Main Hoon Na

Main Hoon Na
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Farah Khan
Written by	Screenplay: Abbas Tyrewala Farah Khan Rajesh Saathi Dialogues: Abbas Tyrewala
Story by	Farah Khan
Produced by	Gauri Khan Ratan Jain
Starring	Shah Rukh Khan Sushmita Sen Sunil Shetty Amrita Rao Zayed Khan
Cinematography	V. Manikandan
Edited by	Shirish Kunder
Music by	Score: Ranjit Barot Songs: Anu Malik
Production companies	Red Chillies Entertainment Venus Movies
Distributed by	Eros International
Release date	30 April 2004 (2004-04-30)
Running time	182 minutes
Country	India
Language	Hindi
Box office	₹89.7 crore[1]

Main Hoon Na (transl. I'm Here) is a 2004 Hindi-language masala film directed by Farah Khan and produced by Gauri Khan under Red Chillies Entertainment. 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.^[2]

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.^[3]

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.^[4]

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. During a press conference hosted by television anchor Rajat Saxena in India, Raghavan Dutta, an ex-Indian special forces soldier discharged for executing Pakistani citizens in revenge for his son's death, fires a shot at General Amarjeet Bakshi, but Brigadier Shekhar Sharma takes the bullet. Raghavan runs a militant group with a former comrade, Captain Khan, where he sets against peace between the two rival countries.

On his deathbed, Shekhar informs his son Major Ram Prasad Sharma about his other son Lakshman Prasad Sharma and wife Madhu, who left him 20 years ago because Shekhar had cheated on his wife with Ram's mother. Shekhar asks Ram to bring his family together and that his ashes will be immersed by his sons, saying that he can finally be at peace if his family forgives him.

Meanwhile, General Bakshi sends Ram on a covert mission to protect his daughter Sanjana, who studies at St. Paul's College in Darjeeling. Ram is initially hesitant, but agrees when Bakshi informs him that Lakshman is also studying in Darjeeling. General Bakshi convinces Ram to go there as a student as he won't be able to spend enough time with Sanjana if he goes as a teacher. Ram finds it tough to adjust to college life as he is much older than everyone. Ram encounters Sanjana and her love interest Lucky, but both don't want to know him for this reason.

A college student helps Ram hack the college computer to find out about Lakshman's identity only to find that Lucky is actually Lakshman. During a race to get the college flag, Lakshman is saved from falling off the university's roof by Ram. The two of them and Sanjana become friends and Ram moves in with Lakshman and Madhu. Outside a theater, Ram saves his classmate Percy from an assassination attempt by Khan, where he captures Khan, but his own identity is found out by Raghavan, who arrives at the university masquerading as a teacher after his group targets Madhav Rasai, a physics professor, and threatens him to resign and recommend their boss Professor "Raghav Dutta" in his place.

Ram also brings Madhu and Lakshman closer by helping them bond during his stay there. Ram falls in love with his chemistry professor Chandni, while Lakshman falls in love with Sanjana after Ram and Chandni give her a makeover. At a prom, Raghavan orders a kidnapping on Chandni, but she is saved by Ram. After meeting with Sanjana, Ram requests Raghavan to drop the pair off with her father at her hostel, where Sanjana reconciles with her father. After this night, Sanjana and Chandni discover Ram's true identity. Raghavan reveals Ram's true identity to Lakshman and his mother.

When Lakshman and Madhu confront Ram, Ram informs them that Shekhar's last wish implored him to reconcile with his family. As they are not ready to accept him yet, Ram leaves their home and the university, though his revelation moves them. Later, Raghavan holds the 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. Upon being informed, Ram immediately returns to the university. Before fully entering the hostage situation, Ram encounters Madhu and apologizes.

Knowing what Ram is about to do, Madhu accepts him as a son. Accompanying Khan, Ram enters the building and gets subsequently shot by Khan. Ram survives, changes Khan's mind about his allegiances and proceeds to kill the guards, thus freeing the students. Raghavan shoots Khan dead at point blank range for his betrayal. A fight ensues between Ram and Raghavan. Ram kills Raghavan by removing the safety pin from the latter's hand grenade.

Lakshman helps Ram escape from the ensuing explosion from aboard a helicopter and the two happily embrace as brothers. Project Milaap is a success and all the prisoners are exchanged triumphantly. Ram and Lakshman immerse their father's ashes together as Madhu tearfully looks on. Lakshman and Ram finally graduate from the university, and the entire university rejoices.

Cast

• Shah Rukh Khan as Major Ram Prasad Sharma.
• Suniel Shetty as Raghavan Dutta, an ex-army Major and terrorist
• Sushmita Sen as Chandini Chopra, Ram, Sanjana and Laxman’s chemistry teacher and Ram’s love interest
• Amrita Rao as Sanjana "Sanju" Bakshi, General Amarjeet's daughter and Laxman's love interest
• Zayed Khan as Laxman “Lucky” Prasad 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 song "Gori Gori" (cameo appearance)
• Sajid Khan as band member in song "Gori Gori" (guest appearance)

Production

Development

The film was planned by Farah Khan and Shah Rukh Khan in 2001. The shooting of the film had to begin in October 2001 but later that year, Shahrukh Khan got badly injured while shooting an action sequence for Shakti: The Power due to which he suffered pain in filming for his other projects. He was later sent to the UK for treatment and the film was subsequently shelved. The film was later revived in 2003 after Shahrukh Khan came back from the UK. Farah Khan wanted to name it The Outsider. After some of her friends suggested that the title she wants matches that of a 1983 Hollywood film, she finalized the title Main Hoon Na for the film though Shah Rukh Khan was unhappy at that time with the title, thinking the title was incomplete, but later changed his mind after listening to the recording of the film's title song.

Casting

At a time when the film was revived in 2003, Hrithik Roshan, Farhan Akhtar and Sohail Khan were considered for Lucky's role. Due to unknown reasons, none of the three accepted the film; Zayed Khan was later signed. Ameesha Patel was offered Sanju's role, but rejected the character due to date issues as did then-newcomer Ayesha Takia when she was also approached who also declined, after which Amrita Rao was finalized for the role.^[5]

Shah Rukh Khan asked Farah Khan to approach Kamal Haasan, suggesting that Haasan owed him a favor for his role in Hey Ram.^[6] Haasan heard the script, but turned down the role citing that it would portray him as an anti-national.^[7]

Soundtrack

Main Hoon Na
Soundtrack album by Anu Malik
Released	27 February 2004
Recorded	YRF Studios (Mumbai)
Genre	Feature film soundtrack
Language	Hindi
Label	T-Series
Producer	Anu Malik

The music was composed by Anu Malik.^[8] The lyrics were provided 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.^[9]

^[10]

Track listing

No.	Title	Singer(s)	Length
1.	"Main Hoon Na"	Sonu Nigam, Shreya Ghoshal	06:02
2.	"Tumese Milke Dilka Jo Haal"	Sonu Nigam, Altaf Sabri, Hashim Sabri, Ravi Khote	06:00
3.	"Tumhe Jo Maine Dekha"	Abhijeet Bhattacharya, Shreya Ghoshal	05:42
4.	"Gori Gori"	Sunidhi Chauhan, Shreya Ghoshal, K.K., Anu Malik	04:30
5.	"Chale Jaise Hawaien"	Vasundhara Das, K.K.	05:25
6.	"Main Hoon Na (Sad Version)"	Abhijeet Bhattacharya	04:18
7.	"Yeh Fizayein"	K.K., Alka Yagnik	05:19
8.	"Main Hoon Na (Remix)"	Ranjit Barot	02:31
Total length:			43:55

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."^[11] 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."^[12] 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.^[13]

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).^[14] It made ₹480 million (US$5.6 million) in India and an additional ₹19 million (US$220,000) in the overseas market.

Awards and nominations

50th Filmfare Awards[15]
Category	Recipients and Nominees	Results
Best Film	Red Chillies Entertainment	Nominated
Best Director	Farah Khan	Nominated
Best Actor	Shahrukh Khan	Nominated
Best Supporting Actress	Amrita Rao	Nominated
Best Supporting Actor	Zayed Khan	Nominated
Best Villain	Suniel Shetty	Nominated
Best Comedian	Boman Irani	Nominated
Best Music Director	Anu Malik	Won
Best Lyricist	Javed Akhtar	Nominated
Best Male Playback Singer	Sonu Nigam (for "Main Hoon Na")	Nominated
	Sonu Nigam (for "Tumse Milke")	Nominated
Best Action	Allan Amin	Nominated

Global Indian Film Awards
Category	Recipients and Nominees	Results
Best Director	Farah Khan	Won
Best Actor	Shahrukh Khan	Won
Best Villain	Suniel Shetty	Won
Best Male Playback Singer	Abhijeet Bhattacharya (for "Tumhe Jo Maine Dekha")	Won
Best Art Director	Sabu Cyril	Won
Best Action	Allan Amin	Won

International Indian Film Academy Awards
Category	Recipients and Nominees	Results
Best Director	Farah Khan	Nominated
Best Supporting Actor	Zayed Khan	Nominated
Best Villain	Suniel Shetty	Nominated
Best Debut Director	Farah Khan	Won
Best Music Director	Anu Malik	Nominated
Best Male Playback Singer	Sonu Nigam (for "Main Hoon Na")	Nominated
Best Special Effects	Rajtaru Video Sonic, Eagle Video Films	Won

Star Screen Awards
Category	Recipients and Nominees	Results
Best Supporting Actor	Zayed Khan	Nominated
Best Music Director	Anu Malik	Won
Best Lyricist	Javed Akhtar (for "Main Hoon Na")	Nominated
Best Male Playback Singer	Sonu Nigam (for "Main Hoon Na")	Won
Best Background Music	Ranjit Barot	Nominated
Best Choreography	Farah Khan (for "Gori Gori")	Nominated
Best Action	Allan Amin	Nominated
Best Publicity Design	Rahul Nanda and Himanshu Nanda	Nominated
Best Sound Recording	Shirish Kunder and Rakesh Ranjan	Nominated

Zee Cine Awards
Category	Recipients and Nominees	Results
Best Film (Critics)	Red Chillies Entertainment	Nominated
Best Director	Farah Khan	Nominated
Best Actor (Critics)	Shahrukh Khan	Nominated
Best Supporting Actress	Sushmita Sen	Nominated
Most Promising Director	Farah Khan	Won
Best Female Debut		Won
Best Music Director	Anu Malik	Won
Best Male Playback Singer	Sonu Nigam (for "Main Hoon Na")	Nominated
Best Track of the Year	"Tumse Milke"	Nominated
Best Background Score	Ranjit Barot	Nominated
Best Art Direction	Sabu Cyril	Nominated
Best Costume Design	Karan Johar and Manish Malhotra	Nominated

Remake

The film was remade in Tamil as Aegan and was released in 27 October 2008.^[16]

References

1. "Top Lifetime Grossers Worldwide". Boxofficeindia.com. Archived from the original on 21 October 2013. Retrieved 25 December 2010.
2. Rajinder Dudrah, Rajinder Kumar Dudrah Bollywood Travels: Culture, Diaspora and Border Crossings in Popular Hindi Cinema Routledge (2012) p. 18
3. "Farah Khan says SRK was convinced Kamal Haasan would play 'Main Hoon Na' villain". India Today. Retrieved 13 April 2024.
4. Hungama, Bollywood (30 April 2004). "Main Hoon Na Box Office Collection | India | Day Wise | Box Office - Bollywood Hungama". Retrieved 13 April 2024.
5. "16 Years of Main Hoon Na: Farah Khan reveals how SRK's friends played peons, Ayesha Takia DITCHED the film, Hrithik walked out, Kamal Haasan declined & a lot more! : Bollywood News – Bollywood Hungama". Bollywood Hungama. 4 May 2020. Archived from the original on 2 June 2020. Retrieved 10 December 2020.
6. "16 Years of Main Hoon Na: Farah Khan reveals how SRK's friends played peons, Ayesha Takia DITCHED the film, Hrithik walked out, Kamal Haasan declined & a lot more! : Bollywood News – Bollywood Hungama". Bollywood Hungama. 4 May 2020. Archived from the original on 2 June 2020. Retrieved 10 December 2020.
7. "Munnabhai in Tamil". web.mid-day.com. Archived from the original on 28 February 2005. Retrieved 11 January 2022.
8. "Main Hoon Na (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) by Anu Malik". 27 February 2004. Archived from the original on 18 August 2022. Retrieved 24 January 2021.
9. "Music Hits 2000–2009 (Figures in Units)". Box Office India. Archived from the original on 15 February 2008.
10. "Sonu Nigam birthday: The singer has received his only National Film Award for this song". DNA India. Retrieved 13 April 2024.
11. "Taran Adarsh — Bollywood Hungama". Bollywood Hungama. 30 April 2004. Archived from the original on 27 March 2023. Retrieved 3 July 2023.
12. "Jamie Russell Main Hoon Na (2004) 28 April 2004 BBC Movies". Archived from the original on 21 December 2019. Retrieved 23 December 2019.
13. Patankar, Siddharth. "Main Hoon Na - Movie Review". NDTV. Archived from the original on 10 August 2004. Retrieved 10 August 2004.
14. "Box Office 2004". Boxofficeindia.com. Archived from the original on 14 October 2013. Retrieved 13 August 2011.
15. "Awards for MHN 2004". Bollywood Hungama. Archived from the original on 21 September 2011. Retrieved 20 May 2019.
16. "Aegan". Sify. 25 October 2008. Archived from the original on 4 November 2019. Retrieved 4 November 2019.

External links

• Main Hoon Na at IMDb
• Main Hoon Na at Rotten Tomatoes
• Main Hoon Na at Box Office Mojo