Tere Naam, is a 2003 Indian Hindi-language romantic drama film directed by Satish Kaushik. Written by Bala and Jainendra Jain, the film stars Salman Khan and Bhumika Chawla in her Hindi film debut. The film is a remake of Bala's own Tamil filmSethu. The film was based on a real-life incident of a friend of Bala's, who had fallen in love, lost his mind and ended up at a mental asylum. Tere Naam was released on 15 August 2003. Khan was praised for his portrayal of Radhe Mohan and the role is widely considered to be his best performance till date. Tere Naam was nominated for a total of 24 Awards, winning 7 of them, including 8 Filmfare Award nominations. In 2011 Kaushik announced a sequel to Tere Naam, thus he is currently working on the script.
Plot
Rajbir "Radhe" Mohan is a jobless rowdy, surrounded by a rough circle. He lives with his brother, his sister-in-law, and their child. He is a violent man, but often performs apparently good deeds, such as beating up sexual harassers. Radhe falls in love with Nirjara Bhardwaj, a student at his former college and the daughter of a poor temple priest. Radhe helps her a few times, and she seems to like him. One day, Radhe proposes to her and jokingly remarks that he would beat up her father if he doesn't agree to their marriage. Nirjara is too shocked to say much and utters "Yes" when Radhe asks her if she was listening to him. Radhe interprets this as her acceptance of the proposal. Later, he and his friends intimidate Nirjara's fiancé Rameshwar. The next day, Radhe brings her a gift, but she tells him that she does not love him, and calls him a goon. A heartbroken Radhe subsequently tries to talk to her, but she refuses to engage in a conversation. Radhe's friends suggest that he give up rowdyism and violence to impress Nirjara, but one day, he roughs up a brothel owner who had beaten up one of his friends. As Radhe is about to punch the brothel owner, Nirjara arrives at the scene, and Radhe stops the violence, allowing the brothel owner to escape. Subsequently, Nirjara's elder sister Mamata, who is in need of money, is nearly tricked into prostitution, when she visits the brothel to meet a man who promises her a loan. Radhe, who does not know that she is Nirjara's sister, visits the same brothel to find a man who had harassed a woman. He saves Mamata from being arrested during a police raid. She tells him that her husband Aatmaram has evicted her, and is demanding money to give her the custody of their son. The next day, Radhe beats up Aatmaram, forcing him to take her back and to stop harassing her. Rameshwar sees this and tells Nirjara that Radhe is a good, selfless man, who truly loves her. Unaware of this conversation, Radhe abducts Nirjara so that she would listen to him express his feelings for her. Nirjara initially feels intimidated, but ultimately falls in love with him. Subsequently, the brothel owner and his goons attack Radhe to take revenge on him for trying to shut down their business. Radhe suffers from brain damage during the attack and loses his mental balance. His family admits him to a religious institution for mental patients, as Nirjara and his friends pray for him. At one point, Radhe's mental state returns to normal, but the wardens do not understand this and beat him up. Nirjara visits the institution and sees him in a pitiful condition while he is sleeping. Convinced that Radhe is not going to get well, Radhe's brother asks her to forget him and marry Rameshwar. On the day of Nirjara's wedding with Rameshwar, Radhe escapes from the institution, and arrives at her home, only to find that she has committed suicide. Radhe then allows himself to be taken back to the institution despite his family and friends trying to persuade him otherwise. The epilogue shows Radhe, now old and still in the institution, tying peacock feathers in Nirjara's memory.
Cast
Casting
was originally considered to play the role of Nirjara, but scheduling conflicts prevented her from accepting. The role was offered to Bhumika Chawla, who made her Bollywood debut in the film.
Soundtrack
The soundtrack of the film contains 12 songs. The music is composed by Himesh Reshammiya and Sajid-Wajid with lyrics penned by Sameer and Jalees Sherwani. According to the Indian trade website Box Office India, with around 30,00,000 units sold, this film's soundtrack album was the year's highest-selling.
of Bollywood Hungama awarded 3/5 stars and wrote, "Salman is exceptional in a role that fits him to the T. He breathes fire in sequences that demand uneasiness. But beneath the tough exterior lies a vulnerable person and this facet in particular comes to the fore in the latter reels. His emotional outbursts are splendid..., Bhoomika Chawla reminds you of Bhagyashree. Her simple, humble, traditionally indian character should go down very well with the viewers. Her performance is first-rate". Planet Bollywood rated 8.0/10 to the film and wrote, "Salman Khan puts his heart and soul into his performance. He is equally at ease in romantic, emotional and even in Mahendra Verma's well conceived action scene. Bhoomika Chawla impresses in her first hindi movie. The supporting cast of Sachin Khedekar, Sarfaraz Khan and Ravi Kishan is reasonably good. The music by Himesh Reshammiya goes well with the movie". Madhureeta Mukherjee of The Times of India said, "Salman has given the great performance in the film. He's given an intense, unconventional performance. Believe this is the best performance of Salman's career so far".
