The summer of 1988 was not just any summer. It was the season of love. It was when everyone around were humming Ghazab Ka Yeh Din, Ae Mere Humsafar and Akele Hai…It was the time India saw the release of one of its best love stories, and the resurgence of two new faces that would rule the box office for many years after that. The film was Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak, and the faces were that of Aamir Khan’s and Juhi Chawla’s.
It’s not that Qayamat se Qayamat Tak was the most relevant love story. Before QSQT, we had Love Story and Ek Duje Ke Liye, which were very successful love stories on celluloid. But what attracted QSQT most to the audience was that the teenagers could relate to the movie. May be it was Aamir’s chocolate boy looks or Juhi’s chirpiness and how their innocent love blossomed against the background of their brutal family feud (Romeo and Juliet, anyone?) – these were the few factors that endeared the movie to the young viewers. And the songs of course, just what to say about them…absolutely timeless!
Today, the iconic movie had completed 27 years in the history of Indian cinema. To commemorate this nostalgic moment, we have compiled this list of rarely known facts about the film that you probably never heard:
QSQT was not Aamir’s and Juhi’s debut film
Everyone knows that Aamir had played a child actor in Yaadon Ki Baarat. Ashutosh Gowariker paid tribute to this fact, when he inserted a scene from the movie in Swades, where Aamir as a child so innocently sang the title song. But many think Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak was actually Aamir’s adult debut – which is wrong. Aamir had, in fact, played the role of a rebellious college student in Ketan Mehta’s hard hitting drama, Holi, which incidentally also starred Ashutosh. Before that, he also made a 40-minute silent film called Paranoia. There was another film that he signed before QSQT, that could only be released after the success of QSQT. It was a little known revenge drama called Raakh, for which Aamir received the National Award – Special Jury Category.
Juhi Chawla was Miss India in 1984, coincidentally, the same year Aamir made his actual debut. Before QSQT, she played Karan Kapoor’s heroine in 1986, which also starred Dharmendra, Sunny Deol and Sridevi. The movie tanked, so everyone thought Juhi’s first film was QSQT.
Aamir and Juhi were both awarded Best Debutant and Lux New Face respectively at Filmfare, which, technically, was wrong! But who’s complaining?
Aamir’s ex-wife was in his launch song
This may be a famous trivia now. Aamir’s first wife and childhood sweetheart, Reena Dutta, appeared in his breakout song, Papa Kehte Hai. She had only come to watch the shooting, and Aamir and the film’s director, Mansoor Khan, thought it was would be cute if they included her in the song. We would have also thought it was cute, but then…you know..what happened later…
Don’t know where to find her? She is the girl in the red dress who appears between 5:04 and 5:13 in the below video of the song.
Incidentally, years later, Aamir’s nephew, Imran Khan, had a deja vu moment when his ladylove, Avantika, appeared in the song Auntyji from Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu.
The song Akele Hai Toh Kya Gam Hai wasn’t exactly original
The evergreen romantic song was in fact inspired from the famous instrumental rock band, The Shadows’ popular number Return to the Alamo. Check it out yourself:
Spot them
Aamir and Juhi were not the only new faces who became popular later. Aamir’s best friend was played by Raj Zutshi, his future brother-in-law, who is now a popular supporting actor in both serials and films, like Lagaan, Daddy, Zinda, Kya Kool Hai Hum etc. One of his other friends was played by Shehzad Khan, the son of popular villain Ajit. He is more famous for his role as a bumbling villian, Bhalla, in the comic caper Andaz Apna Apna, also starring Aamir. There is a gang in the film that tries to molest Juhi’s character. The leader of the gang is played by Makarand Deshpande, eminent theatre and film actor known for his roles in Sarfarosh, Swades, and plays like Sir Sir…Sarla. His gang members consist of Yatin Karyekar, known for his role as Shreyas Talpade’s father in Iqbal, and Aamir’s younger brother, Faisal Khan.
mran Khan played the child version of Aamir’s character
Imran Khan had played the child version of Aamir’s in two of his movies, QSQT and Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar. And he was adorably cute in both!
Mansoor Khan only directed three movies after that
It’s a strange fact that the film’s director, Mansoor Khan, followed up his mega-debut with only three movies. His second film, Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar was also a huge blockbuster. His third film, Akele Hum Akele Tum, a remake of the Hollywood film Kramer vs Kramer, flopped despite the songs being a huge hit. His last film, Josh, with Shahrukh Khan and Aishwarya Rai playing siblings, was a hit. This was the only film directed by Mansoor that didn’t have Aamir, though there was a rumour that Mansoor wanted Aamir to play Chandrachud Singh’s role, but Aamir wanted to have a go at SRK’s role.
It started the abbreviation fad.
The fad of having abbreviations for long titles, be it DDLJ, HAHK, K2H2, KMG, KNPH, had its origin with QSQT!
One of the most innovative marketing campaigns then
Aamir is a marketing genius, everyone knows that! But who knew he did his internship right there in his debut film! Along with Raj Zutshi, he personally glued posters of his film to every rickshaw he could find in Mumbai. There was also a poster which had no photographs. There was only this line, ‘Who is Aamir Khan? Ask the girl next door.’, which complemented Aamir’s boy-next-door image!
After the film released, the distributors had launched this strategy where they announced that for every person who buys 8 or more tickets, they would also give a free poster of Aamir and Juhi. In the age where Internet and downloading were yet to be known in India, the ploy worked big time!
You have any other unheard trivia about the timeless classic that we aren’t aware of? Please
