Andaaz

Plot

Young Raj Malhotra (Akshay Kumar) lives with his elder brother, Rohit, his sister-in-law, Kiran, and his niece. After an accident fractures his leg, he is unable to walk for some time. Due to psychological reasons, he cannot walk even after the fracture heals. When the Malhotras move to Dehra Dun, Raj befriends their neighbour, young tomboy Kajal (Lara Dutta), as both share a common passion for aeroplanes. Kajal encourages Raj to walk, and he succeeds. Years later the two continue to be fast friends, and everyone expects them to marry soon. Raj secretly loves Kajal and is waiting for the right time to propose to her. However, Kajal sees him only as her best friend. Raj is recruited by the Indian Air Force and goes for training for a year and a half. After his training is over, he rushes to Kajal to propose to her, only to find out that she is in love with multimillionaire businessman, Karan Singhania (Aman Verma). Raj tells Kajal that Karan is the best life partner for her, and does not reveal his true feelings. Kajal and Karan get married and during the reception party, Kajal comes to know of Raj's feelings for her. Hurt by the fact that she did not see his feelings for her despite being Raj's best friend, Kajal asks him to move on with his life. Thereafter the Malhotras move to Nainital, and Raj relocates to Cape Town, South Africa for training.

During a visit to a club, Raj meets the vivacious and fun-loving Jiya (Priyanka Chopra). Jiya falls in love with Raj due to his clean personality, but Raj is unable to forget Kajal. After completing his training, Raj goes back to India where he finds that Jiya has already arrived and is living as a paying guest with his family. Jiya makes several attempts to impress Raj, however he still doesn't fall for her. During Karva Chauth, Jiya performs the rituals that a wife typically does for a husband but Raj becomes angry and asks Jiya to leave. Raj's family reveals that they had hoped Raj would marry Jiya. Finally, Raj gives in and decides to marry Jiya and move on with his life.

While visiting Jiya's family, Raj learns that Kajal is Jiya's sister-in-law. It is revealed that Kajal is now a widow after Karan's death in a plane crash, in which Kajal survived. Kajal blames herself for Karan's death and even attempts suicide. Raj helps Kajal recover from her depression and enables her to face life again. Jiya notices their increasing closeness and suggests to her father that Kajal be married off. At Raj and Jiya's engagement, Kajal comes to know that her family has arranged her for engagement as well. Raj asks Kajal not to allow herself to be married off against her will. Angrily, Jiya states that Raj and Kajal will never be able to forget their past love for each other, regardless of the fact that Raj is supposed to be marrying Jiya. An irate Raj places the wedding sindoor on Kajal's head, indicating he has now married Kajal and no one has the right to question their relationship. Emotionally, Jiya reveals that she wanted Raj and Kajal to accept their feelings for each other in front of the world. The film ends with Jiya participating in Raj and Kajal's wedding ceremony.

Cast

The cast is listed below:

Production

Robin Bhatt, Shyam Goel and Jainendra Jain wrote the screenplay while Ishwar R Bidri handled the cinematography. Manish Malhotra designed the costumes for Dutta and Chopra. The film was extensively shot in Cape Town, South Africa. Sanjay Sankla edited the film.

Soundtrack

The music is composed by Nadeem-Shravan, and the lyrics are penned by Sameer. The album has eight tracks. The vocals were performed by Kumar Sanu, Alka Yagnik, Sonu Nigam, Sapna Mukherjee, Kailash Kher, Babul Supriyo and Shaan. Music was released on 26 February 2003 in an event in Mumbai.

The film's soundtrack album received positive reviews from music critics. Glamsham gave a positive review and wrote: "On the whole, the soundtrack of Andaaz showcases the marvelous and creative skills of the composer duo, Nadeem-Sharvan. No doubt, some of the tracks will win awards in the future. The album has an up market music. The whole content of the soundtrack is memorable and a gorgeous gift for the people who have an ear for rhythmical music". Planet Bollywood gave a rating of 7.5 (out of 10) noting it as a "good" album and wrote: "the album has two or three excellent songs and another three good numbers and couple of ordinary ones. Overall its definitely worth a buy especially so for Nadeem-Shravan/Sameer and melody fans. It is better than most of their recent efforts".

The music topped charts on a number of platforms in India. The soundtrack was the second best-selling Bollywood soundtrack of the year, with 2.5 million units sold according to Box Office India.

Release and reception

The film was released on 23 May 2003.

Andaaz received mixed reviews from critics, who praised the performances by its female lead (Dutta and Chopra), the cinematography and the music. Hindustan Times gave a rating of 3 out of 5, noting it as a "brightly wrapped" love triangle .

The film grossed ₹288 million against a budget of ₹80 million. The film was a major commercial success. Andaaz also celebrated silver jubilee by completing 100 days in theatres after the release and is considered as the first Universal Hit of 2003.

Television premiere

On 9th September 2017 Movie has been premiere on Zee Cinema on 9 P.M [IST]