Lamhe

About the film

Lamhe (Moments) is a 1991 Indian Hindi-language musical romantic drama film directed and produced by Yash Chopra and written by Honey Irani and Rahi Masoom Raza. The film stars Sridevi (in a dual role as both mother and daughter) and Anil Kapoor in lead roles, along with Waheeda Rehman, Anupam Kher, Deepak Malhotra, and Dippy Sagoo in pivotal supporting roles. The film marks the second and final collaboration between Sridevi and Chopra after Chandni (1989).

Produced by Chopra under his production banner Yash Raj Films, Lamhe was shot in two schedules in Rajasthan and in London. Although the film did moderate business domestically, it was critically acclaimed.

Plot

A young NRI, Virendra Pratap Singh (Anil Kapoor), also known as Viren, comes to his homeland in Rajasthan, India for the first time along with his former governess, Durgadevi (Waheeda Rehman), affectionately called Dai Jaa. His late parents had migrated to London, United Kingdom long before he was born. While initially put off by the hot weather conditions and the traditional customs of the region, Viren meets the beautiful Pallavi (Sridevi) and falls in love with her almost instantly. Pallavi is the daughter of a wealthy businessman, Kothiwale Thakur (Manohar Singh), who had helped Viren's late father when his business was suffering. Viren and Pallavi become friends. However, upon noticing Viren's feelings for Pallavi, Dai Jaa indicates that Pallavi is eight years older than him, which still does not bother Viren. After losing a civil legal dispute involving his property, Pallavi's father dies of a heart attack, unable to bear the shock, and Pallavi goes into depression. Viren comes to console her at her father's mourning ceremony, only to be shocked to find Pallavi run towards her long-time boyfriend, Siddharth Kumar Bhatnagar (Deepak Malhotra), who is an airplane pilot. Viren is heartbroken, but reluctantly arranges Pallavi and Siddharth's marriage with a heavy heart and moves back to London without letting Pallavi know of his true emotions. However, in a cruel twist of fate…

20 years later, the now middle-aged Viren still finds it difficult to come to terms with the past and has been visiting Rajasthan every year in the two decades for Siddharth and Pallavi's death anniversary. However, he has avoided meeting Pooja on her birthday because she was born the same day Pallavi died, and the trauma and the pain of Pallavi's death are still fresh in his mind. Viren now comes back to India this year for the ritual and is shocked to see the now grown-up Pooja (also Sridevi), a spitting image of Pallavi herself. Viren feels that destiny is playing a cruel game with him, but still invites Pooja and Dai Jaa to his residence in London. In London, Viren's childhood friend, Prem Anand (Anupam Kher), is aware that Viren's heart still yearns for Pallavi, while Viren is still trying to engage himself in other works, but cannot forget Pallavi. Anita Malhotra (Dippy Sagoo), Viren's new girlfriend in London, is deeply in love with him and is also aware of Viren's love for Pallavi and constantly tries to win his attention. During Pooja and Dai Jaa's visit to London, Anita meets Pooja and realizes how she must be a constant reminder of Pallavi to Viren. Over a period of time, Pooja becomes possessive of Viren, so Anita tries to show her the truth and make her understand that she is wrong. Pooja retorts and tells Anita that if she herself is not related to Viren, Anita is…

Anita becomes frustrated and blasts Viren for his feelings for Pooja, telling him that he should be ashamed of having feelings for a considerably younger woman, just because she resembles her late mother, whom he loved. Meanwhile, Prem understands how much Pooja is attached to Viren since childhood, but is skeptical since Viren is still living in the past in the memories of Pallavi. However, things take a drastic turn when Pooja comes across Pallavi's portrait sketched by Viren and completely misunderstands it to be her own when it is actually of her mother. She confesses her love for Viren and confronts him over the portrait, but a furious Viren rebuffs Pooja and reveals that he actually loved her late mother, who resembled her. A shattered and humiliated Pooja tells Dai Jaa that she wants to return to India. After Pooja and Dai Jaa's departure from London, Prem strongly advises a confused Viren to confront his feelings for Pooja, pointing out the huge difference between Pallavi and Pooja.

Music

The music was composed by Shiv Kumar Sharma and Hariprasad Chaurasia (together known as Shiv-Hari), and the lyrics were provided by Anand Bakshi. The song "Kabhi Main Kahoon" was composed from a melody used as background music in Chopra's Chandni (1989), also scored by Shiv-Hari.

The songs included on the official soundtrack are listed here:

Key details