Yakeen

About the film

Yakeen (Translation: Trust) is a 2005 Indian Hindi-language romantic mystery thriller film co-written and directed by Girish Dhamija, starring Arjun Rampal, and Priyanka Chopra while Kim Sharma, Sudhanshu Pandey, and Saurabh Shukla play supporting roles. The film's screenplay was written by Vikram Bhatt. The film's plot is loosely inspired by the 1991 American film Shattered. The film's premise centres around a man who recovers from an accident with amnesia, and as he starts to piece together his former life, he feels that something is wrong.

Plot

The film begins with the recovery of Simar and her husband Nikhil from a car accident. Simar comes out unscathed, while Nikhil suffers most of the physical damage along with psychogenic amnesia. Simar is confident he will heal and resume his life. She brings in the best surgeons to reconstruct his damaged leg and face and helps him with his physiotherapy.

Although Nikhil is at first cautious, Simar's love and dedication win him over. After six months of therapy, he is discharged from the hospital, and the couple returns home. However, when Nikhil meets up with his old friends and goes through his personal files, he finds evidence that all was not well in his previous life. Now uncertain of his wife's true intentions, he starts retracing his steps from the night of the accident, meeting with his friend Tanya, who tells him that on the night of the accident, he had planned to divorce Simar for infidelity on her part.

Nikhil hires a private investigator named Chamanlal, who discovers that the accusation is true: Simar had been having an affair with a man named "Kabir." Nikhil secretly overhears Simar talking on the phone with Kabir, in which she insists their relationship is over because she has fallen back in love with Nikhil. She agrees to meet Kabir one last time. Nikhil follows Simar to a secluded house, where he witnesses an argument between Simar and Kabir. After a chase through the woods, it is revealed that Simar staged the entire thing: Kabir was never on the phone nor in the house because he has been dead the entire time. Simar confesses that on the night of the accident, Nikhil had found Simar and Kabir together, and in his rage, he killed Kabir. Simar wanted to protect Nikhil from the guilt and believed his amnesia had been a chance to start their relationship anew. Nikhil believes this and reconciles with Simar.

Production

The film was announced in 2003 with Priyanka Chopra in lead.

Soundtrack

The music is composed by Himesh Reshammiya with the lyrics written by Sameer. The album has eight tracks, including one instrumental and two reprise tracks.

Reception

Taran Adarsh of IndiaFM gave the film 2 out of 5, writing, "On the whole, YAKEEN could've been a taut edge of the seat thriller, which it isn't thanks to its not-too-happening post-interval portions." Patcy N of Rediff.com called the film "entertaining yet very predictable." She further wrote that the "movie starts well but tends to drag later. The end, though predictable, is very dramatic."

Jaspreet Pandohar of BBC.com wrote, "Sticking closely to its American predecessor, Yakeen races along, delivering twist after turn until it reaches its devastating climax. Rampal and Chopra also deliver convincing performances as the traumatised husband and wife, proving they are more than just pretty faces. But Yakeen still doesn't entirely impress: as the umpteenth Hollywood-Bollywood remake to be released this year, there clearly isn't an original bone in its entire body."

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