Mohabbatein

Mohabbatein (transl. Love Stories) is a 2000 Indian Hindi-language romantic drama film that was written and directed by Aditya Chopra and produced by Yash Chopra under the banner of Yash Raj Films. The film stars Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, and Aishwarya Rai, and debuting actors Uday Chopra, Shamita Shetty, Jugal Hansraj, Kim Sharma, Jimmy Sheirgill, and Preeti Jhangiani. It narrates the story of Narayan (Bachchan), the strict principal of Gurukul college whose daughter Megha (Rai), commits suicide after he opposes her relationship with Raj (Khan), a music teacher at the college.

The film was originally planned to be Aditya Chopra’s directorial debut but it was his second film after Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995). Its themes were inspired by those from 1989 American coming-of-age drama Dead Poets Society. Produced on a budget more than ₹100 million (US$1.3 million), the principal photography of Mohabbatein, which was filmed in the United Kingdom, was handled by Manmohan Singh between October 1999 and late 2000. Sharmishta Roy and Karan Johar built the sets and designed the costumes, respectively. The duo Jatin–Lalit composed its music while Anand Bakshi wrote the lyrics.

Mohabbatein was released on 27 October 2000 and received widespread acclaim from critics, with Bachchan’s and Khan’s garnering the most praise. With a total gross of ₹900.1 million (US$12 million), the film was declared as a commercial success and became the highest-grossing Indian film of the year. It won four trophies at the 46th Filmfare Awards, including Best Actor – Critics (Khan) and Best Supporting Actor (Bachchan). It also received three Bollywood Movie Awards, four International Indian Film Academy Awards, one Screen Award, and two Zee Cine Awards.