Humraaz

Humraaz (transl. Confidant) is a 2002 Indian Hindi-language romantic thriller film directed by the duo Abbas–Mustan. The film stars Bobby Deol, Akshaye Khanna, and Ameesha Patel⁣⁣ and marks the third collaboration between Deol and the director duo.

The film is loosely inspired by the 1998 American film A Perfect Murder, which itself was a remake of Alfred Hitchcock's film Dial M for Murder (1954), based on Frederick Knott's 1952 stage play of the same name.^[2][3] Humraaz was later remade in Tamil as Girivalam. Its soundtrack, composed by Himesh Reshammiya, was among the highest-selling Bollywood albums of the year.

Humraaz was released on 5 July 2002 and received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised its suspenseful plot, music, and performances, with particular praise directed towards Khanna's performance. The film emerged as a commercial success at the box office, grossing approximately ₹29.7 crore worldwide against a budget of ₹15 crore, ranking as the seventh-highest-grossing Hindi film of the year.

Humraaz received 12 nominations at the 48th Filmfare Awards, including Best Film, Best Director (Abbas–Mustan), Best Actor (Deol), Best Actress (Patel), and Best Performance in a Negative Role (Khanna), but did not win in any category.^[4] At the 4th IIFA Awards, Khanna won Best Performance in a Negative Role, while Patel was nominated for Best Actress.^[5]

Plot

Karan Malhotra and Priya are the lead performers of a dance troupe and are secretly in love. They both dream of marrying and living a luxurious life. After being cheated out of a cruise performance opportunity by their rival, Jojo Fernandes, Karan confronts and kills him. The troupe is later selected to perform aboard a luxury cruise ship owned by the wealthy businessman Raj Singhania. There Raj meets Priya, unaware that Karan is Priya's boyfriend. Raj falls in love with her and proposes marriage, unaware that both Priya and Karan are conspiring to acquire his wealth; Raj also befriends Karan.

Eventually Priya and Raj marry, and Priya lies about her past and refuses to consummate for one month as suggested by Karan. Then, another dancer from the troupe, Harry, discovers the couple's scheme and begins blackmailing Karan. It is revealed that Jojo's death was actually caused by Karan, which he had covered up as an accident. Karan murders Harry to protect the scheme, but before dying, Harry manages to leave a voicemail for Raj, exposing the truth. Meanwhile, Priya begins to develop genuine feelings for Raj, especially after he shows deep care following an accident. She decides not to proceed with the divorce, angering Karan.

Seeking revenge, Karan manipulates Raj into believing that Priya still loves him and is conspiring to steal his money. Raj, now aware of the truth, confronts Karan and forces him to attempt to murder Priya, planning to catch him in the act. Simultaneously, Priya records a confession and switches the tape with a cassette in Raj’s car, asking him to call her if he forgives her. As Raj unknowingly delays hearing the tape, Karan attacks Priya when Raj calls their home. Upon hearing her screams, Raj rushes to save her. At the scene, it is revealed that Priya survived and Karan had killed another man to stage the attack. Karan then blackmails Raj with a recording of their prior meeting, demanding a divorce and a large alimony.

Raj goes to meet Karan at a decided spot where he says he is ready to go to prison, but only after Karan is killed. The two men fight. The two men fight as Karan prepares to kill Raj until Priya catches up and steps in, exposing her realization of Karan's murderous nature. Karan subsequently shoots Priya, and Raj runs to kill Karan. Karan tries to kill Raj, but it turns out Priya is still alive and shoots Karan and saving Raj, and Karan dies. Raj and Priya are finally reunited.

Cast

• Bobby Deol as Raj Singhania
• Akshaye Khanna as Karan Malhotra
• Ameesha Patel as Priya
• Johnny Lever as Darshan Bhatt
• Suhasini Mulay as Raj's grandmother
• Jeetu Verma as Jojo Fernandes
• Farhan Khan as Harry
• Dinesh Hingoo as Rustom Uncle
• Dilip Joshi as Gauri Shankar
• Sheela Sharma as Rosy
• Sudhir as Tommy
• Bhairavi Vaidya as Raj's aunt
• Firoz Irani as Raj's uncle
• Roshan Tirandaz as Shireen
• Shabanam Kapoor as Mrs. Braganza

Production

Before production began, Priyanka Chopra was initially signed to play the female lead and was expected to make her film debut with Humraaz. She reportedly shot for two days but was unable to continue due to a dispute, after which the role went to Amisha Patel.^[6]

Arjun Rampal and Abhishek Bachchan were initially considered to portray the negative lead in the film.^[7] However, things could not materialize, and the role was eventually played by Akshaye Khanna.^[8]

Soundtrack

The soundtrack of Humraaz was composed by Himesh Reshammiya, with lyrics by Sudhakar Sharma. According to Box Office India, the album sold approximately 2.2 million units, making it the highest-selling Hindi film soundtrack of 2002.^[9][10]

The song "Bardaasht Nahi Kar Sakta" was reused as "Nee Yaaro Nee Yaaro" in the Tamil remake Girivalam (2005) and was the only track from the original soundtrack to be retained in the remake.

Reception

Box office

Humraaz was produced on a budget of approximately ₹15 crore, including print and advertising costs. In India, the film earned a net collection of ₹16.59 crore, with a gross of ₹23.04 crore. It collected an additional ₹2.53 crore from international markets, bringing its worldwide gross to approximately ₹25.57 crore.^[11] According to Box Office India, the film achieved a total gross of ₹29.71 crore, with an estimated 9.1 million footfalls.^[12] The film was declared an "Hit" performer at the box office by trade analysts.

Critical response

Derek Elley of Variety described Humraaz as "a well-played Bollywood mystery-thriller that’s let down only by a lack of visual style," adding that it "gets good character mileage from its star trio and fine performances from two of them (Bobby Deol, Ameesha Patel)."^[13] Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama gave the film 3 out of 5 stars, noting, "On the whole, Humraaz has a fresh cast, a riveting script, a grandiose look, and several thrilling moments to take you on a joyride for the next three hours. The film has all it takes to appeal to an avid cinegoer who's thirsting for wholesome entertainment. Recommended!"^[14]

Vivek Fernandes of Rediff.com remarked that "The directors do take their time establishing the scheme of things, spoonfeeding the audience at times. Also, the experience would have been more riveting had the film been a little shorter. But such minor flaws, we shall let pass. Humraaz, definitely, merits a dekho."^[15] A reviewer for Sify commented, "Except that having watched a lot of Hitchcockian plots, one feels let down at the way our filmmakers end a good plot."^[16] Chitra Mahesh of The Hindu observed, "Though the end is filmy and long drawn out, the suspense is tangible."^[17]

Accolades

See also

• Remakes of films by Alfred Hitchcock

References

1. ^ "Humraaz - Movie - Box Office India". Archived 12 June 2018 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2 April 2018.
2. ^ "Humraaz". British Board of Film Classification
3. ^ "An indecent proposal". Rediff.com. Archived 27 July 2024 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 30 November 2023.
4. ^ "Filmfare Awards 2003 Winners". The Times of India. ISSN 0971-8257. Retrieved 2025-04-13.
5. ^ "Archive Details". IIFA. Retrieved 2025-04-13.
6. ^ Lalwani, Vickey (July 5, 2002). "Humraaz will not go bust". Archived 31 July 2017 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved March 4, 2022.
7. ^ "Has Akshaye Khanna replaced Arjun Rampal". Bollywood Hungama. July 27, 2001. Retrieved 21 May 2025.
8. ^ "Not Akshaye, Ameesha. Priyanka Chopra, Abhishek Bachchan 1st signed Humraaz: Tuesday Trivia". 26 July 2022.
9. ^ "Music Hits 2000–2009 (Figures in Units)". Box Office India. Archived 15 February 2008 at the Wayback Machine. Alt URL Archived 3 October 2022 at the Wayback Machine
10. ^ "Humraaz - music review by Rakesh Budhu - Planet Bollywood". Archived 29 April 2022 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 29 April 2022.
11. ^ Hungama, Bollywood (2002-07-05). "Humraaz Box Office Collection | India | Day Wise | Box Office - Bollywood Hungama". Bollywood Hungama. Retrieved 2025-04-13.
12. ^ "Humraaz - Movie - - Box Office India". boxofficeindia.com. Retrieved 2025-04-13.
13. ^ Elley, Derek (2002-07-17). "Humraaz". Variety. Retrieved 2025-04-13.
14. ^ Adarsh, Taran (5 July 2002). "Humraaz Review 3/5 | Humraaz Movie Review | Humraaz 2002 Public Review | Film Review". Bollywood Hungama. Archived 29 April 2022 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 29 April 2022.
15. ^ Fernandes, Vivek (5 July 2002). "Conspiracy theory meets you've got blackmail". Rediff.com. Archived 29 April 2022 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 29 April 2022.
16. ^ "Humraaz". Sify. 6 July 2002. Archived 12 June 2018 at the Wayback Machine.
17. ^ Mahesh, Chitra (12 July 2002). "Humraaz". The Hindu. Archived 2 May 2022 at the Wayback Machine.
18. ^ "Fair View Zee Cine Awards 2003 - 6th Zee Cine Awards & Winners". www.awardsandshows.com. Retrieved 2025-04-13.
19. ^ "Screen > The Business of Entertainment". 2003-09-20. Archived from the original on 2003-09-20. Retrieved 2025-04-13.
20. ^ "THE 3RD SANSUI VIEWERS CHOICE MOVIE AWARDS". 2003-09-20. Archived from the original on 2003-09-20. Retrieved 2025-04-13.
21. ^ "Bollywood Awards | Nominees For Bollywood, As chosen by fans". 2003-04-19. Archived from the original on 2003-04-19. Retrieved 2025-04-13.

External links

• Humraaz at IMDb