ram survives, and Khan informs him that his heart has changed regarding his allegiances and proceeds to kill the guards, thus freeing the students. Raghavan shoots Khan dead at point blank range for his betrayal. During a prolonged combat between Ram and Raghavan, Ram finally kills Raghavan by removing the safety pin from the latter's hand grenade.

Lucky helps Ram escape from the ensuing explosion from aboard a helicopter and the two happily embrace each other as brothers. Project Milaap is a success and all the prisoners are exchanged triumphantly. Ram and Lucky immerse Shekhar's ashes together with Madhu tearfully looking on. In the end, Lucky and Ram finally graduate, and the entire university rejoices.

Cast

*Shah Rukh Khan as Major Ram Prasad Sharma
*Suniel Shetty as Raghavan Dutta (an ex-army Major)
*Sushmita Sen as Chandini Chopra (Ram, Sanjana, and Lucky's chemistry professor and Ram’s love interest)
*Amrita Rao as Sanjana Bakshi, General Amarjeet's daughter
*Zayed Khan as Laxman Prasad “Lucky” Sharma, Ram's half-brother and Sanju’s love interest
*Boman Irani as Yogendra "Yogi" Agarwal, college principal
*Kirron Kher as Madhu Sharma, Ram's stepmother and Lucky's mother
*Bindu as Mrs. Sonali Kakkar
*Murali Sharma as Captain Khan, an ex-army Captain and Raghavan's second-in-command
*Kunal Kumar as Baman Shastri, Ram's friend
*Kabir Bedi as General Amarjeet Bakshi, Sanju's father and Ram's superior officer
*Naseeruddin Shah as Brig. Shekhar Prasad Sharma, Ram and Lucky's father (special appearance)
*Satish Shah as Prof. Madhav Rasai
*Rakhi Sawant as Mini
*Praveen Sirohi as Vivek
*Rajiv Panjabi as Percy
* Nassar Abdullah as Rajat Saxena, Project Milaap's TV host
* Tabu as Aparna (uncredited cameo appearance)
*Geeta Kapoor as girl dancing in the song "Gori Gori" (cameo appearance)
*Sajid Khan as band member in the song "Gori Gori" (cameo appearance)

Production

Development

Development for the film had begun in 2001. Filming was scheduled to begin in October 2001, but later that year, Shah Rukh Khan had injured himself while shooting for '' Shakti: The Power'' (2002), and had to be treated in the UK, leading to the film being shelved. Farah Khan revived the film in 2003 following Khan's recovery. Farah initially titled the film as ''The Outsider'' but changed it upon the suggestion of her friends. Khan was unhappy with the film's title at that time, believing it was too short, but changed his mind upon listening to the film's title song.

Casting

Upon the film's revival in 2003, Hrithik Roshan, Farhan Akhtar and Sohail Khan were all offered to play the role of Lucky. None of the three accepted due to unknown reasons, leading to Zayed Khan getting cast. Ameesha Patel was offered the role of Sanju, but declined due to date issues, as did newcomer Ayesha Takia, after which Amrita Rao was cast.

Shah Rukh Khan asked Farah Khan to approach Kamal Haasan, suggesting that Haasan owed him a favor for his role in ''Hey Ram''. Haasan read the script, but turned down the role citing that it would portray him as an anti-national.

Soundtrack

The film's music was composed by Anu Malik, with lyrics written by Javed Akhtar. The soundtrack earned Malik his second Filmfare Award for Best Music Director. According to the Indian trade website ''Box Office India'', with around 2.1 million units sold, the film's soundtrack album was one of the highest selling Bollywood soundtracks of the year. Sonu Nigam received several award nominations and won an MTV Immies Best Male Playback Singer Award.

Track listing

Reception

''Main Hoon Na'' received positive reviews from critics.

Critical reception

''Taran Adarsh'' of ''Bollywood Hungama'' wrote "''Main Hoon Na'' reinforces your faith in Bollywood commercial cinema. The film is a wholesome entertainer that has something for everyone." Jamie Russell of ''BBC'' wrote "A bonkers 'masala' movie, Main Hoon Na could be the mutant offspring of '' Grease'' and ''The Matrix''. Part-thriller, part high-school comedy and all Bollywood musical, it's the directorial debut of Farah Khan." Siddharth Patankar of NDTV termed the movie as "an out and out entertainer. Masala, romance, family drama, and some good old fashioned dhishoom dhishoom," and was positive of the performances.

Box office

''Main Hoon Na'' was the second-highest grossing Indian film of 2004 behind ''Veer-Zaara'' (also a Shahrukh Khan-starrer set against India-Pakistan backdrop). It made in India and an additional in the overseas market.

Awards and nominations

Remake

The film was remade in Tamil as ''Aegan'' and was released on 27 October 2008.

Sequel

A sequel titled ''Main Bhi Hoon Na'' is currently in development.

References

External links

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Red Chillies Entertainment films
2004 films
Films about terrorism in India
Films directed by Farah Khan
2000s Hindi-language films
Films about hostage taking
Indian Army in films
Indian coming-of-age films
India–Pakistan relations in popular culture
2000s masala films
Indian teen comedy films
Films set in Darjeeling
Films scored by Anu Malik
Hindi films remade in other languages
2004 directorial debut films