Bhagyashree and Salman Khan: The young cast and crew of Maine Pyar Kiya

When Maine Pyar Kiya released at the end of 1989, it really was a youth-quake. The cast and crew were so young - and not pretending to be young. They got allllll the ingredients right. 

Wikipedia has demystyfied the age of actors and the cast and crew. This is a reminder that a young team getting together can and do create magic. 

The film wasn't just a movie - it was a movement. It captured a young zeitgeist. The Barjatya brilliance shone through. 

Maine Pyar Kiya was filmed primarily between 1988 and 1989 before its release on December 29, 1989.

Lead Cast

• Salman Khan (Prem Choudhary): Born December 27, 1965.

  • Age during shooting: 22 to 23 years old (he turned 24 two days before the film released).

• Bhagyashree (Suman): Born February 23, 1969.

  • Age during shooting: 19 to 20 years old.

Supporting Cast

• Mohnish Bahl (Jeevan): Born August 14, 1961.

  • Age during shooting: 26 to 27 years old.

• Pervaiz Sahani / Pervien Dastur (Seema): Born 1968.

  • Age during shooting: 20 to 21 years old.

• Alok Nath (Karan, Suman's father): Born July 10, 1956.

  • Age during shooting: 31 to 32 years old.

• Reema Lagoo (Kaushalya Choudhary, Prem's mother): Born June 21, 1958.

  • Age during shooting: 29 to 30 years old (playing Salman's mother while being only 7 years older than him).

• Rajeev Verma (Kishan Kumar Choudhary, Prem's father): Born June 28, 1949.

  • Age during shooting: 38 to 39 years old.

• Laxmikant Berde (Manohar): Born October 26, 1954.

  • Age during shooting: 33 to 34 years old.

Director Sooraj Barjatya (born February 22, 1965) was also only 23 to 24 years old while directing the film.

The colour and attainable wardrobe of Maine Pyar Kiya.

Madhuri Dixit in the 1980s in Bollywood

Madhuri Dixit in the 1980s in Bollywood

Manisha Koirala

When Manisha Koirala arrived with a bang in Bollywood, she was so staggeringly beautiful. A great actress... an ok dancer. She somehow had hit songs but she's more thespian than gizelle...

Bollywood's Ultimate Pair: Rekha and Amitabh Bachchan

 I read this about them in MOVIE magazine; "He gave her class, she gave him sex appeal; the magic of Rekha and Amitabh Bachchan on the big-screen. 

Aishwarya Rai in her first Hindi film: Aur Pyar Ho Gaya

Released on 15 August 1997, ie 29 years ago, Ash entered Bollywood with a musical bang, though it was a critical and commercial... whimper! 

Aishwarya Rai in the 90s was unbeatable (cough cough Sushmita at Miss India was... an aberration, albeit a splendidly eloquent one), as a popular model from her teens to topping the pageant world, Rai was accustomed to being looked at and fawned over from an early age. She also took the barbs and brickbats on her sharply honed chin and hid her hurt well, occasionally revealing in tell-all interviews when the criticism got to her -- reached peak volume during her second Cannes outing - more on that later.   

Her launch in Hindi films had all the right ingredients as she's never looked better on the big screen - which is saying something considering her Miss World credentials. She hit Bollywood with great expectations, all of 23, post her Miss World world tour, she had Neeta Lulla working on her clothes, Manmohan Singh lighting her like the dream she is in the movie (he famously made Sridevi look ethereal in Chandni years before), and the biggest flex of all, Ash's look, wardrobe, makeup, hair etc  was entirely styled by the great Mickey Contractor - if you don't know him, go down a Google search rabbit hole, and be amazed at his hand-craft skills.

Aur Pyar Ho Gaya is remembered today mainly as Aishwarya Rai's Bollywood entry point rather than for its box office success or critical acclaim. The music by the late, great Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and lyrics by Javed Akthar are impeccable. So many songs stand the test of time - and all so gloriously picturised on the telegenic pair. For her first film, Aishwarya's not bad but people expected her to be Madhuri from day one. Which was unfair to the (albeit confident) newcomer. As a rom com its.. fine. Its fine.

As a time capsule for contemporary fashion in the 90s, its textbook. Skip through most of the film, and just watch Ash. Totally worth it. 

Rekha in her career defining year: Khoobsurat

Released in January 1980, Rekha was the undisputed queen of Bollywood at the time. A career-defining year for Re as she absolutely stunned in Khoobsurat, Kalyug, Basera, Umrao Jaan and Silsila, all which came back-to-back. 

When you see her filmography in the early 1980s, she appeared in nearly a dozen movies each year. Sadly the quality of the films themselves was all over the place. Either she was exquisite or erratic. 

As a beauty, actor and dancer, Rekha is peerless - topped with a flawless voice and husky dialogue delivery where her Hindi and Urdu is perfection. 

In her vast filmography, many like to state that Umrao Jaan is her career-defining performance. A valid thesis can be made of that.

I propose the flawless, Khoobsurat. Legend has it Hrisihikesh Mukherjee made the film just for Re - and is closest character to the actress herself. 

I've seen the film... 148 times. It is glorious. Every single actor in the movie is so natural and wonderful. Particularly Ashok Kumar and his magical jugulabandi with Dina Pathak. 

 

Birth Anniversary of Sridevi: Indian Icon

 

Bless Sridevi - wherever she is. She would have turned 63 today, 13 August. 

See this Sridevi page - Sridevi

The largest website dedicated to the actress with daily updates. Yes, even now, 8 years after... 

Showtime with Sridevi

13 August 1963. An Indian legend was born - the great Sridevi.  

Birth anniversary of the legendary Indian actress and famed south Indian beautyu, Sridevi. 

Daily updates in teh largest Sridevi site at Sridevi

90s top stars: Aamir Khan, Sridevi and Madhuri Dixit

 

Devi, Sridevi. On the sets of Chandni

Thinking of Sridevi - its her birth anniversary tomorrow. August 13.