Mohabbatein

 

Mohabbatein is a 2000 Indian Hindi-language romantic drama film that was written and directed by Aditya Chopra and produced by Yash Chopra under the banner of Yash Raj Films. The film stars Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, and Aishwarya Rai, and debuting actors Uday Chopra, Shamita Shetty, Jugal Hansraj, Kim Sharma, Jimmy Shergill, and Preeti Jhangiani. It narrates the story of Narayan (Bachchan), the strict principal of Gurukul college whose daughter Megha (Rai), commits suicide after he opposes her relationship with Raj (Khan), a music teacher at the college.

The film was originally planned to be Aditya Chopra's directorial debut but it was his second film after Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995). Produced on a budget more than ₹100 million (US$1.4 million), the principal photography of Mohabbatein, which was filmed in the United Kingdom, was handled by Manmohan Singh between October 1999 and late 2000. Sharmishta Roy and Karan Johar built the sets and designed the costumes, respectively. The duo Jatin–Lalit composed its music while Anand Bakshi wrote the lyrics.

Mohabbatein was released on 27 October 2000 and received widespread acclaim from critics. With a total gross of ₹900.1 million (US$13 million), the film was declared as a commercial success and became the second-highest-grossing Indian film of the year. It won four trophies at the 46th Filmfare Awards, including Best Actor – Critics (Khan) and Best Supporting Actor (Bachchan). It also received three Bollywood Movie Awards, four International Indian Film Academy Awards, and one Screen Award.

 

Plot

Narayan has been the strict principal of Gurukul, a prestigious all-boys college, for 25 years. Narayan believes in bringing the best out of his students by emphasizing honour, tradition, and discipline. He disdains fun and is particularly intolerant of romance and threatens to expel any student who is caught having a romantic affair. Despite these rules, three Gurukul students—Sameer, Vicky, and Karan—fall in love. Sameer falls for Sanjana, his childhood friend; Vicky is attracted to Ishika, a student at the neighbouring all-girls college; and Karan is infatuated with Kiran, a young widow whom Karan sees alone one night in a train station.

Narayan hires Raj as Gurukul's new music teacher. Raj believes in the power of love and decides to spread love throughout Gurukul. He sympathizes with the predicaments of Sameer, Vicky, and Karan, and encourages them to persist and stay loyal to their loves. Raj tells the three students he had a special love himself and that although she is dead, he imagines she accompanies him every day. One day, as part of his plan, Raj throws a party, to which he invites the students of the all-girls college. Narayan discovers the party and threatens to dismiss Raj. At this point, Raj reveals he had been a student at Gurukul over a decade earlier and that he had fallen in love with Megha, Narayan's only daughter. Narayan had summarily expelled Raj from the college and the distraught Megha had committed suicide. Raj returns to Gurukul to honour Megha's memory by reversing the college's zero-tolerance policy on romance; he promises he will fill the school with love and that Narayan will be unable to stop it. Narayan is shocked; he takes this as a challenge and allows Raj to remain.

Sameer, Vicky, and Karan are able to win over Sanjana, Ishika, and Kiran, respectively, but Narayan retaliates by tightening the college's rules. The student body, however, encouraged by Raj, continues to defy the rules and in a final effort to preserve the school atmosphere he has built up for 25 years, Narayan expels the three students. Raj speaks up on their behalf, stating they did nothing wrong by falling in love and accusing Narayan of causing his own daughter's death with his intolerance of love. Raj also says he feels Narayan lost the challenge because his daughter left him and now Raj, who considered Narayan an elder, is leaving him as well. Raj's words hurt Narayan, who realizes his strict no-romance policy is misguided. Narayan apologizes to the student body, resigns as principal of Gurukul, and nominates Raj as his successor. Raj accepts and reconciles with Narayan

 

Cast

·        Amitabh Bachchan as Narayan Shankar

·        Shah Rukh Khan as Raj Aryan Malhotra

·        Aishwarya Rai as Megha Shankar

·        Uday Chopra as Vikram

·        Jugal Hansraj as Sameer Sharma

·        Jimmy Shergill as Karan Choudhry

·        Shamita Shetty as Ishika Dhanrajgir

·        Kim Sharma as Sanjana

·        Preeti Jhangiani as Kiran

·         Amrish Puri as Major General Khanna, Kiran's father-in-law (special appearance)

·         Shefali Shah as Nandini, Kiran's sister-in-law (special appearance)

·         Anupam Kher as Kakke

·         Archana Puran Singh as Preeto

·         Helen as Miss Monica (special appearance)

·         Parzan Dastur as Ayush

·         Saurabh Shukla as Sanjana's father

·         Ram Mohan as Khan Baba

·         Meghna Patel as Ishika's friend