Ketan Anand's Hum Rahe Na Hum is an interesting film about Bij Mohan, a kind man who is caught in a marriage with a greedy, vicious and adulterous woman, Kalyani, who tries to murder him. He is soon believed to be dead, but actually finds his way into the life of another woman named Mohini, who never knows about his past and him having been married before. He adopts a new identity, a new name, and the two marry. The story moves many years forward, when he and his wife lead a wealthy life, but then his past wife reappears in his life and his secret is about to be disclosed.
The film is very enjoyable and holds interest through most of the film although the second half takes a different course by getting more into the younger generation and is less effective. The action scenes are redundant and typically ridiculous, and they get worse towards the end, although thankfully there isn't that much of them. Where the film does work is in the development of Brij's story, which draws sympathy. Bappi Lahiri's music is quite lovely and as always you can find in his soundtrack both melodious romantic tunes and catchy songs with strong western disco influences.
Vijay Anand does exceedingly well in the central character. Shabana Azmi shows once again that even in mainstream cinema, her choices were never uncalculated, and she has a good role of a loving wife and mother which she plays with grace and restraint even if at points it's a little too stereotypically self-sacrificing. The scene stealer, however, is Rehana Sultan, who does a stupendous job as the scheming, betel-chewing Kalyani. Again, the role is quite superficially written, but she gives more than she gets and often dictates an atmosphere not warranted by the script, and I'm sure those who did watch the film remember her the most. Hum Rahe Na Hum is thus a very watchable film anyway, not a must see but worth a try.
