1942: A Love Story

About the film

1942: A Love Story, also known as 1942 A Love Story, is a 1994 Indian Hindi-language romantic drama film, directed by Vidhu Vinod Chopra. It stars Anil Kapoor, Manisha Koirala and Jackie Shroff, with Danny Denzongpa, Anupam Kher, Pran and Brian Glover. The film revolves around lovers Naren (Kapoor) and Rajjo (Koirala), who come from contrasting family backgrounds and depicts how their relationship is threatened owing to the outbreak of the Indian revolutionary movement.

The film's core plot was reported to be inspired by the 1992 Kannada-language film Mysore Mallige, which itself was based on the 1942 work of same title by K. S. Narasimhaswamy. The screenplay was jointly written by Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Kamna Chandra and Chopra. Binod Pradhan acted as the cinematographer while Renu Saluja edited the film. This was the last film work of R. D. Burman, who died before the release of the film. Upon release, the film did not perform well commercially. It was praised for the performances, soundtrack, cinematography, and theme, but criticized for its story, screenplay, and pacing. Over the years, the film developed a cult following and is now remembered more fondly than its box office numbers suggest.

Plot

The film is set in 1942, when the British Raj was declining in power. It was a time when many Indian citizens were either working for the British regime or rallying in underground meetings and protests against them. In this atmosphere, Narendra Singh falls in love with Rajeshwari Pathak. Their romance is shown to develop in spite of the political and social unrest at the time.

Narendra's father, Diwan Hari Pratap Singh, is a loyal British employee working for the brutal British General Douglas, who is infamous for tracking down and executing citizens who are believed to be revolutionaries. Rajeshwari's father, Raghuveer Pathak, is a revolutionary fighting against British rule, as he holds a grudge against Douglas for murdering his son. When Narendra asks Raghuveer for Rajeshwari's hand in marriage, Raghuveer becomes livid. However, Narendra declares that he is willing to sacrifice everything for Rajeshwari and convinces Raghuveer of his love for her. Raghuveer relents but tells Narendra to talk to his father first. When Narendra does so, Hari is angry that his son has chosen the daughter of a revolutionary, but he pretends that he will do anything for Narendra's happiness.

However, Hari tricks Narendra into revealing Raghuveer's secret location and leaks the information to Major Bisht and the British authorities. Soon, police barge into Raghuveer's hideaway and try to kill him, only to find him waiting to light a bomb, killing both himself and the men. Rajeshwari, who was out at that time, realizes what has happened and runs away. She is taken into refuge by Shubhankar, a compatriot of Raghuveer who has learned of his death. Under Shubhankar's tutelage, Rajeshwari follows her father's revolutionary path. Meanwhile, Narendra gets furious at his father for using him to kill Raghuveer and drive Rajeshwari away. Promising to make up to Rajeshwari and help her cause, Narendra pledges to become a revolutionary by severing all ties with his father; even Bisht's daughter Chanda does the same after witnessing Bisht murdering her teacher Abid Ali Baig, who is a revolutionary allied with Shubhankar, much to Bisht's remorse.

Production

Kamna Chandra, one of the scriptwriters of the film, had gone to the United States to meet her daughters Tanuja and Anupama (whom Vidhu Vinod Chopra would later marry) as they were studying there. Having watched Chopra's film Parinda on video and being impressed with it, both of them asked their mother to write a story and approach him to direct it. Chandra had previously written Prem Rog and Chandni; both were love stories. She knew Chopra made "dark films", but decided to meet him.

After returning, Chandra met Chopra at Natraj Studios. She made him listen to two or three of her ideas, among which he liked one and asked her to develop it. Chandra finished the script and dialogues by a year, until a day when Chopra himself called her and suggested that they should make a love story set in another era instead of the present time. This provoked Chandra, who could not sleep that night. However, she became excited in the next few days. Having grown up amidst the Indian freedom struggle, she decided to place the story at that time. This formed the core plot for 1942: A Love Story.

Aamir Khan had initially been offered the role of Narendra, but he declined. Anil Kapoor was then approached, who was hesitant to do the film and suggested Bobby Deol and Aamir Khan for the role. However, he was later convinced. To prepare himself for the role, Kapoor worked hard — he lost weight, cut short his hair, trimmed his moustache and worked on his costumes to create the character. Shah Rukh Khan was under consideration for the role later portrayed by Raghuvir Yadav. He did not feature as he had already been playing lead roles. Jackie Shroff, being cast as Shubankar, gave financial assistance to the film. For instance, some (extra) houses built at the film's set (which were first disapproved of by Vidhu Vinod Chopra due to the limited budget) were paid for by Shroff. Moreover, he also paid composer R. D. Burman on behalf of Chopra when he made them listen to the music of the film for the very first time.

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