Raja Hindustani
Aarti Sehgal is a beautiful young girl. Her evil step-mom Shalini wants to gain her dad Bakshrath's wealth. Aarti arrives in Palankhet for a vacation to discover memories of her dead mom and hires the services of available driver Raja Hindustani. Ultimately, they bond and fall in love after an accidental passionate romantic kiss. Bakshrath arrives to take Aarti back to Mumbai and rejects Raja as his son-in-law, but they go against him and marry. He later accepts their love, bringing them in Mumbai to his house. To gain total control of Bakshrath's assets, Shalini sets a trap that causes Raja to leave Aarti, who realizes she is pregnant. The doctor advises her not to travel. Shalini is asked to reach Palankhet to inform and say Raja to come back to Mumbai, but misleads him that Aarti wants to divorce him and then Aarti that Raja wants to divorce her. Aarti lives with and dearly loves her and Raja's son. He learns she has a son and is under the impression she intends to keep him away from it. Fearing he can never see his son, Raja kidnaps him. The lies and deception of Shalini come out. Distraught, Aarti reveals the truth to Raja who unites with her. Juhi Chawla was first offered the lead actress role, but she refused. Pooja Bhatt and Aishwarya Rai were also among those actresses who were considered for the role. Palankhet was a fictional location created for the film, and is a portmanteau of two real hill stations' names: Palampur and Ranikhet. Film critic Anupama Chopra, while reviewing "Raja Hindustani" for "India Today" wrote, "the film is disappointingly dated, but Darshan scores with his music-catchy 'Pardesi, Pardesi'— and with his leading lady, Karisma." She went on to praise Kapoor's performance saying, "Karisma looks stunning and acts surprisingly well. She is the lifeblood of this otherwise-banal film. " "Raja Hindustani" earned 76.34 crore worldwide, including a domestic gross of 73.84crore. Its domestic nett was 43.15crore, and its adjusted worldwide gross is equivalent to 394crore. "Box Office India" declared it an "All-Time Blockbuster". Domestically, it was the fourth highest-grossing film of the 1990s, after "Hum Aapke Hain Koun" (1994) (116 crore), "Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge" (1995) (86.49 crore) and "Kuch Kuch Hota Hai" (1998) (80.12 crore). Adjusted for inflation, "Raja Hindustani" is the fifth highest-grossing film of India since the 1990s. The soundtrack was composed by Nadeem-Shravan. "Planet Bollywood" ranks the film's soundtrack at 56 in its all-time top 100 greatest Bollywood soundtracks. It consisted of tracks like "Kitna Pyara Tujhe Rab Ne" (which is uncredited and unoffical translation of the Punjabi song "Kinna Sohna Tenu Rab Ne Banaya" by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan), "Aaye Ho Meri Zindagi Mein", which had become an immensely popular wedding song, and Udit Narayan and Alka Yagnik's "Pardesi Pardesi", which was a major chartbuster at the time and which also led to the film's success. Udit Narayan won his 3rd Filmfare Award for Best Male Playback Singer for this song. The album became the best-selling Bollywood soundtrack of the year by a wide margin. Aniket Joshi of "Planet Bollywood" gave the album a rating of 9.5 out of 10 stating, ""Raja Hindustani" is a must for lovers of good ever lasting melody." The soundtrack album sold 11 million copies and is one of the best-selling Bollywood soundtrack albums of all time. It was the third best selling album of the 1990s after "Aashiqui" (1990) and "Dil To Pagal Hai" (1997). Alka Yagnik considers "Poochho Zara Poocho" as one of the best songs she ever rendered. The song has been copied by many a composer since. Anand-Milind lifted the tune in the "Tumse Dil Lagane Ki Sazaa Hai" part of the song and used it in the song "Mausam Ki Tarah Tum Bhi Badal To Na Jaaoge" from "Jaanwar" (1999). Both songs were picturized on Karisma Kapoor and had in common, singer and lyricist: Alka Yagnik and Sameer. The director of the later movie is Suneel Darshan, who is an elder sibling to Dharmesh Darshan. Again, the same portion of the song was used by Himesh Reshammiya in the "Tujhe Apna Dil Dene Ka Hai Mazaa" part of the song "Pyaar Kar" from the film "Humraaz" (2002). One of the riffs used in the background score of the film was later on used by Nadeem-Shravan in the chorus of the song "Tum Dil Ki Dhadkan Mein", from the film "Dhadkan" (2000). "Dhadkan" was also directed by Dharmesh Darshan, with the movie's soundtrack composed by Nadeem-Shravan, and lyrics written by Sameer. The song, "Saala Main To Sahab Ban Gaya""," from the 1974 film "Sagina," was briefly used in the movie. The song was picturised on Aamir Khan. In "Sagina," the song was filmed on Dilip Kumar and sung by Kishore Kumar. In this film, Kishore Kumar's original vocals were retained.
Reception
"Raja Hindustani" was the third most commercially successful Hindi film of the 1990s in terms of net gross. Made on a budget of 5.75 crore, the film went on to gross 76.34 crore worldwide, becoming the highest-grossing film of the year, and the fourth highest-grossing film in India of the 1990s behind "Hum Aapke Hain Koun..! ", "Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge" and "Kuch Kuch Hota Hai."