Bollywood Remake of 'Sleeping with the Enemy' × 3

The 1991 Hollywood Film Sleeping with the Enemy has been remade by Bollywood THREE times .. Oh wait make that FOUR times because according to Wikipedia Koi Mere Dil Se Pooche (starring Aftab Shivdasandi and Esha Deol) was also 'inspired' by it. But today we will be talking about the first three of its Hindi remakes. These include Daraar (Starring Juhi Chawla, Rishi Kapoor & Arbaz Khan), Yaraana (Starring Madhuri Dixit, Rishi Kapoor & Raj Babbar) and Agni Sakshi (Starring Nana Patekar, Manisha Koriala & Jackie Shroff). Out of the three, only Agni Sakshi was declared a hit at the box office while the other two failed miserably.


The main plot remained the same for all three films. Girl marries boy. Boy turns out to be a monster (Except for Yaarana , Where Madhuri's character does not get married. Instead she pretends to pass out at the mandap and then manages to escape). Girl escapes. Girl meets another boy who turns out to be very loving and sweet (Typical Hindi film romantic hero-type). Ishq Wala Love happens. And then the monster-husband returns. Add a bunch of dishoom-dishoom (action) scenes. Loving boy saves girl from husband. Husband ends up dying. Loving boy and girl live happily ever after. Simple enough, huh?

Creepy, much ?!

Out of the three, I absolutely loved Daraar. Why you ask? Because Juhi Chawla managed to make me cry for her (I don't cry easily .. Okay fine I DO but that's not the point). Juhi (as Priya) is so convincing as the vulnerable/battered housewife who escapes from her psycho husband Vikram (Arbaz Khan - Who mind you showed decent acting skills in this film). Juhi is fierce in this scene (skip to 04.22) and I am just so inspired by how strong her character becomes when she refuses to take crap from her husband anymore.

Songs to watch out for: Deewana Deewana, Yeh Pyar Pyar Kya Hai

Agni Sakshi is pretty decent too. I loved Nana Patekar as Vishwanath (The psycho husband) the most in this film. He was creepy and so believable as the creepy husband *shivers*. Manisha's character was alright - Thumbs down though for her character to always depend on Jackie Shroff (as Suraj) to fight her battles.

The question isnt 'Why men hit women?' It really should be 'Why do women put up with such crap? Why don't we question bullsh*t societal norms? Why don't we strike back? This does not only happen in India .. It happens everywhere. It's about time we make a stand and put a stop to all forms of violence.

Songs to watch out for: Well almost all the songs especially Tu Mera Gulfam Hai is so romantic.

I would have to say that Yaaraana was the worst remake of Sleeping with the Enemy. I have no idea why David Dhawan thought it was a brilliant idea to add comedy to such a serious issue.Totally puzzling ! Madhuri's dancing skills were spot on though .. Raj Babbar was annoying .. he always is !

Total miscast ! Rishi ji looked so old compared to Madhuri (& Also Juhi in Daraar).  :/

Stunning performance by Madz in the Jaane Woh Kaisa song

Songs to watch out for: Mera Piya Ghar Aaya (obviously), Jaane Woh Kaisa Chor Tha

Have you seen these films? Which one did you like the most? Do post your thoughts in the comments section :)