Ishaqzaade

Story:

Ishaqzaade is a 2012 Indian Hindi-language romantic action film written and directed by Habib Faisal, and produced by Aditya Chopra under Yash Raj Films. The film stars debutant Arjun Kapoor and Parineeti Chopra in the lead roles, with Gauahar Khan, Natasha Rastogi, Anil Rastogi and Shashank Khaitan in supporting roles. The official trailer was unveiled on 15 March 2012, and the film was released on 11 May 2012.

PLOT

The Chauhans and the Qureshis are two political families whose rivalry and mutual hatred for one another goes back generations. Parma (Arjun Kapoor) is a good-for-nothing local thug, grandson of the patriarch Surya Chauhan. Surya often takes digs at Parma for being the useless son of his widowed daughter-in-law Parvati, and this makes Parma try to prove himself worthy. Zoya (Parineeti Chopra), a practising Muslim who offers Salat five times a day, is the trigger-happy, hot-tempered, only daughter in a traditional Muslim house full of brothers, along with her patriarchal chauvinistic parents. She desires to go into politics like her father Aftab, but this dream is constantly laughed at by her family since she is a woman.

When the local elections take place, Parma and Zoya’s canvassing efforts lead to a clash between them, which results in Parma being slapped across the face by Zoya. While Parma is enamored by Zoya’s fearlessness, Zoya is intrigued by his charm, including his inability to properly pronounce her name, calling her “Joya”, instead of the proper “Zoya”. They fall in love after a series of incidents bring them together, and elope; Parma converts to Islam and changes his name to Parvez. After marriage, Parma and Zoya consummate the marriage in an empty train carriage by having sex. Parma soon reveals that he tricked Zoya – the wedding ceremony was fake, and they are not married. He perpetrated the sham wedding to get her to have sex with him, which would bring shame upon her family. He, therefore, took revenge against her clan, and repaid the humiliation of her slapping him earlier on. Zoya is left heartbroken and devastated, as Parma joins his family in a celebration of “becoming a man”. Zoya attempts to invade the celebration in order to shoot Parma, but is intercepted by Parvati, who urges her to calm down. Parvati tells Parma that he must honour his marriage vows regardless of whether he meant them, and stand right by Zoya. Despite Parvati’s attempts to conceal her, the Chauhans come to know of Zoya’s presence in their home, and in the heat of the moment, Surya shoots Parvati when she tries to defend her son and daughter-in-law from the bloodthirsty gang. Parma realizes his mistake and protects Zoya from being murdered by his family.

Parma and Zoya go on the run from their families and take refuge in a brothel. At first, Zoya is still furious with Parma for his deception and even believes that he was trying to sell her to the brothel. She attacks him with a shard of broken glass, cutting his arm badly. The brothel madame, Chand Bibi (Gauahar Khan), who knows Parma from early on, allows them to stay while Parma recovers and Zoya begrudgingly nurses him. He asks her for forgiveness, and though she refuses to grant it, she shows that she still loves him through little actions of affection. However, their mutual grief soon brings them together, giving their love a second chance. The two exchange wedding vows in a legitimate ceremony at the brothel without any religious conversion. Zoya decides to try reconciling with her family, and takes Parma to her home to win over Aftab. They are instead met with hostility and gunshots when Aftab puts a gun to her head, threatening to kill his own daughter.

The couple flees as Aftab sends his men after them. Zoya and Parma prepare to run away to Jaipur, but when Parma leaves the safety of the bus to get water, their pursuers spot him and apprehend Zoya. She breaks free as Parma furiously fights to save her. They are reunited briefly, but quickly are found by Parma’s former friends and run to the local college, which is closed for Eid. The two rival families decide that Parma and Zoya’s marriage is a stain on their respective religious communities and political careers, and they try to kill the couple by joining forces.

Parma and Zoya take refuge on a terrace, engaging in a gunfire battle. With only a few bullets left, Zoya realises that they are outnumbered. She asks Parma to shoot her so that their love can win and they can die in the victory of their love, rather than be riddled with bullets by their own families, and allow hatred to win. The two shoot each other in the abdomen willingly and die in each other’s arms, smiling. The goons check if they are dead and go inform the two families, who leave satisfied.

The film ends with Parma and Zoya’s bodies lying on the terrace, and an on-screen message that explains how thousands of lovers like them are killed every year only because of falling in love outside their caste and/or religion.