1942: A Love Story

The film is set in 1942, when the British Raj was declining from power. It was a time when many Indian citizens were either working for the British regime or rallying in underground meetings and protests against them. In this atmosphere, Naren Singh (Anil Kapoor) falls in love with Rajeshwari "Rajjo" Pathak (Manisha Koirala). Their romance is shown developing in spite of the political and social unrest at the time.

Naren's father Diwan Hari Singh (Manohar Singh) is a loyal British employee working for the brutal British General Douglas (Brian Glover), who is infamous in tracking down and executing citizens who are believed to be revolutionaries. Rajjo's father Raghuvir Pathak (Anupam Kher) is a revolutionary fighting against British rule, as he holds a grudge against Douglas for murdering his son. When Naren asks Raghuvir for Rajjo's hand in marriage, Raghuvir becomes livid by this. However, Naren declares that he is willing to sacrifice everything for Rajjo, and convinces Raghuvir of his love for her. Raghuvir relents, but tells Naren to talk to his father first. When Naren does so, Hari is angry that his son has chosen the daughter of a revolutionary, but pretends that he will do anything for Naren's happiness.

However, Hari tricks Naren into revealing Raghuvir's secret location, and leaks the information to Major Bisht (Danny Dengzongpa) and the British authorities. Soon, police barge into Raghuvir's hideaway and try to kill him, only to find him waiting to light a bomb, killing both himself and the men. Rajjo, who was out at that time, realizes what has happened and runs away. She is taken into refuge by Shubhankar (Jackie Shroff), a compatriot of Raghuvir who has learned of his death. Under Shubhankar's tutelage, Rajjo follows her father's revolutionary path. Meanwhile, Naren get furious at his father for using him in killing Raghuvir and driving Rajjo away. Promising to make up to Rajjo and help her cause, Naren pledges to become a revolutionary by severing all ties with his father; even Bisht's daughter Chanda (Chandni) does the same after witnessing Bisht murdering her teacher Abid Ali Baig (Pran), who is a revolutionary allied with Shubhankar, much to Bisht's remorse.

To prove more his point, Naren attempts to murder Douglas in front of the city, but is caught in the act after shooting down a few soldiers. Naren is then convicted and sentenced to hang for attempted murder. Douglas then orders his troops to fire at the town square, resulting several deaths of citizens, including Chanda. However, Shubhankar saves Naren from being hanged, and Bisht develops a change of heart after witnessing Chanda's death, helping Shubhankar and Naren in finishing off Hari and the remaining loyalists and stabbing Douglas with a flagpole. With the loyalists dead, Naren reconciles with Rajjo while Shubhankar hangs Douglas to death, avenging all those who perished under Douglas' wrath. The film ends with Naren, Rajjo, Shubhankar, Bisht and the surviving citizens hoisting and saluting the Indian flag.

• Anil Kapoor as Narendra “Naren” Singh
• Manisha Koirala as Rajeshwari "Rajjo" Pathak
• Jackie Shroff as Shubhankar
• Anupam Kher as Raghuvir Pathak, Rajeshwari's father
• Danny Denzongpa as Major Bisht
• Pran as Abid Ali Baig
• Chandni as Chanda Bisht, Major Bisht's daughter
• Ashish Vidyarthi as Ashutosh
• Raghuvir Yadav as Munna, Naren's best friend and driver
• Sushma Seth as Gayatridevi Singh, Naren's mother
• Brian Glover as General Douglas, a ruthless British general and the main antagonist.
• Manohar Singh as Diwan Hari Singh, Naren's father and the secondary antagonist

The location was mostly chosen from Himachal Pradesh, District Chamba and its small town Dalhousie, Khajjiar and Kala Top was filmed to depict pre-independence India.

The film's original songs were composed by R. D. Burman, who died before the release of the film, with lyrics by Javed Akhtar. R. D. Burman won his last Filmfare Award for Best Music Director and Javed Akthar bagged the Filmfare Award for Best Lyricist for "Ek Ladki Ko Dekha To". Kumar Sanu won his 5th consecutive Filmfare Award for Best Male Playback Singer for "Ek Ladki Ko Dekha To" and Kavita Krishnamurthy won the Filmfare Award for Best Female Playback Singer for "Pyaar Hua Chupke Se", the first of her hat-trick feat. The music in the introduction of the film is from Gustav Holst's The Planets - Mars the bringer of war.

The film was released after the death of music director Rahul Dev Burman.

• 1942: A Love Story at IMDb