Aarzoo

About the film

Aarzoo (transl. Desire) is a 1999 Indian Hindi-language romantic action film directed by Lawrence D'Souza starring Akshay Kumar, Madhuri Dixit, Saif Ali Khan, Amrish Puri, Paresh Rawal and Reema Lagoo. The film was primarily filmed in Mumbai, but some scenes were filmed in London and Edinburgh. The film was remade in Bengali as O Priya Tumi Kothay (2002).

Plot

Dayashankar (Amrish Puri) is a wealthy NRI living in London with his wife Parvati and daughter Pooja (Madhuri Dixit), who is the apple of his eye. Dayashankar also takes care of his deceased best friend's son Amar (Saif Ali Khan), who he regards as a surrogate son, and has always wished that he eventually marry Pooja. Studying in Edinburgh, Amar is overjoyed when he is invited to stay with Dayashankar's family in London. He eagerly prepares for his meeting with Pooja, with whom he has shared his childhood, and plans to ask her father for her hand in marriage as soon as possible.

However, Pooja has other plans – she has fallen in love with Vijay Khanna (Akshay Kumar), a pilot and plans to marry him. This bitterly disappoints Dayashankar, as he has already tacitly promised Amar that he would marry Pooja. After some convincing from Parvati and Amar, who have decided to give up on marrying Pooja, Dayashankar agrees to his daughter's wishes. Though heartbroken, Amar puts on a brave face during Vijay and Pooja's engagement and subsequent marriage.

However, tragedy strikes soon afterward as Vijay is declared dead in an aviation accident. Consequently, Pooja becomes a widow and becomes severely depressed; to make matters worse, she finds out she is pregnant with Vijay's child. Her father tells her to abort the child, with the fear of society looking down upon their family, and claims they will call her son a "bastard". Amar then tells Pooja he will take the responsibility to marry her and give the child his name. Amar willingly accepts this marriage and takes on the role of father to Pooja's baby boy. When Pooja realises that Amar has always loved her, she begins to reciprocate his feelings.

Soundtrack

The music was composed by Anu Malik, and the lyrics were penned by Anand Bakshi.

Reception

K. N. Vijiyan of New Straits Times wrote that "The attraction in this movie is definitely the stars, exotic scenery and the songs, not the story".

Key details