Laila Majnu (2018 film)

Laila Majnu is a 2018 Indian Hindi-language romance film starring Avinash Tiwary and Tripti Dimri. It is directed by Sajid Ali, presented by Imtiaz Ali and co-produced by Ekta Kapoor, Shobha Kapoor and Preety Ali.

Released theatrically on 7 September 2018, the film met with lukewarm response and failed commercially at the box office. But in later years, it received positive reviews for its story and cast performances and soundtrack garnering critical acclaim, following its digital release led to some outlets assigning the film cult status.

Plot
The story is based on Layla and Majnun, a classic folklore. Belonging to a reputed family in town, Laila is a flirt who likes to tease boys who are attracted to her. She meets Qais Bhatt, a boy belonging to a rich family. Despite ongoing legal disputes between their families, the two fall for each other instantly. When Laila's family finds out about their relationship, they fix her marriage with Ibban, her father's political assistant. Even though Laila waits for Qais to convince her father, she breaks up with him when he talks disrespectfully to her father. Qais tells her that he would not follow her anymore and asks her to find him if she ever needs him.

After four years, Qais returns from London for his father's funeral. He avoids meeting Laila. Laila, who is regularly abused by her drunkard husband, the new MLA, decides to meet Qais. When she sees him, she realises that he was struggling all these years with her memories, making him a different person. Laila stands up to her husband and they decide to get divorced. Laila asks Qais to wait till her divorce. However, before the divorce, her husband dies in a road accident. Laila decides to run away with Qais on the day of the funeral but her father asks her not to and promises her that she can marry him after a few weeks. Laila again asks Qais to wait for her.

Qais who had been waiting for her for years, gets a feeling that he will never get united with her and this thought makes him eccentric. He begins to have hallucinations of Laila, he talks to her and eventually runs off to a mountain. His family, friends and Laila search for him for days but he is still missing. Qais however thinks that Laila is with him and starts a life with her in the mountains. He is caught by some people and is brought back to his house. There he recognises Laila but also says that Laila is not one person but she is everywhere and points to different directions.

Qais realises that he has reached the ultimate level of love - everything is Laila for him. She realises that in order for them to be together their souls need to meet. Hence, she commits suicide while holding the note he gave her. The note which said that now if she wants him she has to reach him, indicating again that he is far ahead in love for her and she needs to search for him, reach him. Majnu realises that Laila is no more and runs to the mountains where he stumbles and hits his head over Laila's grave. While dying he sees Laila calling to him from the mountain top. The film ends with a song where it is shown that their souls are together doing everything that they had decided. The film ends with the line, "They lived happily ever after - which is both ironic and true".

Cast

 * Avinash Tiwary as Qais Bhatt / Majnu
 * Dawar as Young Qais
 * Tripti Dimri as Laila
 * Hibba Shafi as Young Laila
 * Farhana Bhat as Jasmeet
 * Duaa Bhat as Shama
 * Benjamin Gilani as Ghulam Sarwar Bhat
 * Parmeet Sethi as Masood Ahmed Shahmiri
 * Sumit Kaul as Ibban / Javed Parrey
 * Sahiba Bali as Ambreen
 * Abrar Qazi as Zaid
 * Mahid Aisha Ali as Zaid's sister
 * Shagufta Ali as Laila's Aunt (Pufu)
 * Mir Sarwar as Qais' Brother-in-law
 * Vasundhara Kaul as Qais' Sister
 * Sujata Sehgal as Parveen, Laila's Mother
 * RJ Rafiq as Touseef
 * Moomin Rafiq as Umer
 * Shahid Gulfam as Rasool
 * Zameer Ashai as Nisar Bukhari
 * Khawar Jamsheed as Mudi

Soundtrack
Hitesh Sonik composed the film's background score and Niladri Kumar, Joi Barua and Alif composed the songs. The lyrics were written by Irshad Kamil, Mehmood Gaami and Mohammad Muneem. The first song, "Aahista", was released on 9 August 2018. This was followed by the title track, "O Meri Laila", on 13 August 2018.