Daawat-e-Ishq

About the film

Daawat-e-Ishq (transl. Feast of love) is a 2014 Indian Hindi-language romantic comedy film directed by Habib Faisal, and produced by Aditya Chopra under the banner of Yash Raj Films. It stars Parineeti Chopra, Aditya Roy Kapur and Anupam Kher in the lead roles. The soundtrack was composed by Sajid–Wajid.

The film was released on 19 September 2014, to mostly positive reviews. The Hindu said Daawat-e-Ishq was a "potent recipe," and the Times of India gave it four stars out of five. The film collected ₹12.7 crore (US$1.3 million) at the box office in its first week run.

Plot

Gulrez "Gullu" Qadir lives in a lower-middle-class Hyderabadi mohalla and works at a mall as a shoe-sales girl with dreams of going to America. She lives along with her father Abdul Qadir who is looking for a suitable match for her but can't afford to pay big dowry, which will only get her some uncouth crude fellow. This doesn't make Gullu lose her optimism and humour. In her quest to find her Mr. Universe, she falls in love with Amjad and they decide to get married. Things do not work out as Amjad's parents ask for Rs. 80 lakhs in dowry. Enraged, Gullu plans to trap a dowry-hungry groom under IPC 498A (dowry act) and to recover lacs of money from him to fulfill her dream of going to America.

She and her father go to Lucknow with fake identities and intercept the manager of a renowned restaurant "Big Boss Haidari Kebab," known as Tariq "Taru" Haider. They choose Tariq as their target and when Tariq's parents ask for dowry from Abdul, she secretly records the entire conversation. During the three days before the wedding, Taru and Gullu get to know each other and Gullu starts falling for Taru. To her surprise, Taru gives her Rs. 40 lakhs in cash from his own savings, which his father asked for dowry. This way, Taru's father can maintain his conventions. And when Gullu's father gives Taru's father the 40 lakhs, it will not have been a real dowry.

Gullu still sticks with her plan of drugging Taru on their wedding night and runs away with all the cash — also recovering 40 lakhs more from Taru's family via a police officer, blackmailing him to file charges under section 498A. Taru decides to take revenge as he finds out her real identity. Meanwhile, Gullu and Abdul start preparing to leave for America. Gullu feels remorseful and guilty about scamming an honest person and decides to return all the money. When they reach the railway station to board a train to Lucknow, Gullu is confronted by Taru. Gullu returns all the money and confesses her love for him. They reunite and plan a real wedding without any dowry. Meanwhile, Amjad realizes his mistake after seeing their wedding video and confronts his parents for demanding a dowry. The film ends with Gullu opening a shoe shop in a mall named "GULLU".

Production

Daawat-e-Ishq is the second collaboration between Habib Faisal and Parineeti Chopra after Ishaqzaade (2012). Television actor Karan Wahi made his silver-screen debut with this film. Anupam Kher was to star. The film was extensively shot in Hyderabad and Lucknow.

Soundtrack

The full soundtrack was released by YRF Music on 17 July 2014.

Box office

The film was supposed to release on 5 September but was postponed to 19 September to avoid competition with Mary Kom. The film collected ₹3.25 crore (US$340,000) on its opening day and collected approximately ₹12 crore (US$1.3 million) on its opening weekend. Daawat-e-Ishq ended its theatrical run with worldwide collections of ₹35.58 crore (US$3.7 million).

Key details