Andaaz

Story:

Andaaz is a 2003 Indian Hindi-language romantic musical film directed by Raj Kanwar and produced by Suneel Darshan. It stars Akshay Kumar, Lara Dutta and Priyanka Chopra. It is written by Robin Bhatt, Shyam Goel and Jainendra Jain. It features Lara Dutta and Priyanka Chopra in their debut Bollywood film roles.

PLOT

Raj Malhotra lives with his elder brother Rohit, his sister-in-law Kiran, and his niece. After an accident fractures his leg, he is unable to walk for some time, and for psychological reasons, he cannot walk even after the fracture heals. When the Malhotras move to Dehradun, Raj befriends his family’s new neighbour, the tomboy Kajal, as both share a common passion for aeroplanes. With Kajal’s encouragement, Raj regains the ability to walk. Years later, the two continue to be close friends, and everyone expects them to marry soon. Raj secretly loves Kajal and is waiting for the right time to propose to her, but she sees him only as her best friend.

Raj is recruited by the Indian Air Force and spends a year and a half in training. After this is over, he rushes to Kajal to propose to her, only to discover that she is in love with multimillionaire businessman Karan Singhania. Raj still does not reveal his true feelings to Kajal, telling her that Karan is the best life partner for her. Kajal and Karan marry; during the reception party, Kajal learns of Raj’s feelings for her. Dismayed by the fact that she did not recognise Raj’s feelings for her despite being his best friend, Kajal asks him to move on with his life. Raj relocates to Cape Town, South Africa for further training, while his brother and family move to Nainital.

During a visit to a club, Raj meets the vivacious and fun-loving Jiya. She falls in love with Raj because of his clean personality, but he is unable to forget Kajal. After completing his training, Raj returns to India where he finds that Jiya has already arrived and is living as a paying guest with his family in Nainital. Jiya makes several attempts to impress Raj, but he still does not fall for her. During Karva Chauth, Jiya performs the rituals that a wife typically does for a husband, but Raj becomes angry and asks Jiya to leave. After Raj’s brother and sister-in-law reveal that they had hoped Raj would marry Jiya, he finally gives in and decides to marry her and move on with his life.

While visiting Jiya’s family, Raj learns that Jiya is none other than the sister of Karan Singhania. Thus, Kajal is now Jiya’s sister-in-law. Not only that, but it is revealed that Kajal has been widowed by a helicopter crash which killed Karan, but which she survived. Kajal blames herself for Karan’s death and has even attempted suicide. Raj helps Kajal recover from her depression, which enables her to face life again. Jiya notices their increasing closeness and suggests to her father that a second marriage be arranged for the widowed and childless Kajal.

At Raj and Jiya’s engagement, Kajal learns that her family is arranging an engagement for her as well. Raj urgently tells Kajal not to allow herself to be married off against her will. An angry Jiya says that Raj and Kajal will never be able to forget their past love for each other, even though Raj is supposed to be marrying her. An irate Raj places the wedding sindoor on Kajal’s forehead, indicating he has now married Kajal. An emotional Jiya reveals that her real intention had been to compel Raj and Kajal to accept their feelings for each other in front of the world. The film ends with Jiya participating in Raj and Kajal’s wedding ceremony.