Prem Ratan Dhan Payo despite being a Sooraj Barjatya-Salman Khan film, did not live up to the massive hype around it. But everyone expected it to do well, nonetheless. And why wouldn't they. After all, the duo arguably redefined the Bollywood drama scene with the blockbuster, Hum Aapke Hai Koun which released on 5 August 1994.
Rajshri Production, famous distributors, went ahead with a platform release for Hum Aapke Hain Koun back in the day. The producers handpicked theatres for the film's release and the prints (reels) were given to the exhibitors (theatre owners) only after they upgraded the sound as well as visual quality to a certain level. The release of Hum Aapke Hain Koun was so limited that it released in merely one theatre in Mumbai. The theatre in Mumbai was decorated like a wedding set with lighting and flowers all over the building.
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Due to unprecedented demand for the film from the audiences, the exhibitors decided to upgrade the theatres to get prints of the movie. The upgradation resulted in a huge hike in the ticket rates way back in the 1990's. The families which did not visit the sub-standard theatres came back in full force to watch Hum Aapke Hai Koun which helped the film smash all records by a huge margin.
The release size of Hum Aapke Hai Koun kept on increasing month after month and went on for a successful run at the ticket window for over 150 weeks. It also raked in Rs 70 crore at the Box-Office and broke the previous record of highest grossing Indian film (Sholay) by a margin of over Rs 50 crore.
For some perspective, here's trivia: Shah Rukh Khan's much loved film, Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge (1995) collected Rs 58 crore at the Box-Office. Inversely, Gaddar made a whopping Rs 75 crore thereby breaching HAHK's the lifetime collections in 2001.
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The film got panned by critics and some of them even labelled the film to be a 'Shaadi Ki Cassette'; however the film got huge thumbs up from the audiences and is the biggest blockbuster in modern era of Hindi cinema.
A few more interesting facts about the film:
Hum Aapke Hai Koun is an adaptation of Rajshri's own film, Nadiya Ke Paar.
Lata Mangeshkar, who sang more than 10 songs in the movie, had long retired from accepting awards, but the public demand for the song "Didi Tera Devar Deewana" was such that she received the Filmfare Special Award that year.
After Sajaan, Hum Aapke Hain Koun was yet another successful film for Madhuri Dixit and Salman Khan.
Hum Aapke Hain Koun is also credited for opening up the overseas market for Indian films.