Ishq (1997 film)

Ranjit Rai and Harbans Lal Saxena are two wealthy businessmen who despise the poor. However, Ranjit's son Ajay meets with his childhood friend Raja, a poor mechanic; while Harbans's daughter, Madhu is good friends with Kajal, who is also poor. They fix up Ajay's marriage with Madhu by getting their signatures on a marriage certificate by deceit and send Ajay to meet Madhu at Harbans's place in Ooty. As fate would have it, Ajay falls in love with Kajal instead and Raja and Madhu, after a bad start, fall in love. This angers the two men, and they try to bribe Raja and Kajal into leaving Madhu and Ajay. When this doesn't work, they unsuccessfully try to get Raja and Kajal killed although they are able to escape and kill the lead assailant despite Ajay suffering severe injury. Seeing his son angry at him, an upset Ranjit hurts himself physically and reveals that he was the one who ordered Raja and Kajal's death which strengthens the love of the four as Ajay recovers and forgives his father at the suggestion of Raja and Ranjit finally approves of his son's marriage to Kajal.

Despite Harbans not sharing the same enthusiasm for his daughter marrying Raja, he attends the engagement of Raja and Madhu, appearing to have approved of her marrying the man she has chosen. On the way to Raja and Madhu's engagement ceremony, Kajal gets kidnapped when they are held up by people lighting fireworks and Raja tries to convince them to move. Raja saves her from being raped by goons and comforts her after fighting and defeating their leader. Meanwhile, without their knowledge, photos are taken of them. Shortly after Raja and Kajal arrive at the party, the fathers then show the photos of Raja comforting Kajal. Taken out of context, the photos make it look like Raja and Kajal are being intimate with each other. Kajal's uncle also testifies that Raja and Kajal have been having an affair for some time now and does not acknowledge that anything happened along the way to the party while claiming that they even aborted a child. Raja and Kajal try to prove their innocence, but Ajay and Madhu, refuse to listen to them as Ajay assaults Raja and demands that he and Kajal leave. Ajay and Madhu break up with Kajal and Raja, and the fathers' plan succeeds. Raja takes Kajal into his home and cares for her like a sister.

The situation worsens further when Ajay and Madhu think that Kajal is pregnant with another child from Raja when she is really sick. They insultingly tell Raja and Kajal that they are getting married, which is what their fathers wanted all along. After hearing this, Kajal attempts to kill herself, but Raja stops her. Intending to teach Ajay and Madhu a lesson, Raja attacks them while they are in their car. Raja pretends to show that he is about to rape Madhu after he assaults Ajay, but Ajay saves and comforts Madhu after fighting Raja who is then taken into custody by the police. He is beaten brutally, and Kajal runs to where Ajay and Madhu's wedding is happening, pleading with the fathers to release him. Both laugh at her and agree, but on the condition that Kajal and Raja leave the country for good and that they would be killed if they ever did return. Kajal agrees and Raja is set free. Despite reluctance to leave the country and continue to prove his innocence, Kajal eventually convinces him otherwise.

Ajay and Madhu's wedding is about to start when Ajay's uncle, Lambodar, shows them pictures of Ajay comforting Madhu after she almost got raped. This proves that Raja had attacked them to recreate the situation he and Kajal had been in, which in turn proved that Raja and Kajal are innocent and that the fathers were behind the initial attack on Kajal through their hired goons before Raja saved her which is revealed by Lambodar in front of everyone. Lambodar says that while the initial pictures taken appeared to show that Raja and Kajal were being intimate, that happened because it was presented in an entirely different manner by Ajay's father and despite Raja willing to prove his innocence, none of them would listen leading to him recreating the situation that he and Kajal had been in at which the pictures of Ajay and Madhu were taken. Further proving Raja and Kajal's innocence, Lambodar (with the help of another person) drags in Kajal's uncle and beats him repeatedly, forcing him to admit that he lied that night and was paid 2 million rupees by Raja's father to do so. Angry and heartbroken about doubting Kajal and Raja, Ajay almost chokes his father to death but his conscience stops him. He then tries to kill himself but Madhu and Lambodar stop him as Madhu realizes her father too has betrayed her. Ajay and Madhu decide to find Raja and Kajal and ask for their forgiveness on learning of their whereabouts from Lambodar, and they rush to the shipyard, succeeding in stopping Raja and Kajal from leaving the country on the ship. They ask for forgiveness and the lovers get back together. They then get to know that Ranjit delayed the ship's departure by half an hour, allowing Ajay and Madhu to meet their partners. The fathers arrive, having realized their grave mistake in their hatred for the poor, and also ask for forgiveness, declaring their discovery of how poor they are in spite of wealth and that their real wealth is their children. The lovers forgive them and everyone is reunited.

• Aamir Khan as Raja
• Ajay Devgan as Ajay Rai
• Juhi Chawla as Madhu Saxena
• Kajol as Kajal Jindal
• Johnny Lever as Lambodar Upadhyay
• Sadashiv Amrapurkar as Ranjit Rai
• Dalip Tahil as Harbans Lal Saxena
• Mohan Joshi as Madan Jindal
• Razzak Khan as Nawaab naadin Dhinna Changezi
• Shwetha Menon as Jia, dancer in song "Humko Tumse Pyar Hai"
• Ghanashyam Nayak as ACP Ghanshyam Gulati
• Achyut Potdar as Barrister Chandrakant Gokhale
• Deepak Shirke as Damliya
• Tiku Talsania as Pankaj Gaitonde
• Deven Verma as Behram
• Anant Mahadevan as Brijesh Lal Saxena

The movie was a blockbuster at the box office. It earned ₹53.2 crore, against a budget of ₹10 crore. Its gross is equivalent to ₹368 crore adjusted for inflation in 2019.[1] It became the third-highest grossing film of 1997, behind Dil To Pagal Hai and Border.[2]

The music was composed by Anu Malik. The Ishq soundtrack album sold 3 million units, making it the year's sixth best-selling Bollywood soundtrack album.[3] The tune of the hit track '"Neend Churai Meri" was copied from the Linear song "Sending All My Love". It was subsequently remade as Maine Tujhko Dekha by Malik's nephew Amaal Malik for the 2017 film Golmaal Again.[4][5]

• Ishq at IMDb