Top 100 Bollywood Movies of All Time: No.33 - "Bewafaa", One Of Director Dharmesh Darshan's Greatest Hit

Ariana Linh |Jul 13, 2019

Dharmesh Darshan's 6th hit film, "Bewafaa", had an all-star cast along with a note-worthy soundtrack. The film was a hit regionally and internationally and marked itself in Top 100 Bollywood Movies Of All Time. Let's see what's it's all about.

Dharmesh Darshan is one of the youngest directors in Bollywood when he was at the helm for 1996 box office blockbuster Raja Hindustani only at the age of 28. He is widely reputed for upholding the image of women, making them the heroines of his films.

Bew Darshan — Director Dharmesh Darshan, famous for his biggest hit, Raja Hindustani. *Source: Hindustantimes.com*

In 2005, this marvelous filmmaker came out with another hit: Bewafaa. With an all-star cast, from Akshay Kumar, Kareena Kapoor, Manoj Bajpayee, Sushmita Sen,... and a great soundtrack, the film was successful regionally. However, Bewafaa was marginally better-received in the international market.

Bew Poster — The poster for Bewafaa. *Source: imdb.com*

Bewafaa: The Plot

Bewafaa tells the story of changing morals and values in a fast-changing world, with the tagline "When cultures meet." Kareena Kapoor is Anjali, a Canadian girl who is in love with Indian Raja (Akshay Kumar), an aspiring pop-star. But after her sister tragically passed away after giving birth to twin daughters, Anjali had to marry her late-sister husband in accordance with Hindu traditions. Hard as she tried to please her husband, he, on the other hand, only had work in his mind.

Then, fate took its course as Anjali is reunited with Raja and the two rekindle old flames. But Anjali's husband won't let this slide. Now, she's caught in the middle of a tug-of-war between Raja, the symbol of freedom, and her family.

Bewafaa: The movie has an amazing soundtrack

The soundtrack of Bewafaa album was composed by Nadeem-Shravan and the lyrics for the songs were penned by Sameer. According to Box Office India, the album sold around 25,00,000 units, making it the year's second highest-selling.

Bewafaa: The film's troubled casting phase

The film's casting was quite a fiesta, with famous actors clambering to make it into Dharmesh Darshan's latest. Amisha Patel was the director's first choice for the Anjali. But Kareena offered a better contract so she was chosen instead.

Bew Am — Ameesha Patel was the director's first choice to play the lead, but Kareena Kapoor was chosen in her stead.

Shamita Shetty' s character, Pallavi Arora, was supposed to be played by Bipasha Basu. However, the actress refused to do a supporting role to Kareena and opted out

Bew Basu — Bipasha Basu was also a candidate but didn't go through with the movie for personal reasons.

Manoj Bajpayee was promised a more prominent part in Bewafaa by producer Boney Kapoor. However, Boney failed to deliver this promise, and Manoj ultimately regrets being part of the movie.

Bewafaa: Some fun facts

Karisma Kapoor and Shilpa Shetty worked with each other in the movies Rishtey and Jaanwar.

Their sisters, Kareena Kapoor, and Shamita Shetty, also decided to team-up in Bewafaa.

The plot of Bewafa is taken from the Telugu movie Abhinandana. It also borrowed heavily many elements from the 1963 film Gumrah.

The names of the main characters, Anjali and Raja, were taken from Dharmesh's previous movies Raja Hindustani (1996) and Dhadkan (2000).