''Refugee'' is a 2000

India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...

n Hindi-language

romantic drama Romance films or movies involve romantic love stories recorded in visual media for broadcast in theatres or on television that focus on passion, emotion, and the affectionate romantic involvement of the main characters. Typically their journey ...

film written and directed by J. P. Dutta. It marked the debut of both the leading actors,

Abhishek Bachchan Abhishek Bachchan (born 5 February 1976) is an Indian actor and film producer known for his work in Hindi films. Part of the Bachchan family, he is the son of actors Amitabh Bachchan and Jaya Bachchan and the grandson of poet Harivansh Rai B ...

and

Kareena Kapoor Kareena Kapoor Khan (; ''née'' Kapoor; born 21 September 1980) is an Indian actress who appears in Hindi films. She is the daughter of actors Randhir Kapoor and Babita, and the younger sister of actress Karisma Kapoor. Noted for playing a v ...

. The film also starred

Jackie Shroff Jaikishan Kakubhai Shroff (born 1 February 1957), popularly known as Jackie Shroff, is an Indian actor and former model. He has been in the Bollywood industry for over four decades, and , has appeared in over 220 films in 13 languages namely Hi ...

Sunil Shetty Suniel Shetty (born Sunil V. Shetty; 11 August 1961) is an Indian actor, film producer, television personality and entrepreneur who is predominantly active in Hindi films he has also worked in tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and kannada films. In a c ...

and Anupam Kher. ''Refugee'' was an average grosser at the box office and was the fifth highest-grossing film of that year. It is the story of an unnamed Indian Muslim, who helps illegal refugees from India and Pakistan (including modern-day Bangladesh) cross the border through the

Great Rann of Kutch The Great Rann of Kutch (or Rann of Kutch seasonal salt marsh) is a salt marsh in the Thar Desert in the Kutch District of Gujarat, India. It is about 7500 km2 (2900 sq miles) in area and is reputed to be one of the largest salt de ...

. The film is attributed to have been inspired by the short story "''Love Across the Salt Desert''" by Keki N. Daruwalla.

Plot

Bihar Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West ...

-based Manzur Ahmad and his family had migrated to

East Pakistan East Pakistan was a Pakistani province established in 1955 by the One Unit Scheme, One Unit Policy, renaming the province as such from East Bengal, which, in modern times, is split between India and Bangladesh. Its land borders were with India ...

after the

partitioning of India The Partition of British India in 1947 was the change of political borders and the division of other assets that accompanied the dissolution of the British Raj in South Asia and the creation of two independent dominions: India and Pakistan. T ...

in 1947. However, after the formation of the state of

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million pe ...

in 1971, he and several other people were forced to relocate to the western part of Pakistan. To do this by land, they will have to cross India. The route from

Dhaka Dhaka ( or ; bn, ঢাকা, Ḍhākā, ), formerly known as Dacca, is the capital and largest city of Bangladesh, as well as the world's largest Bengali-speaking city. It is the eighth largest and sixth most densely populated city ...

leads to

Guwahati Guwahati (, ; formerly rendered Gauhati, ) is the biggest city of the Indian state of Assam and also the largest metropolis in northeastern India. Dispur, the capital of Assam, is in the circuit city region located within Guwahati and is the ...

in India then to

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders wi ...

then to

Ajmer Ajmer is one of the major and oldest cities in the Indian state of Rajasthan and the centre of the eponymous Ajmer District. It is located at the centre of Rajasthan. It is also known as heart of Rajasthan. The city was established as "''Aj ...

then to

Bhuj Bhuj () is a Municipality and District Headquarters of Kutch District in the state of Gujarat, India. Etymology According to legend, Kutch was ruled by the Nāga chieftains in the past. Sagai, a queen of Sheshapattana, who was married to Kin ...

, and then on to Haji Peer in

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

. They get as far as

, but afterward, they are assisted by an agent known only as "Refugee", who helps them trek their way across the Great

Rann of Kutch The Rann of Kutch (alternately spelled as Kuchchh) is a large area of salt marshes that span the border between India and Pakistan. It is located in Gujarat (primarily the Kutch district), India, and in Sindh, Pakistan. It is divided into t ...

to Pakistan. Refugee considers his clients as mere items of luggage and refuses to be emotionally involved with them and their stories. Then he meets Nazneen Ahmed, the daughter of Manzur Ahmed: He forgets this rule and falls in love with her. Police on both sides of the border are aware of the illegal refugee traffic and the Indian police regularly question Refugee and his old father Jan Muhammad. One day, Refugee helps four men enter the Indian side of the border. These men enlist the help of Mr. Muhammad's other son to get to Delhi. Shortly thereafter, explosions take place in trains, buses, and buildings in the Indian capital. Refugee crosses the border once again to visit Nazneen. She asks him to take her with him since her father wants to marry her to Mohammad Ashraf, a

Pakistan Rangers The Pakistan Rangers ( ur, ) are a paramilitary federal law enforcement organization in Pakistan, operating under the authority of the Interior Secretary of Pakistan. Their primary purpose is to secure and defend sites of significance in th ...

Officer. While crossing the border through Rann they are captured by Pakistanis rangers. Refugee is beaten up and sent to India on a camel. The Indian BSF captures him and treats him in hospital. The Indians inform him that he unknowingly helped terrorists cross into India and caused several deaths. Refugee joins the BSF and fights the terrorists who laid siege to his village. The film ends with Nazneen giving birth to Refugee's child at the border between the two nations. Indian BSF and Pakistani Rangers personnel discuss the child's nationality in a lighter vein.

Cast

as Refugee *

as Nazneen "Naaz" M. Ahmed *

as Border Security Force, Commandant Raghuvir Singh *

Suniel Shetty Suniel Shetty (born Sunil V. Shetty; 11 August 1961) is an Indian actor, film producer, television personality and entrepreneur who is predominantly active in Hindi films he has also worked in tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and kannada films. In a ...

as Pakistan Rangers, Lt Col Mohammad Ashraf *

Sudesh Berry Sudesh Berry is an Indian actor and personality known for his works in Hindi cinema and Indian television. Films * ''Rajnandini'' (2021) *'' Sardar Saab'' (2017) (Punjabi) * '' Sanam Teri Kasam'' (2016) - Inder's father * ''Ainthu Ainthu Ai ...

as Gul Hamid * Anupam Kher as Jaan Mohammad *

Kulbhushan Kharbanda Kulbhushan Kharbanda (born 21 October 1944) is an Indian actor who works in Hindi and Punjabi films. He is best known for his role as the antagonist Shakaal in '' Shaan'' (1980), Starting off with the Delhi-based theatre group 'Yatrik' in the 1 ...

as Manzur Ahmad * Shadaab Khan as Shadab J. Mohammad *

Reena Roy Reena Roy (born Saira Ali; 7 January 1957), is an Indian actress. At the age of 15, she made her film debut with the drama '' Zaroorat'' (1972), but gained wider public recognition with her roles in the romantic comedy '' Jaise Ko Taisa'' (1973) ...

as Amina J. Mohammad *

Mukesh Tiwari Mukesh Tiwari (born 24 August 1969) is an Indian actor, who has worked predominantly in Bollywood. and few Tamil films. He is known for playing negative and comic side roles. He entered the film industry in the year 1998 with the movie '' China ...

as Tausif, Pakistani Rangers Officer. *

Ashish Vidyarthi Ashish Vidyarthi (born 19 June 1962) is an Indian actor who predominantly works in Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, English, Odia, Marathi and Bengali films. He is noted for his antagonist and character roles. In 1995, he received ...

as Makkad *

Avtar Gill Avtar Gill is an Indian actor who appears predominantly in Hindi and Punjabi language films and television serials. He has done many plays with Indian People's Theatre Association Mumbai. Selected filmography Films * '' Noorie'' (1979) * '' ...

as Atta Mohammad * Vishwajeet Pradhan as BSF Officer *

Puneet Issar Puneet Issar (born 6 November 1959) is an Indian actor, writer, director, producer and dialect coach best known for his works in Hindi films and television shows. Issar started his acting career as a villain in the Manmohan Desai's 1983 film ...

as Sikh Priest * গীতাৱলী ৰাজকুমাৰী as Salma-Naaz's little sister *

Nimai Bali Nimai Bali is an Indian actor who generally plays mythological supporting and villainous roles.''Another Sanju loyalist'' by Chaitanya PadukoneDNA India 16 March 2008. Accessed February 2010.''Hoja Rangeela Re''Times of India 13 March 2009. Acc ...

as Jaffar Gul Hamid's henchmen

Music

The music of this movie is composed by

Anu Malik Anwar Sardar "Anu" Malik (born 2 November 1960) is an Indian music composer, singer, music arranger and score composer. He is an Indian National Award and Filmfare Award winning musician, who primarily composes music for the Hindi film in ...

and lyrics by

Javed Akhtar Javed Akhtar (born 17 January 1945) is an Indian poet, lyricist, screenwriter and political activist. Known for his work in Hindi cinema, he has won five National Film Awards, and received the Padma Shri in 1999 and the Padma Bhushan in 2 ...

. ''Refugees music received two National Film Awards: one for Best Music Direction and the other for Best Lyrics (for the song "Panchhi Nadiyaan". Additionally, Malik also won a

Filmfare Special Award The Filmfare Special Award or Special Performance Award or Special Mention or Special Jury Award is given by the Filmfare magazine as part of its annual Filmfare Awards for Hindi films. It acknowledges a special and unique performance and encoura ...

for his work in the film. It was one of the highest selling album of the year 2000 Taran Adarsh gave the album 4.5 out of 5 stars and praised the songs by saying "The music touches the heart of every listener. Every moment you feel like a heavenly moment." According to the Indian trade website ''

Box Office India Box Office India is an Indian film website. Its traffic ranking in India is 83,665 . A new Box Office India website went live on 20 January 2014. About Box Office India was launched on 10 June 2003. Its uses Whois privacy to anonymize its ...

'', around 35,00,000 albums were sold.

Locations filmed

The crew having traveled from

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the secon ...

was based at the city of

and majority of the shooting took place around in the Kutch District of the Indian state of

Gujarat Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the nin ...

including the

(also on BSF controlled "snow-white" Rann within), villages and

Border Security Force The Border Security Force (BSF) is India's border guarding organisation on its border with Pakistan and Bangladesh. It is one of the seven Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) of India, and was raised in the wake of the 1965 war on 1 December ...

(BSF) posts in Banni grasslands and the Rann,

Lakhpat Lakhpat is a sparsely populated town and sub-district in the Kachchh district in the Indian state of Gujarat located at the mouth of the Kori Creek. The town is enclosed by 7km-long, 18th-century fort walls. Etymology The town is named afte ...

Fort village, Tera Fort village, a village in southern Kutch, some ancient temples of Kutch, and with parts and a song filmed on set in Mumbai's Kamalistan Studios.

Production

Bipasha Basu Bipasha Basu Singh Grover (born 7 January 1979) is an Indian actress and former model. Primarily known for her work in Hindi films, she has also appeared in Tamil, Telugu, Bengali and English films. Basu is the recipient of numerous accol ...

was convinced by

Jaya Bachchan Jaya Bachchan (''née'' Bhaduri; born 9 April 1948) is an Indian actress and politician. She is a member of Parliament in the Rajya Sabha from the Samajwadi Party, serving four terms since 2004. Known primarily for her work in Hindi and Bengali ...

to play the role of a village belle opposite her son

in J. P. Dutta’s ''Aakhri Mughal''. However the film was shelved, and Dutta changed the script and made ''Refugee'' with

. Basu was offered a role in ''Refugee'' opposite

, which she declined. Tabu was signed to play a doctor, but her role eventually got scrapped. Dutta initially wanted

Akshaye Khanna Akshaye Khanna (born 28 March 1975) is an Indian actor who appears in Hindi films. He is the son of actor Vinod Khanna. He has won numerous awards in his career including two Filmfare Awards, three Screen Awards and two IIFA Awards in varied ac ...

to play Shadab Khan's role but decided against it as the role was very small.

Inspiration

''Refugee'' is attributed to have been inspired by the story based around the

by Keki N. Daruwalla titled ''Love Across The Salt Desert''. It is included as a short-story in the School Standard 11 and 12 syllabus English textbook of NCERT in India.

Accolades

Notes

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Refugee (Film) 2000s Hindi-language films 2000 films Films scored by Anu Malik Indian war drama films Refugees in India India–Pakistan relations in popular culture Films set in Gujarat Films shot in Gujarat Films about illegal immigration Films based on the Bangladesh Liberation War Films distributed by Yash Raj Films Films directed by J. P. Dutta Military of Pakistan in films Indian Army in films War romance films