How Vidya Balan and Emraan Hashmi’s 'Hamari Adhuri Kahani' is similar to many other Bollywood films

Now don't get us wrong! The trailer of the latest Bhatt offering is impressive. Hamari Adhuri Kahani gave me the same feeling I had when I saw Awarapan, one of Vishesh Films’ most under-rated films, yet one of their best. But I also can’t help having a feeling of déjà vu associated with whatever scenes they had shown in the trailer.

Hamari Adhuri Kahani is supposedly based on Mahesh Bhatt’s father and stepmother’s real-life story. The trailer depicts Vidya Balan in a miserable married life with a wife-beating Rajkummar Rao, who is taken away by police for some unknown reasons. Later, another man comes into her life, Emraan Hashmi in a polished avatar, who tries to woo her into falling in love. Though she resists at first, there are certain scenes in the trailer that suggests she finally succumbs to his affections. Then her wife-beating husband returns to the scene and drama ensues. 

Now don’t tell me you haven’t seen this plot line before? The first film that comes to my mind is the Nana Patekar-Jackie Shroff-Manisha Koirala starrer Agni Sakshi, directed by Partho Ghosh. The film had Manisha escaping a torturous marriage with psychopath, Nana Patekar, and begins a new life by hiding her past. She falls in love with Jackie Shroff and they get married. But Nana enters their life again, and demands the return of his wife. Unlike HAK, this movie is more of a thriller.

Then there is Daraar, directed by Abbas-Mastan. Arbaaz Khan made his debut in this film, that has him playing the crazy husband to Juhi Chawla. Here also, she escapes from him into the arms of Rishi Kapoor. The movie, unfortunately, flopped.

Rishi Kapoor looks like a huge fan of this plot, as he appeared in another movie with same theme. It was Yaraana. Here, Madhuri Dixit played the victim. Though, in this case, she is only betrothed to Raj Babbar. Apart from the Mera Piya Ghar Aaya song, there is nothing worth remembering about this dismal film.

But these are not the only ones. Koi Mere Dil Se Poochhe had Aftab and Esha Deol playing lovers, and Sanjay Kapoor playing the abusive-husband-who-returned-from-the-dead. Don’t fret much if you have forgotten about this movie. We won’t hold it against you!

All the above four films have been lifted off from the below Hollywood thriller. Sleeping with the Enemy has Julia Roberts playing the suffering wife, who escapes from the clutches of her OCPD suffering husband, and falls in love with a kind drama teacher. This was based on a book by Nancy Price with the same name. In the rarest of the rare cases, the American book looks to have an Indian inspiration. Apparently, the 1980 Malayalam movie Manjil Virinja Pookkal has the same storyline!

The movie was Malayalam superstar Mohanlal’s first release, where he played the sadistic husband to the character played by Poornima Jayaram, and was one of the biggest hits of the year.

What separates Hamari Adhuri Kahani from the rest, is that it oscillates towards the emotional content, than being a thriller, and with the title having the word Adhuri, we can bet there is no happy ending in sight!