32 Years of Hum Aapke Hain Koun: The UNKNOWN story of how 1942: A Love Story helped Liberty Cinema bag the Salman Khan classic; iconic theatre spent a WHOPPING Rs. 45 lakhs on revamp; recorded 2,341 shows and 20 lakh footfalls over 125+ weeks
One of Indian cinema’s greatest films, Hum Aapke Hain Koun (1994), celebrated its 32nd anniversary on August 5. The blockbuster enjoyed a historic run at Mumbai’s iconic Liberty Cinema and, in the process, transformed the fortunes of the landmark theatre. In this special anniversary feature, we revisit how the South Mumbai cinema at New Marine Lines secured the golden opportunity to screen the classic from Rajshri Productions.
As per a post by senior industry member Rajesh Vasani of Paras Publicity, the producers of Hum Aapke Hain Koun, Rajshri Productions, traditionally preferred to release their films at Metro Cinema, whose owner, Shri Sr Gupta ji, shared close family ties with the Barjatya family. It so happened that 1942: A Love Story was scheduled to release on July 15, that is, just three weeks before Hum Aapke Hain Koun. The Anil Kapoor-Manisha Koirala starrer had generated tremendous pre-release excitement due to its chartbuster music and Dolby Sound presentation. Rajesh Vasani wrote, “Shri Sr. Gupta Ji was particularly keen on exhibiting 1942: A Love Story at Metro Cinema. Having already seen Hum Aapke Hain Koun and considering its unusually long running time, he was not equally enthusiastic about the Rajshri film, even though its publicity material had already been displayed at Metro”.
Since Metro was not available, a respected exhibitor personality, Sharad Doshi, suggested to Raj Kumar Barjatya and Ajit Kumar Barjatya that they screen their film in Liberty Deluxe, located just a few minutes away from Metro Cinema.
Rajesh Vasani revealed, “At that time, Liberty was under an arrangement with Paramount Pictures and had been screening English films. Sharadbhai personally invited the entire Barjatya family to inspect the theatre. They spent several hours evaluating every detail before placing their conditions. Rajshri listed and insisted that the sound system be upgraded to 4-Track Ultra Optical Sound, the ambience and seating be improved, and most importantly, the washrooms be upgraded to five-star hotel standards, something almost unheard of for Indian cinemas in those days.”
Such a revamp cost a lot of money – Rs. 45 lakhs to be precise – and yet, Sharadbhai agreed that too “without hesitation and without entering into any negotiations”. And that’s not all. The Facebook post read, “One of the most remarkable aspects of the arrangement was the rental structure worked out by Sharadbhai. Instead of demanding a high fixed rent, he linked the rent to the theatre’s weekly earning capacity, ensuring that Rajshri received the maximum possible share from the business. The weekly rent initially started at around Rs. 70,000 and gradually increased as the business grew, eventually reaching nearly Rs. 1.50 lakhs per week. This reflected Sharadbhai’s exceptional business acumen and his belief that the distributor and exhibitor should grow together.”
At that time, Liberty had a weekly earning capacity of approximately Rs. 10 lakhs. It was the only cinema hall in Mumbai to screen the film for the first 100 days, as part of the arrangement. As a result, the whole of Mumbai travelled to New Marine Lines to catch the film and book tickets.
According to the Facebook post, “Advance bookings generally opened every Monday, initially only for Friday and Saturday shows. Once those shows were sold out, bookings for the remaining days would be opened gradually. The family entertainer ran for 105 weeks in regular shows at Liberty Deluxe and eventually completed an incredible 125-week run. It ran for a total of 2,341 shows at Liberty Cinema, attracting nearly 2 million viewers”.
Rajesh Vasani also revealed, “An interesting background to this story is that Sharadbhai Doshi and Nazir Hussain held the Paramount Pictures agency for Western India (excluding Bombay’s main Cinema) for nearly five years, and Liberty had been operated by them during that period. While Jurassic Park played at Sterling Cinema in regular shows, Sharadbhai simultaneously screened its Hindi version at Liberty’s matinee shows. This was part of a larger effort to restore Liberty’s image as a prestigious family cinema. Over time, the theatre’s reputation was completely transformed and restored to its former glory. Sharadbhai was admired not only for his vision but also for his impeccable business ethics. Distributor shares were settled immediately upon completion of each week’s business, earning him immense respect and trust across the trade…Such was Rajshri’s faith in Sharadbhai that Raj Babu and Ajit Babu reportedly instructed Shri Kantibhai Mehta, Rajshri’s Distribution Head for the Bombay Circuit, that wherever Sharadbhai controlled cinemas, the film should not be released in any competing theatre.”
Hum Aapke Hain Koun also marked the beginning of a new chapter in the association between Rajshri Productions and Paras Publicity. In another Facebook post, Rajesh Vasani wrote, “Our association with Rajshri Productions began during Maine Pyar Kiya (1989). We were introduced to Shri Kantibhai Mehta by Shri Mohanbhai Susania. At that time, Rajshri operated its distribution office from the second floor of Shalimar Cinema. Initially, Paras Publicity Service was entrusted with handling only the Gujarati newspaper campaign. However, owing to our service standards, commitment and quality of execution, Rajshri gradually expanded our responsibilities to include publicity across all language newspapers. It was a relationship built on trust and professionalism that continued throughout their Shalimar Cinema days.”
Also Read: 32 years of Anjaam EXCLUSIVE: “Wrote Madhuri Dixit’s dialogues keeping Amitabh Bachchan in mind,” reveals Rumy Jafry, also says the actress deserved an award for this film instead of Hum Aapke Hain Koun…! that year
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