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Title
Dahek
Cast Akshay Khanna, Sonali Bendre
Director Lateef Binny
Genre Romantic, Action
Year 2000
Dahek is the story of a girl, Neelima Bakshi (Sonali Bendre)
who belongs to a conservative Muslim Family. At the post office, she meets a boy
called Prince, Sameer Roshan (Akshaye Khanna) and it is love at first sight. In
the meantime , Neelima's uncle, Jabbar Bakshi (Danny Danzongpa) is released from
jail after 12 years . He is a staunch Muslim & applies tenets of his religion in
disciplining the whole household, thus instilling fear among the members of the
family. But their love blossoms despite restrictions. Prince gets admission in
medical college while Neelima is rejected. Yet their parting of ways makes their
hearts grow fonder. Fear enters their relationship, when a younger uncle, Naseem
Bakshi relates the story of their sister, Sabeena whose husband was killed by
Jabber Bakshi, just because she had fallen in love with him & they had eloped to
get married in court. Sabeena had also put and end to her life. This horrifies
Neelima. It is during one of the meeting she finds out that he is a Hindu.
Fearing repercussions from her family, Neelima stops seeing Prince. But this
separation proves short-lived since they both realize that they cannot live
without each other. Now starts the war of the families and tension mounts. She
is forced to get married to a boy chosen by the family. But Prince manages to
abduct her from the "Nikah" ceremony and they elope. This creates havoc within
the families and the news spreads like wildfire. People from both communities
come forward to exploit the situation for their personal gains. A family affair
degenerates into a social, political and religious issue, and religious leaders
take the lead in igniting passions, suddenly the situation takes and ugly turn
and there is rioting and arson in the city, innocent lives are lost. Meanwhile
Prince and Neelima are exploring their New World of love and romance. In this
volatile atmosphere, they are arrested and handed over to their respective
families. Before they can be united they are shot fatally by some unidentified
people. But who was responsible for their death? We. We have collectively killed
them. We the people. Did they deserve death? What was their fault? Does any
religion teach hatred and bloodshed? Religion is a pathway to life, not death.
This film wishes to convey just that. It is something we already know, but which
we have to be reminded of, so let us start thinking about it now.
   
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