Ek Duuje Ke Liye

Plot

The movie is about the love between a Tamil man, Vasu (Kamal Haasan), and a North Indian woman, Sapna (Rati Agnihotri), who are neighbours in Goa. They come from totally different backgrounds and can hardly speak the other's language. Their parents despise each other and they have regular skirmishes. When Vasu and Sapna admit their love, there is chaos in their homes, and their parents reject the idea.

As a ploy to separate the lovers, their parents impose a condition that Vasu and Sapna should stay away from each other for a year. After such a period, if they still want to be together, they can get married. During the year there should be no contact between them whatsoever. Vasu and Sapna reluctantly agree to the condition and decide to separate.

Vasu moves to Hyderabad, and they both initially suffer due to the separation. Vasu then meets Sandhya (Madhavi), a widow who teaches him Hindi. Meanwhile, Sapna's mother brings a family friend's son, Chakram (Rakesh Bedi), to Goa to distract Sapna from to Vasu, but she is not impressed. At a chance meeting in Mangalore, Chakram lies to Vasu that Sapna has agreed to marry him. Vasu is upset and decides to marry Sandhya on the rebound. However, Sandhya comes to know of Vasu's real love and goes to Goa to know the exact situation and to clear the misunderstanding between the lovers.

Vasu then returns to Goa and impresses Sapna's parents with his Hindi. When Vasu goes to meet Sapna he is attacked by a group of goons hired by Sandhya's brother (Raza Murad). Meanwhile, Sapna is raped by a librarian (Sunil Thapa) at a temple and is left to die. The movie ends tragically when Vasu and Sapna commit suicide by jumping off a cliff.

Cast

Ek Duuje Ke Liye marked the debut of three actors from South India in Hindi films: leading lad Kamal Haasan, leading lady Rati Agnihotri and supporting heroine Madhavi. Three of them received Filmfare nominations.

The only person who was missing in the Hindi remake who was in the original Telugu film Maro Charitra (1978) was leading lady Sarita, as her role was now played by Rati Agnihotri. Director K. Balachander, Kamal Haasan, Madhavi, and S.P. Balasubrahmanyam all repeated their artistry in the Hindi version.

Soundtrack

The music was composed by Laxmikant-Pyarelal and the lyrics were written by Anand Bakshi. It was the first Hindi film for South Indian singer S. P. Balasubrahmanyam; the music directors were initially against including him, feeling that the "Madrasi" would not do justice to a Hindi composition, but Balachander cited that if the lead character played by Haasan could not speak Hindi well, then even if Balasubrahmanyam blemished the song, it would "capture the character."

Two portions of "Tere Mere Beech Mein" were later sampled in the hit 2004 Britney Spears song "Toxic" as part of its hook.

Awards and nominations