Year: 1999
Runtime: 158 mins
Language: Hindi
Director: Prakash Jha
Anand Kishore, his wife Kavita and their daughter Neha enjoy a peaceful, contented life in Delhi. Their tranquility shatters when Kavita discovers that Neha is being stalked by a mysterious woman named Nandita Rai, thrusting the family into fear and uncertainty.
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Anand Kishore Ajay Devgn and his wife Kavita Kishore Mahima Chaudhry live a contented, quietly busy life with their adopted daughter Neha. Kavita has a long-standing friendship with Som Datt Chandrachur Singh, a man whose feelings for her have remained unrequited since their college days. The household is warm, built on routine and care, and the couple cherishes Neha as a bright presence who brightens their days.
The calm begins to shift when Kavita notices a stranger visiting Neha at school—a woman who introduces herself as Nandita [Kajol]. This encounter unsettles Kavita, who senses something unsettled beneath the surface of Neha’s world. When Nandita requests to spend more time with Neha, Kavita reluctantly invites her into the home, hoping to monitor the situation. Yet as Nandita stays, buried memories begin to surface, and an old, painful truth starts to emerge: Anand and Nandita were not strangers to each other years ago. The revelation unfolds slowly but with undeniable weight—the two are actually Neha’s biological parents.
Unfolding backstory reveals a fateful sequence on a moving train. Anand and Nandita had been strangers who crossed paths amidst danger as thugs hijacked the train. In the chaos, Anand acted to save Nandita’s life, and a brief, intimate moment followed during which they conceived a child. At that time, Anand was married to Kavita, but neither he nor Nandita ever learned the other’s name, and they parted as the train halted, with Nandita stepping away and disappearing into the crowd. Unknown to them both, Nandita becomes pregnant. Since she is unmarried and cannot identify the father, her family pressures her to give up the baby for adoption. Meanwhile, Kavita and Anand experience a separate tragedy—an accident that costs them their own unborn child. The two later adopt a baby from the same orphanage, a girl who will become Neha, without realizing she is the child conceived years earlier by Anand and Nandita. The years pass in quiet routine, and the truth lies dormant, entwining the lives of three people in an intricate, fragile knot.
As Nandita visits, the past begins to collide with the present. Kavita’s instincts sense something deeply personal and unsettling; she fears a hidden affair between Anand and Nandita, even as Anand insists he never knew Nandita was Neha’s biological mother, and that the adoption was a coincidence born of life’s twists. The couple faces a dilemma: how to guard their marriage and family while addressing a truth they never anticipated. Anand attempts to bridge the gap by reaching out to Nandita, even going to a distant construction site and playfully making blank calls to his own home, hoping to speak with her in person. When Kavita answers a ring and asks Nandita to identify who the caller is, Nandita lies, saying there was no one on the line. The deception sows seeds of doubt and jealousy, and Kavita’s trust begins to crumble.
The moment of truth arrives with the weight of years of secrecy. Kavita learns the truth and is overwhelmed by jealousy and anger, convinced that Anand and Nandita have been involved romantically. Anand protests, explaining that he did not know Neha was his biological daughter and that the infant’s adoption happened by chance. Yet Kavita’s hurt is deep, and she contemplates ending the marriage. In the meantime, Anand and Nandita attempt to navigate life with Neha, even as Kavita files for divorce. The trial and its surrounding emotions bring to light questions of fidelity, fate, and the choices that tether a family together.
At the courthouse, a tense negotiation unfolds. Anand pleads with Kavita to reconsider, while Nandita—whose own longing to be a mother is tempered by a profound devotion to Neha—offers a difficult compromise: she would step back and take Neha with her if Kavita cannot accept the arrangement. Kavita is torn; she loves Neha deeply and refuses to part with her, while Anand, seeing the bond and the love that surround Neha, supports Kavita’s instinct to keep their daughter in the family she has grown up with. The couple’s generosity and willingness to fight to keep their family intact underscore the complexity of the situation, and the emotional stakes become clear in every glance and every quiet conversation.
In the end, Nandita makes a difficult, heartfelt choice. She realizes that Anand and Kavita’s love for Neha—and for each other—provides the best future for the child. Rather than disrupt the life she once imagined for herself, she resolves to step away and permit Neha to remain within the home she has helped shape. The decision is wrenching but serene in its acceptance of the family’s bonded reality. The film closes on a resonant, bittersweet note as Anand hurries to the train station, where he finally finds Nandita, alone at the threshold of a moving carriage, her eyes meeting his in tearful acknowledgment of the love and loss that shaped their shared history. The moment is quiet and poignant, a reminder that some truths, though painful, define the paths we choose to walk together.
Last Updated: October 09, 2025 at 11:11
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