Andaz Apna Apna at 27: Aamir Khan, Salman Khan’s comedy was an unflinching celebration of buffoonery

Andaz Apna Apna, Rajkumar Santoshi’s comedy of errors, suffered a dismal fate at the box office when it released in theatres in 1994. It was one of the rare instances where the audience, critics and the film distributors collectively rejected the film. Despite all the ingredients of a classic-in-the-making — the film was led by Aamir Khan and Salman Khan, two of the most bankable male stars of the time; it also featured the big guns of Hindi comedy cinema, including Mehmood, Jagdeep and Devan Varma — the reckoning towards Andaz Apna Apna happened after the film was made available to be watched on TV and DVDs.

One of the possible reasons behind the film’s inability to rear its head among the rest of the releases was that the market was flooded with multi-starrers at the time, be it Mohra, Raja Babu or Main Khiladi Tu Anari. However, Santoshi attributed the film’s failure to the haphazard promotions during an interview. “Not much was being pumped into its promotion. We were tense that prints would not be delivered to theatres on time, as the distribution company was a first-timer. Yes, it was haphazard,” he was quoted as saying.

Its failure was short-lived, because the film’s TV broadcast overturned its fate almost overnight. But what makes Andaz Apna Apna such a remarkable comedy? In order to make sense of its raging popularity, it is key to understand the construction of heroes in Bollywood during the early 90s. Be it the embattled anti-hero figure in Sadak (1991), the macho romantic of Aaina (1993) or the out-and-out action hero of Khiladi (1992), the male protagonists were characterised by their aggressive masculinity and almost an elevated sense of self-importance.

Santoshi’s groundbreaking comedy, on the other hand, is an unabashed celebration of buffoonery. Its heroes Amar (Aamir Khan) and Prem (Salman Khan), are lazy, wide-eyed dreamers who move mountains to sweep a rich heiress off her feet in order to secure their future. The heiress Raveena Bajaj (Raveena Tandon) is accompanied by her secretary Karishma (Karishma Kapoor), who is later revealed to be the true heiress. Then there’s Raveena’s staff members Bhalla and Robert (played by Shazad Khan and Viju Khote, respectively), who secretly work for Raveena’s uncle, Teja (brilliantly played by Paresh Rawal). Teja happens to be the twin brother of Raveena’s father Ramgopal Bajaj (also essayed by Paresh Rawal), who’s knee-deep in debt to Crime Master Gogo (Shakti Kapoor), and plans to murder his brother to stake his claim over his fortune.

There is a lot to unpack here, and Santoshi does not offer the audience the breathing room to slacken. The film plays out like a literal roller-coaster ride, with one oddball situation stacking up after another, building up to its crackling crescendo.

Even though characters are labelled villains or heroes, neither the heroes nor the villains ever get to take the moral high ground. They are all equally self-serving and hair-brained who try to outwit each other and claim the prize, Raveena’s affections and her fortune. The story itself parodies the countless romantic comedies where the macho hero takes down the villains, (which more often than not includes the heroine’s stern father) to finally win over his passive beloved.

Likewise, by injecting the screenplay with innumerable metatheatrical references, Andaz Apna Apna acts as both a tribute to and a parody of Hindi cinema. Take for example the scene where Prem says he’s watched Sholay 10 times, to which Amar shoots back and says, it’s only because his father has written it. It’s a gentle hat-tip to Salim and Javed’s masterpiece, and a reminder that the outlandish world of Andaz Apna Apna is Bollywood-adjacent, but not quite. Thus Juhi Chawla and Govinda make special appearances, playing versions of their on-screen personas, Salman hums the tune of Dekha Hai Pehli Baar from his own movie Saajan, Aamir refers to Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar while tossing a coin or Raveena’s entry into the film is marked by Tu Cheez Badi Hai Mast Mast playing in the background.

The legacy of Andaz Apna Apna can perhaps be best understood with the character of Crime Master Gogo. The cape-wearing villain has barely five scenes in the film, out of which one is where he introduces himself as Hindi cinema’s most revered villain Mogambo’s nephew. History has it that the film was initially supposed to have Amrish Puri parody his own character from Mr India. However, the role of Zorambo, as it was called, was later snipped off the script of Andaz Apna Apna because of the film’s length. Nonetheless, Crime Master Gogo, which was always supposed to be a supporting part, came to be one of the most era-defining villain figures of Bollywood.

Even almost three decades after the film’s debut, there haven’t been as many spoof comedies in Hindi. Zoya Akhtar’s Luck By Chance is incisive, but lacks the ridiculousness of Andaz Apna Apna. Similarly, buddy films like Bol Bachchan, which generously references to the titular heroes, is silly, but is more interested in mining comedy from the mistaken identity schtick than depending on observational humour. Rajkumar Santoshi himself has not been able to replicate the magic reality of Andaz Apna Apna, either in Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani (2009) or in Phata Poster Nikla Hero (2013). It is no wonder, then, that over the years, the film has attained a cult status, featuring in the 10th position in IMDb’s Cult Classics.