Mohabbatein

Mohabbatein
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Aditya Chopra
Produced by	Yash Chopra
Written by	Aditya Chopra
Starring	Shah Rukh Khan Amitabh Bachchan Aishwarya Rai Uday Chopra Jugal Hansraj Jimmy Shergill Shamita Shetty Kim Sharma Preeti Jhangiani Anupam Kher Archana Puran Singh Amrish Puri Shefali Shah Helen
Music by	Jatin-Lalit
Cinematography	Manmohan Singh
Edited by	V.V. Karnik Singh Taranjeet
Distributed by	Yash Raj Films
Release date	27 October 2000
Running time	216 minutes
Country	India
Language	Hindi
Budget	Rs. 190 million[1]
Box office	Rs. 900 million[2]

Mohabbatein (English: Love Stories) is a 2000 Indian musical romantic drama film directed by Aditya Chopra. It was Chopra's second directorial venture after Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge and was filmed in India and the United Kingdom. The film stars Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, Uday Chopra, Jimmy Sheirgill, Jugal Hansraj, Shamita Shetty, Kim Sharma, Preeti Jhangiani and Aishwarya Rai in the lead roles. The film's soundtrack was composed by Jatin-Lalit, while the lyrics were penned by Anand Bakshi. The film is notable for being the first time that Bachchan and Khan appeared on-screen together.

The film went on to do well both critically and commercially. It was the highest Bollywood grosser of 2000, followed by Rakesh Roshan's Kaho Naa... Pyaar Hai.^[3] It also won several awards including the Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actor and the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor, for Khan and Bachchan respectively.

Plot

Narayan Shankar (Amitabh Bachchan) has been the strict Headmaster of Gurukul, a prestigious all-boys college, for 25 years. He believes in bringing the best out of his students by emphasizing tradition and discipline, with no room for fun and games. He is particularly intolerant of romance, decreeing that any student who is caught having a romantic affair will immediately be expelled.

Despite this draconian rule, three Gurukul students – Sameer (Jugal Hansraj), Vicky (Uday Chopra), and Karan (Jimmy Sheirgill) – all fall in love. Sameer is head over heels for Sanjana (Kim Sharma), his childhood friend who already has a steady boyfriend; Vicky falls for Ishika (Shamita Shetty), a student at the neighbouring all-girls college who rebuffs his attempts to flirt with her; and Karan has a crush on Kiran (Preeti Jhangiani), a beautiful young widow whose military pilot husband has been shot down and whom he sees alone one night in a train station.

Meanwhile, Narayan Shankar hires Raj Aryan Malhotra (Shah Rukh Khan) as Gurukul's new music teacher. Friendly and a firm believer in the power of love, Raj Aryan makes it his mission to spread love throughout Gurukul. He sympathizes with the predicaments of Sameer, Vicky, and Karan, and encourages them to not give up and stay loyal to their loves. He tells them that he has a special love himself, Megha (Aishwarya Rai), saying that although she is dead, he imagines her to be by his side every day.

One day, as part of his plan to spread love throughout the school, Raj Aryan throws a party and invites the students of the all-girls college. Narayan walks in on the party, shuts it down, and furiously threatens to fire Raj Aryan. At this point, Raj Aryan reveals that he had been a student at Gurukul over a decade earlier and that he had fallen in love with Megha, who happened to be Narayan's one and only daughter. Narayan had expelled Raj Aryan from the school without even seeing his face, and a distraught Megha, unable to live without Raj, committed suicide. Raj Aryan declares that he has come back to Gurukul to honour Megha's memory by reversing the school's zero-tolerance policy on romance, and promises that before he leaves he will fill the school with so much love that even Narayan will be unable to stop it. A shocked Narayan takes this as a challenge and allows Raj Aryan to remain for a while longer.

Sameer, Vicky, and Karan are all able to win over their loves, but Narayan retaliates by tightening the rules of Gurukul. The student body, however, encouraged by Raj Aryan, continues to defy the rules, and in a last-ditch effort to preserve the school atmosphere he has built up for 25 years, Narayan expels Sameer, Vicky, and Karan. Raj Aryan speaks up on their behalf, stating that they did nothing wrong by falling in love and accusing Narayan of causing his own daughter's death with his intolerance of love. He also says that 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 harsh words sting Narayan, and he tearfully realizes his strict no-romance policy has been misguided. He apologizes to the student body and resigns as headmaster of Gurukul, and nominates Raj as his successor, who accepts.

Cast

• Amitabh Bachchan as Narayan Shankar
• Shah Rukh Khan as Raj Aryan Malhotra
• Uday Chopra as Vicky Oberoi
• Jimmy Sheirgill as Karan Chaudhry
• Jugal Hansraj as Sameer Sharma
• Shamita Shetty as Ishika Dhanraj
• Kim Sharma as Sanjana
• Preeti Jhangiani as Kiran
• Aishwarya Rai as Megha Shankar
• Amrish Puri as Major General Khanna
• Shefali Shah as Nandini
• Parzan Dastur as Ayush
• Saurabh Shukla as Sanjana's father
• Anupam Kher as Kake
• Archana Puran Singh as Preeto
• Helen as Miss Monica

Production

Before the production of the film, Amitabh Bachchan was attempting a revival of his career but it was of little success. Also, he was in financial trouble with the bankruptcy of his production company, ABCL, which was hurting his image. These troubles left him almost penniless, and it was at this time that he contacted his friend and director/producer Yash Chopra, who told him of an upcoming production that he could be in.^[4] With Mohabbatein, he was finally able to shed his "hero" image and to play older, more mature roles.^[4] This was the first film in which Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan appeared together. This created a strong buzz for the film as it brought two huge stars of different generations together.

Filming

Longleat House (in the picture) was used as the location for the Gurukul School in the film.

Filming took place in India and England.^[5] Longleat, a country house in Wiltshire, England, was used as the location for filming Gurukul school. Oxford and Cambridge Universities were also used for filming. The scene where Narayan Shankar walks right before meeting Raj Aryan was filmed at the Queen's College, Oxford. The railway station scenes were shot at Apta Railway Station, Panvel Maharashtra, India. The scene where Karan asks for friendship from Kiran was shot at Birla Mandir, Revdanda, Hyderabad, Alibag, Maharashtra, India. It was rumored that Sridevi was approached to be a love interest to Narayan Shankar, but she turned down the role.^[6] Midway through the filming of the song "Aankhein Khuli", Jugal Hansraj fractured his foot, which required him to wear a cast for the rest of the filming of the song. Aishwarya Rai was slated to only make a guest appearance, but her presence generated so much interest that her role was promoted to that of a regular character.^[7]

Music

Mohabbatein
Soundtrack album by Jatin-Lalit
Released	2000[8]
Genre	Feature film soundtrack
Length	50:52
Label	YRF Music
Producer	Yash Chopra
Jatin-Lalit chronology
Dhai Akshar Prem Ke (2000)Dhai Akshar Prem Ke 2000 '''Mohabbatein''' (2000) Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani (2000)Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani2000
External audio Audio Jukebox on YouTube

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Planet Bollywood	[9]

The music of Mohabbatein was composed by Jatin Lalit while lyrics were penned by Anand Bakshi. The album was very well received by the audience. It was the best selling Bollywood soundtrack of the 2000s. According to the Indian trade website Box Office India, around 5,000,000 albums were sold.^[10]

Music was used extensively throughout the film and features leitmotifs that relate to each of the main characters (each couple having unique theme music).

Reception

Awards and Nominations

References

External links

• Mohabbatein on IMDb