Sooryavansham

Sooryavansham (pronounced [suːrjaːʋaːŋʃm], transl. Solar dynasty) is a 1999 Indian Hindi-language drama film directed by E. V. V. Satyanarayana. It stars Amitabh Bachchan in dual roles, with Soundarya (in her one and only Hindi film to date), Jayasudha, Rachna Banerjee, Anupam Kher and Kader Khan. The film is a remake of the 1997 Tamil-language film Surya Vamsam, and revolves around a traditional father and his illiterate yet obedient son, following their tense relationship and shows how the strict patriarchy causes a drift between them.

Made on a budget of ₹7 crore (US$943,000),

Deshraj Thakur, another zamindar in Bharatpur, schemes to devastate Bhanupratap and his family by making Radha his daughter-in-law. If Radha is married to Deshraj's son Arjun, Radha's lawyer father will do whatever Deshraj wants. In this way, he will be able to get ahead of Bhanupratap. Radha's mother approves of the alliance and asks Bhanupratap to make Heera leave Radha. Bhanupratap gives two choices to Heera: he can either be with Radha or gain his father's respect again. Mindra convinces Heera to accept Radha as his wife, saying only a fortunate few find true love like him. On the day of Radha's marriage to Arjun, Heera takes Radha away with him and marries her. This enrages Bhanupratap, who disowns Heera.

Heera and Radha move into Mindra's house on the outskirts of the village. He later gets a job as a

While reconsidering his life decisions, he accidentally meets Sonu outside his school and starts secretly spending time with him. After learning about this, Heera hands some Kheer to his son, telling him to give it to his "friend" next time they meet. Meanwhile, Sharda urges Bhanupratap to accept Heera back into the family. Bhanupratap, hating himself for the way he treated Heera, phones him. However, before being able to speak a word, he starts vomiting blood and becomes ill. Bhanupratap is hospitalized and Deshraj publicly accuses Heera of trying to kill his father with the poisoned Kheer, because of his expulsion from the family. While Deshraj and his henchmen assault Heera, Bhanupratap recovers and goes to his rescue. There, Bhanupratap reveals that the Kheer was poisoned by Deshraj himself. Bhanupratap and Heera fight against their attackers until Deshraj confesses his crime and begs for forgiveness.

The kith and kin of Bhanupratap's family then assemble in front of the mansion, where Bhanupratap embraces Heera.

Cast

Production

Before working in Hindi language films, Soundarya had acted in a total of 65 South Indian films. Her brother Amarnath, who managed her career, stated that she always performed decorous roles and same would be the case in Bollywood.^[6] Soundarya said that she was excited when a role in the film was offered to her and to have got an opportunity to co-star with Amitabh Bachchan. Having studied Sanskrit, the actress added, she was quite comfortable with Hindi, and could read and write it. She also asked the viewers to be optimistic about the film, although the actress was a bit dubious about her role.^[7]

Film's mahurat ceremony was attended by a number of celebrities from the

In India, the film had box office collections of ₹6.67 crore nett and ₹11.42 crore gross. Overseas, the film collected $285,000, including £53,000 in the United Kingdom. Worldwide, the film grossed ₹12.65 crore.^[1]

References