Fanaa Trivia

The next big release of the year is Fanaa from Yash Raj Films. The title Fanaa means annihilation in Sufism, a mystic tradition of Islam. It also means destruction or destroyed in love in Urdu|Hindi. In Urdu/Hindi, it can convey the meaning of totally lost in love, or completely encapsulated by love.

The movie has been directed by Kunal Kohli and produced by Yash Raj Films. Kunal Kohli had earlier directed Hum Tum for Yash Raj Films. The film also stars Shiney Ahuja, Rishi Kapoor and Kiron Kher and Tabu, Lara Dutta, Sahil Chaudhry and Vishal Rampal in special appearances.

The script of the movie has been kept secret by the director. Director Kunal Kohli sent Aamir Khan and Kajol a draft of the script, hoping they would agree with each other. His plan backfired - each of them sent back their revised versions of the script, with their own little adjustments, which included more depth and flesh to their own characters and less to the others.

The film is highly anticipated as it marks the end of Kajol's four year sabbatical from the film industry. It also brings together for the first time ever the mercurial talents of Aamir Khan and Kajol. The two worked together in Ishq, but were not paired opposite each other.

Zooni Ali Beg (Kajol) is a blind Kashmiri girl who travels for the first time all alone. On her journey, she meets Rehan Qadri (Aamir Khan), a casanova and tour guide. Although her friends warn Zooni about him, she still wants to experience the feeling of being in love for the first time and spends time with him. They travel Delhi and Rehan shows her the city and starts to develop feelings for her but he also keeps a secret from her that his ulterior motives may threaten her life.

The film was shot in Poland, because Kajol refused to shoot in the valleys of Jammu and Kashmir fearing terrorist attacks. The film was also shot shot in several historical locations in Delhi including the Red Fort, Jantar Mantar, Qutub Minar, Purana Qila and Lodhi Gardens.

The music of Fanaa is by Jatin Lalit is becoming quite popular and is climbing the music charts especially the melidous "chaand sifaarish" sung by Shaan and Kailash Kher. Interestingly, this is Jatin Lalit’s last movie together as composer duo because they have decided to pursue their music careers separately. Jatin Lalit have composed some chart busting numbers over the years and they have always given their best for a Shahrukh Khan film. More about that, in my next post.