Hum Kisise Kum Nahin

I wonder if anyone has ever put these two movies together. Disney's The Kid starring Bruce Willis and Hum Kisese Kum Nahin starring Tariq, Rishi Kapoor, Ajit and the mampos sinexy Zeenat Aman.

Taimanu na bai hu na'dana este na dos? Maolek na finaisen.

There are probably alot of things which couldl be discussed from these two films, but what I noticed the other day that seemed worth mentioning, was the return of the child, and not just any child but you as a child.

In The Kid, Bruce Willis in confronted by himself at a very young age, when he was a seemingly hopeless fat kid. Together they investigate why the kid has appeared and ultimately work together to help Bruce Willis in the now confront portions of his life which he had long repressed in order to gain some consistency.

In Hum Kisise Kum Nahin, Kajal Kiran's character experiences her own return. Her and Tariq's father had made a pact when they were young to wed their children. As years have passed Kajal's father has become extremely wealthy and no longer has any intention of marrying his daughter to lowly Tariq. Kajal on the other hand still pines for her childhood love, yet when she meets him, she doesn't recognize who he is. After Tariq performs a charade to get closer to her (umbee this is a Hindi movie), Kajal rebukes him and mistreats him, pushing him away. Before the action packed half an hour finale takes place (umbee this is a Nasir Hussain movie), there is a moment of tragic recognition between Kajal and Tariq. While on a date with Rishi Kapoor, Tariq come on stage and sings to Kajal the song of their childhood love, Kya Huwa, Tera Vaada? Vo Kasaam, Vo iraada.

As the song is being sung, Kajal imagines Tariq and her as children on stage, singing the same song. As the chorus begins, the camera focuses in on Kajal ni' patgon and she sticks her finger out rebukingly and asks, kya huwa tera vaada?

What struck me as interesting about this two films, was the different interpretations of how things "return" to us, such as things forgotten or repressed from childhood. These films propose different ways of thinking about it, one obviously provides more agency to the self. The return of the repressed, the means in which it strikes back, shakes and rattles, but does not disintegrate anything. Instead their incorporation is negotiated, is something which is worked on together. This return is hardly seen as oppressive but more as something which will help you to grow as a person.

The other however proposes that this return is far more painful and less in the hands of the self. It does not come as a "nihi ta fancho'gue este, maila" or a friendly visit, but is instead a harsh injunction, a demeaning and horrifying reproach.

The difference in the two interpretations comes based on what this returning other, this child knows. In The Kid, both Bruce Willis and him as a child are in the dark as to the thing they have forgotten. Because in this film, the child doesn't know it yet, the thing that returns exists prior to the thing that was repressed. Thus, this repression is revealed together and discovered together, keeping the self more intact, because it isn't threatened by the knowing of the other that it has encountered.

In Hum Kisise Kum Nahin the returning child knows all and that is what is so horrifying.

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