Sooraj Barjatya is all set for the release of his upcoming film Prem Ratan Dhan Payo, starring Salman Khan and Sonam Kapoor in lead roles. The director is back with a family drama and has worked with Salman Khan after a hiatus of 16 years, thus marking a comeback of his character ‘Prem’.
If we take a look at Rajshri movies, their past releases have always been high on promoting cultural values. Their films are known as clean cinema since it strays away from anything unconventional. Rajshri production has been in existence since 1947 and they have produced/distributed several movies over these decades.
Let us have a look at some of the significant Sooraj Barjatya films and their box office fate :
Maine Pyar Kiya (1989)
This film was the directorial debut of Sooraj Bharjatiya starring Salman Khan and Bhagyashree. The movie became blockbuster and also one of the most successful film in Bollywood. The movie won many Filmfare awards including best film and best music in that year. It also gave birth to Salman’s most infamous characters of all time ‘Prem’.
HUM AAPKE HAIN KOUN (1994)
Sooraj Barjatya’s second movie as a director again starring Salman Khan and Bollywood queen Madhuri Dixit is another milestone in the director’s career. This was another family entertainer from Rajshri, bringing to the screen an adaptation of their ‘Nadiya Ke Paar‘. Rajshri had given an altogether different cinema experience with HAHK and is one of the ‘All Time Blockbuster’ films of India. The film won many accolades including National and Filmfare Award.
HUM SAATH SAATH HAIN (1999)
Another family entertainer with plot based on the mythological story of Ramayan, this movie was accepted widely by audiences. This multi-starrer film again starred Salman Khan in the lead role as ‘Prem’. The movie was declared as a ‘Blockbuster’ by box office and was the highest-grossing movie of that year.
MAIN PREM KI DIWANI (2003)
Directed by Sooraj Bharjatya this movie was the remake of ‘Chitchor‘ and had Hrithik Roshan, Kareena Kapoor and Abhishek Bachchan in lead roles. This film can be called as the weakest of the director’s work. In spite of it having quite a negative word of mouth, the film proved to be a money spinner for Rajshri Productions. A lot of the credit for it’s business goes to it’s star cast.
VIVAH ( 2006)
Starring Shahid Kapoor and Amrita Rao and again directed by Sooraj Bharjatya, ‘Vivah‘ received mixed to negative reviews post release. Also trade pundits weren’t expecting much from the movie. Although, unexpectedly it became huge success and also became Shahid Kapoor and Amrita Rao’s biggest commercial success at that point in their careers.
One noted feature of all these Barjatya films is the fact that they enjoy a great deal of Television audience. Hence, we assume the satellite rights for Prem Ratan Dhan Payo which is Barjatya’s upcoming release starring Salman Khan and Sonam Kapoor will be sold at quite a high price too!