Refugee (2000 film)

Refugee
Directed by	J P Dutta
Produced by	J. P. Dutta
Written by	J. P. Dutta
Starring	Abhishek Bachchan Kareena Kapoor
Music by	Anu Malik
Cinematography	Basheer Ali
Editing by	Deepak Wirkud
Distributed by	HR Enterprises
Release dates	30 June 2000
Running time	207 mins.
Country	India
Language	Hindi

Refugee is a 2000 Indian film written and directed by J. P. Dutta. The film marked the debuts of Abhishek Bachchan, son of popular actor Amitabh Bachchan, and Kareena Kapoor, the younger sister of actress Karisma Kapoor. The film also starred Jackie Shroff, Sunil Shetty and Anupam Kher. The film performed moderately well at the box office and was the fifth highest grossing film of that year.^[1]

The films tells the story of an un-named Indian Muslim, who helps illegal refugees from both India and Pakistan to cross the border through the Great Rann of Kutch. The film is attributed to have been inspired by the short story "Love Across the Salt Desert" by Keki N. Daruwalla.

Synopsis

Bihar-based Muslim Manzur Ahmed and his family was migrated to East Pakistan after the partitioning of India in 1947. However, after the formation of the state of Bangladesh in 1971, he and several other people were forced to re-locate to the western part of Pakistan. To do this by land, they will have to cross India. The route from Dhaka leads to Guwahati in India then to Delhi then to Ajmer then to Bhuj, and then on to Haji Peer in Pakistan.

They get as far as Bhuj, but afterward they are assisted by an agent known only as "Refugee", who helps them trek their way across the Great Rann of Kutch to Pakistan. Refugee considers his clients as mere items of luggage and refuses to be emotionally involved with them and their stories. Then he meets Nazneen Ahmed, the young daughter of Manzur Ahmed, and he forgets this rule and falls in love with her.

Police on both sides of the border are aware of the illegal refugee traffic and the Indian police regularly questions Refugee and his old father Jan Muhammad. One day, Refugee assists four men to enter the Indian side of the border. These men then enlist the help of Mr. Muhammad's other son to get to Delhi. Shortly thereafter, explosions take place in trains, buses, and buildings in the Indian capital.

Refugee crosses the border once again to visit Nazneen Ahmed where she requests him to take her with him since her father wants to marry her to Mohammad Ashraf, a officer Pakistani border security forces. While crossing the border through Rann they are captured by Pakistanis rangers. Refugee is beaten up and sent to India on a camel. The Indian BSF captures him and treats him in hospital. The Indians informs him that he unknowingly helped terrorists cross into India and caused several deaths. Refugee joins the BSF and fights the terrorists who laid siege to his village.

The film ends with Nazneen Ahmed giving birth to a child at the border between the two nations. Indian and Pakistani BSF officers discuss the child's nationality in a lighter vein.

Cast

• Kareena Kapoor as Nazneen "Naaz" M. Ahmed
• Sunil Shetty as Mohammad Ashraf
• Jackie Shroff as Raghuvir Singh
• Shadaab Khan as Shadab J. Mohammad
• Abhishek Bachchan as Refugee
• Reena Roy as Amina J. Mohammad
• Mukesh Tiwari as Tausif
• Ashish Vidyarthi as Makkad
• Sudesh Berryas Gul Hamid
• Avtar Gill as Atta Mohammad
• Vishwajeet Pradhan as BSF Officer
• Puneet Issar as Sikh Priest
• Geetawali Rajkumari as Salma-Naaz's little sister
• Nimai Bali as Jaffar Gul Hamid's hentchmen

Crew

• Producer: J. P. Dutta
• Director: J. P. Dutta
• Lyricist: Javed Akhtar
• Music Director: Anu Malik
• Background Music: Aadesh Shrivastav
• Cinematography: Basheer Ali
• Choreography: Ganesh Acharya, Saroj Khan & Habiba Rehman
• Editor: Deepak Wirkud
• Sound: Hitendra Ghosh
• Dialogue: J. P. Dutta
• Costume: Bindiya Goswami & Anna Singh
• Publicity Designs: HR Enterprises
• Story / Writer: J. P. Dutta

Music

The film's music received two National Film Awards: one for Best Music Direction and the other for Best Lyrics (for the song "Panchi Nadiya").

Taran Adarsh gave the album 4.5 out of 5 stars and praised the song by saying "The music touches the heart of every listeners and every moment you feel like a heavenly moment."

Awards

National Film Awards

• Best Music Direction - Anu Malik
• Best Lyrics - Javed Akhtar for "Panchhi Nadiya"

Filmfare Awards

The awards it won are highlighted in bold.

• Best Supporting Actor - Sunil Shetty
• Best Male Debut - Abhishek Bachchan
• Best Female Debut - Kareena Kapoor
• Best Lyricist - Javed Akhtar for "Panchhi Nadiya"
• Best Male Playback - Sonu Nigam for "Panchhi Nadiya"
• Best Female Playback - Alka Yagnik for "Panchhi Nadiya"
• Best Dialogue - O.P. Dutta
• Best Cinematography - Bashir Ali

Locations filmed

The Crew having traveled from Mumbai was based at the city of Bhuj and majority of the film shooting took place in various locations around in the Kutch District of the Indian state of Gujarat including the Great Rann of Kutch (also on BSF controlled "snow white" Rann within), Villages and Border Security Force (BSF) Posts in Banni grasslands and the Rann, Tera fort village, Lakhpat fort village, Khera fort village, a village in southern Kutch, some ancient temples of Kutch and with parts and a song filmed on set in Mumbai's Kamalistan Studios.

Production

Bipasha Basu was convinced by another judge, Jaya Bachchan, to play the role of a village belle opposite her son Abhishek Bachchan in J. P. Dutta’s Aakhari Mughal. However the film was cancelled, and Dutta instead changed the script and made Refugee with Kareena Kapoor.^[2] Basu was also offered a role in Refugee opposite Sunil Shetty, which she declined.^[3]

Inspiration

Refugee is attributed to have been inspired by the story based around the Great Rann of Kutch by Keki N. Daruwalla titled Love across the salt desert.^[4] which is also included as one of the short stories in the School Standard 12 syllabus English text book of NCERT in India.^[5]

References

External links

• Refugee at the Internet Movie Database