The best of Rakesh Roshan
3. Karan Arjun (1995)
After a dry spell in the early '90s (Khel, King Uncle) Rakesh Roshan bounced back big with Karan Arjun, which was a smash hit at the marquee. Reincarnation dramas had not done well commercially for decades before this film, so while Rakesh Roshan did take a risk by opting for the theme in Karan Arjun, his treatment was play-safe commercial.
The movie built on Hindi cinema's mother fixation. The pivot was Karan (Shah Rukh Khan) and Arjun's (Salman Khan) mother, played by Raakhee. In her feudal village, Raakhee is at odds with her husband's killer (Amrish Puri) and has to watch her strapping sons Karan and Arjun also being ruthlessly eliminated before her own eyes. Of course, they are reincarnated before (too) long. In their new city-slicker avatars, the two heroes reconnect with each other, find their mother and destroy the villain.
Karan Arjun was one of the rare '90s successes that straddled both the rural and urban worlds. Rakesh took care to cram it with masala ingredients but, to his credit, also managed to effectively convey the mysticism of reincarnation for a goose-bump-ready audience.
The director's flair for song picturisations is evident in Shah Rukh-Kajol's Jaati hoon mein, in which the frenzy of young love is cleverly mirrored in the racing horses in the background.