Baghban

About the film

Baghban (transl. Gardener) is a 2003 Indian Hindi-language family drama film directed by Ravi Chopra, co-written and produced by B. R. Chopra. It tells the story of an elderly couple, Raj (Amitabh Bachchan) and Pooja (Hema Malini), who have been married for 40 years. After Raj retires, they reunite with their four sons (Aman Verma, Samir Soni, Saahil Chadha, Nasir Khan) to discuss who will support them. However, none of the sons want to take care of both parents, causing Raj and Pooja to live separately.

Baghban was conceived by producer and co-writer B. R. Chopra during his 1960s trip across Europe, when he visited a retirement home and was inspired by the householders' story. Although the screenplay was finished in 1973, Chopra did not begin production for decades because he was busy with other projects. After he revived it, principal photography began in July 2002 in Film City. Baghban's soundtrack was composed by Aadesh Shrivastava, with lyrics written by Sameer.

Plot

Raj and his wife, Pooja, have been married for 40 years and have four sons: Ajay, Sanjay, Rohit, and Karan. They also have an adopted son, Alok, who falls in love with Arpita. Raj provides the orphaned Alok with money and education, raising him as his own son. Now successful, Alok venerates Raj because of his help. Raj retires and cannot support himself; he and Pooja decide to leave their home. They want to live with their children, who are unwilling to take care of them. The children decide to split their parents up; each lives with one of the sons for the next six months. They think that their parents will refuse the offer and remain in their home. However, Raj and Pooja reluctantly accept the offer.

They endure separation and poor treatment by their children. Raj stays first with Sanjay, and then with Rohit; Pooja stays first with Ajay, and then with Karan. While living with Sanjay, the only affection Raj receives is from his grandson Rahul. Saddened by the way he has been treated by his children, Raj writes about how he fulfilled his children's dreams and his treatment in return; he also writes about his love for his wife, and the pain their separation has caused. Pooja is abused by Ajay, her daughter-in-law Kiran, and her granddaughter Payal. Payal, however, repents when Pooja saves her from a rape attempt by her boyfriend and showers Pooja with love.

Changing trains after six months, Pooja and Raj spend time together in Vijaynagar. They encounter Alok, who brings them to his home and cares for them far better than how their sons had treated them in their homes. Raj learns that his writings have been published as Baghban, by Hemant, a café owner whom he befriended, along with two teenagers Kapil and Nilli, during his stay with Sanjay. The novel becomes a success, giving Raj the money he needs to support himself and Pooja. Knowing that their parents are earning more than them due to the launch success of the novel, the four sons and their wives plan to go to their book ceremony event for forgiveness. Everyone goes except Rahul and Payal because of the pain their grandparents went through and that the four sons are only going there just for their money not forgiveness. The sons ask for forgiveness, but Raj and Pooja refuse and disown them for the pain they have caused. Raj and Pooja then reunite with Payal and Rahul, and declare Alok and Arpita as their only son and daughter-in-law.

Production

The idea for Baghban came to director and producer B. R. Chopra in Copenhagen during a tour across Europe in the 1960s, when he stayed at a hotel next to a retirement home. In a Screen interview, Chopra said that when he sat on the hotel balcony, he saw elderly people sitting at the bungalows. After several days, he joined a couple there and struck up a conversation about their personal lives. The couple talked about feeling abandoned by their children and grandchildren, inspiring Chopra to make a film. During a 1973 holiday in Lonavala, he began writing the screenplay one afternoon and continued for fourteen hours; he finished it the next morning.

Chopra met his son, Ravi Chopra, back in Mumbai. Ravi was filming the action drama Zameer, a 1975 release starring Amitabh Bachchan and Saira Banu. During the filming, Banu told Ravi that she was tired and wanted to continue filming at Pali Hill. B. R. Chopra told his close friend, Dilip Kumar, that he wanted to make a film with him. Several years later, at a ceremony honouring Chopra's films, he asked Kumar about the project; the actor suggested casting Rakhee Gulzar as his wife, but Chopra did not do so. Banu became ill and went to London with her husband, Kumar. B. R. and Ravi Chopra were busy with Doordarshan's epic series Mahabharat (1988–1990), and Baghban was shelved. According to Ravi Chopra, who initially liked the story and wanted to direct it, he tried several times to revive the production but his other projects "kept coming to the fore".

After years in development hell, the project was revived. Achala Nagar was chosen to help B. R. Chopra write the screenplay, dialogue, and story; Satish Bhatnagar, Ram Govind, and Shafiq Ansari co-wrote them, and Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar polished the dialogue. Baghban was the last unofficial partnership between the legendary Salim–Javed screenwriter duo. Bachchan had requested that Akhtar write his final speech in the film while Salman Khan requested his father Salim Khan to write his speech in the film. Neither Salim Khan nor Javed Akhtar were credited.

Key details