Fanaa (film)

Fanaa (Destroyed in love) is a 2006 Hindi romance film, starring Aamir Khan and Kajol in pivotal roles. It is directed by Kunal Kohli who previously directed Hum Tum, and is produced under Yash Raj Films. The film also stars Rishi Kapoor, Kirron Kher, Tabu, and Shruti Seth. It bears many similarities to the US film and book Eye of the Needle.

Fanaa was released on 26 May 2006, in India. It was banned in the state of Gujarat due to protests against the lead actor Aamir Khan. Aamir Khan plays the role of a tourist guide in Delhi while Kajol plays a Kashmiri blind girl. The movie was the first to showcase Aamir Khan and Kajol's romantic pairing, even though they had acted together in Ishq in 1998. Many critics opined that the movie works largely due to the chemistry of the leads. Film's title is derived from Sufi term, "Fanaa" (Arabic: annihilation).

Rishi Kapoor and Kiron Kher play the role of Kajol's parents. The film marked the comeback of Kajol, who was last seen in Karan Johar's film, Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham (2001).

Story:

Zooni Ali Beg (Kajol) is a blind Kashmiri girl who travels without her parents for the first time with a dance troupe to Delhi to perform in a ceremony for Independence Day. On her journey, she meets Rehan Khan (Aamir Khan), a Casanova tour guide who flirts with her. Although her friends warn Zooni about him, she cannot resist falling in love with him and he takes her on a private tour of New Delhi. They share what both seem to consider their first and only night together before she has to leave. However, on the day of her departure, Rehan slips into the train and, with the blessing of her friends, carries Zooni away, seemingly singifying the beginning of their life together. With Rehan's encouragement, Zooni undergoes surgery to reverse her blindness. Rehan leaves to pick up Zooni's parents from the train station, promising to be there when she opens her eyes.

When Zooni does come out of surgery, her parents are there, but Rehan is missing. A terrible accident has occurred, seemingly orchestrated by terrorists. They bring her a scrap of cloth, which she recognizes as a sweater she'd made for Rehan, discovered amongst the debris. Rehan is presumed dead, and the mourning, guilt-ridden Zooni returns to Kashmir.

Seven years later, the terrorists are about to pull off a huge strike as a part of their plan. With parts stolen from India, Pakistan and Russia, they hope to build a nuclear explosive device. This device is capable of destroying a whole city—New Delhi or Islamabad—five million people within a ten mile radius. They will use it to pressure both countries into leaving Kashmir. A critical part is missing: the detonator or electronic "trigger" device. A still-living Rehan, who had faked his death to cover up his tracks after the accident (which he had caused) is to bring in this trigger.

Rehan infiltrates an Indian army unit that is taking the trigger back to Delhi to safeguard it from theft by the insurgents. During a helicopter transport in a remote area, he drugs his colleagues, steals the trigger, destroys the helicopter with a hand grenade and escapes by parachute. A key intelligence operative named Malini Tyagi (Tabu) realizes who he is, but cannot deploy forces quickly enough to stop Rehan. He is wounded by the troops, but escapes. Tyagi orders a communications blackout in the area so that he will not be able to contact the IKF.

Exhausted, wounded, and incommunicado with a storm building, Rehan seeks shelter in a remote house. He is shocked to find that the house belongs to Zooni, her father, and Zooni's young son, whom she has named Rehan after his supposedly deceased father. Neither of them recognize him: Zooni had never seen Rehan, as she was blind when they met, and her father had never met him, having not come to Delhi until the day of Rehan's supposed death. The child Rehan is very taken with the man, whom he calls "the dead man" (and later, to Zooni's distress, asks if he can call him "Papa"), and the adult Rehan likewise develops an affection for the little boy. Later, Rehan admits to his identity, though he cannot explain what he has done for the seven years since they parted, or why he played dead. Nevertheless, he still loves Zooni and she eventually realizes that she too loves him, and they marry in a simple ceremony performed by her father.

Soon afterward, through a TV broadcast, Zooni and her father separately discover that Rehan is the terrorist for whom a manhunt is in progress. Her father tries to stop Rehan, taking him to an Army friend's house so he can use his radio transmitter and then attempting to shoot him. Instead, Rehan, determined not to be discovered, accidentally pushes Ali off a cliff to his death, then uses the radio to contact the IKF. The IKF tell him they will send a pick-up helicopter the next morning. Then, when the army officer discovers Rehan in his home, Rehan kills him too.

Zooni finds her father dead, floating by under the ice in the river near which Zooni and her son are playing. When Rehan returns home, and tells her that her father is at the army officer's house drinking rum, she suspects that Rehan killed him. She takes the trigger to the army friend's house, and upon finding the colonel dead, radios the army. Tyagi apprises her of the seriousness of the danger, and the risk to millions of lives should the IKF get the device. Before the police or army arrives, Rehan finds her, and tries to convince her to give him the "trigger" so he can give it to his grandfather, who is arriving by helicopter. He promises her that no one will actually set off the bomb ("It's just a threat") and tells her this is the only way they can have a happy future together. He refuses to listen to any of her protests or begging. Grieved, but determined to stop him, Zooni runs out of the house after him and shoots him, crying "I love you, Rehan". Rehan's grandfather, witnessing the event from the helicopter, trains his gun on Zooni, but Tyagi arrives in time with an Indian army helicopter and shoots the terrorist leader and the helicopter down with a pistol. They collect the trigger as Rehan dies in Zooni's arms.

The final scene shows Zooni and little Rehan laying flowers on the graves of Rehan (Sr.) and Mr. Ali Beg. Rehan asks if his father was a bad man, and Zooni tells him that he was doing what he felt was right. Rehan kisses his father's grave and tells him that he loves him. Zooni tells her son, "It is easy to choose between right and wrong. But to choose the greater of two goods or the lesser of two evils... those are the choices of our life." thus recalling a line quoted by her father near the beginning of the film.