Refugee (2000)

Bihar-based Manzur Ahmed, his wife, his mother, and his daughter, decide to re-locate to East Pakistan after the partitioning of Hindustan during 1948, following the tussle between Sheikh ... See full summary »

Director:

J.P. Dutta

Writers:

J.P. Dutta (screenplay), J.P. Dutta (story)

Stars:

Jackie Shroff, Sunil Shetty, Abhishek Bachchan

12 wins & 10 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Jackie Shroff	...	BSF Officer Raghuvir Singh
Sunil Shetty	...	Ranger Mohammad Ashraf
Abhishek Bachchan	...	Refugee
Kareena Kapoor	...	Nazneen Ahmed
Reena Roy	...	Amina Mohammad
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Sudesh Berry	...	Gul Hamid
Hemant Chaudhary
Avtar Gill	...	Atta Mohammad
Vrajesh Hirjee	...	BSF Officer
Puneet Issar	...	Sikh Priest
Shadaab Khan	...	Shadab Mohammad
Kulbhushan Kharbanda	...	Manzur Ahmed
Anupam Kher	...	Jaan Mohammad
Geetawali Rajkumari	...	Salma-Naaz's little sister
Mukesh Tiwari	...	Tausif

Storyline

Bihar-based Manzur Ahmed, his wife, his mother, and his daughter, decide to re-locate to East Pakistan after the partitioning of Hindustan during 1948, following the tussle between Sheikh Mujib Rehman and Pakistan's General Bhutto, which led to the formation of Bangladesh, where Manzur and several other Muslims were forced to re-locate to Pakistan. In order to do this, they cross two borders, one with India and Bangladesh, and the second with India and Pakistan. The route from Bangladesh leads from Dhaka then to Guwahati then to Delhi then to Ajmer then to Bhuj, and then on to Pakistan's Haji Peer. They get as far as Bhuj, but afterward they are assisted by Jaan Mohammad's son, known only as Refugee, who helps them trek their way across the Rann desert to Atta Mohammad's house in Pakistan. Refugee considers his clients as mere items of luggage and refuses to be emotionally involved with them. Then he meets Nazneen and he forgets this rule, and they soon both fall in love with each ...

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Plot Keywords:

pakistan | desert | muslim | fire | cruelty | 

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Taglines:

A human story

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Genres:

Drama | Musical | Romance

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Details

Official Sites:

Indya.com

Country:

India

Language:

Hindi

Release Date:

30 June 2000 (India)

Also Known As:

Uchodzca

Filming Locations:

Rann of Kutch, Gujarat, India

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$160,000, 7 July 2000, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$540,000, 9 July 2000

Company Credits

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Abhishek Bachchan received lot of flak due to comparisons with his father. Kareena however received great praise for the role. Strangely 3 years later, in MPKDH the reverse happened. Kareena was criticized while Abhishek got praise.

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Connections

Referenced in Comedy Nights with Kapil: Happy New Year - Part 1 (2014)

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Soundtracks

Raat Ki Hatheli Par
Written by Javed Akhtar
Composed by Anu Malik
Performed by Udit Narayan
Courtesy of Saregama HMV

User Reviews

Love without boundaries

Refugee (Abhishek Bachchan) is a orphaned young man who lives in a border village and is the adopted son of the village head man Jaan Muhammad (Anupam Kher). He routinely ferries people across the Rann of Kutch into Pakistan and from there brings people into India. In one trip he takes Manzur Ahmad, his wife and daughter Nazneen (Kareena Kapoor) into Pakistan. The young folks bond and eventually fall in love. But the path of love is thorny with a Pakistan Army ranger (Sunil Shetty) and his soldiers, an Indian Army man (Jackie Shroff) and his soldiers, several terrorists and other sundry bad folks getting in the way of their union. There is the usual patriotism, separatism, idealism, villainy etc. that runs through the film. But it is not an out and out Pakistan bash and tries to preach a message of friendship with a clichéd ending when a child is born in the no-man's land area.

The story is somewhat unusual and the movie is visually stunning. The Rann and the desert surrounds frame the most beautiful scenery, and spots of color in clothing from that region. The sets are very authentic. The direction is okay, and dialogs uneven. But the film still manages to engage for two reasons - the lead pair that are introduced in this film actually do show some sparks of good acting. Abhishek is somewhat wooden and pouty, but he still manages to be convincing as the Refugee. Why is he called that? Kareena looks beautiful - young, earthy, and has moments of really good acting. It is inexplicable where she gets money to be in such beautiful clothes, but maybe not fair to question such stuff in a Hindi film! The rest of the cast is mediocre - Anupam, Sunil, Jackie, Kulbhushan etc. The music is very nice, the last song at the Dargah is amazing until it turns into a filmy fest with Jackie and Sunil dancing - cringe worthy! All in all it is certainly good for a one time watch - and one wonders where Abhishek squandered the potential he showed in this film.