If one film defined the year’s scale and ambition, it was Aditya Chopra’s Mohabbatein . Following the blockbuster Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995), Chopra returned with a larger-than-life opus that pitted love against authoritarian discipline. Amitabh Bachchan’s fire-breathing Narayan Shankar (a metaphor for rigid tradition) faced off against Shah Rukh Khan’s romantic, guitar-strumming Raj Aryan. The film was a visual marvel—opulent, long (over three hours), and unapologetically emotional. While critics were divided on its pacing and preachy tone, audiences flocked to it, making it the highest-grossing film of the year. It also launched three fresh faces (Uday Chopra, Jimmy Shergill, Jugal Hansraj) and gave us the evergreen anthem “Humko Humise Chura Lo.”
: Priyadarshan’s remake of his Malayalam hit Ramji Rao Speaking was a moderate success upon release but has since become legendary. With Akshay Kumar, Suniel Shetty, and a career-best Paresh Rawal as the scheming, miserly Baburao Ganpatrao Apte, the film’s situational comedy, misunderstandings, and deadpan humor were ahead of their time. It proved that multi-starrers and pure comedies could work without a conventional romance track.