Product: Hum Saath Saath Hain
Rating: 3.0
Gentle Family Drama
"Hum Saath-Saath Hain" is reminiscent of some of the other family-centered Hindi dramas of the 1990s, such as "Hum Aapke Hain Kaun", and it preceded the very popular "Khabi Khushi Khabhie Gham", which deals with similar themes. These themes are family unity; obedience to parents; loyalty to siblings; and the potential for family erosion when doubt and suspicion creep in.The family at the core of this film is comprised of mother, father, and three sons who all live happily together and work for the prosperous family business (there's also a daughter, but she's already married and therefore lives with her husband's family). The family functions according to a strict but loving hierarchy, in which the eldest son Vivek (Mohnish Behl) marries first and is set to inherit the top position in the family firm; the second son Prem (Salman Khan) is sent abroad to study so that he can also join the company; and the youngest son Vinod (Saif Ali Khan) is mischievous but always looks up to his elder brothers.The first two hours of this three hour film are without any major family strife or drama - the focus is on the daily functioning of the family and the pairing off of each brother with his respective sweetheart. Vivek, Prem and Vinod all get engaged in turn as the couples sing, dance, and bat their eyelashes at each other over the course of two hours. When Preeti bakes sweets for Prem (his favorite sweets, of course!), that counts as high drama. If the intricacies of life in an extended family hold no interest for you, then you will likely be bored to tears. If, however, you enjoy delicate flirtations and the visual feast that is Hindi cinema, then it will be a pleasant two hours.The twist doesn't come until the final hour. When the daughter of the family experiences some difficulties in her husband's home, the mother becomes paranoid that a similar schism will occur in her own family, carefully balanced as it is between three brothers and their three wives-to-be. In a moment of doubt, the mother causes the very schism she's afraid of, but under the pretense of protecting her two younger sons from the power of the elder (who's also only their half-brother). I'm not giving away anything shocking when I say that all will be resolved in the end, since the very foundation of this film is the idea that family bonds should never be broken, and this family in particular is unbreakable.All of the actors turn in fine performances; surprisingly, no one actor is the star over any other. Salman Khan plays the shy, gentle brother and as such his performance is more subdued than usual. Mohnish Behl is great as the always-responsible, noble elder brother and Saif Ali Khan is credible as the playful, responsibility-dodging youngest brother. The three women (Tabu, Sonali Bendre, and Karishma Kapoor) are lovely, but they don't have much scope for nuance in their roles; they are all dutiful, loving women who act appropriately and obediently. Not much room for drama in such idealized characterizations.In summary: watch this film if you enjoy family-centered Hindi dramas with delicate romance and lots of agonizing over the social rules of family life.