Sooryavansham

Sooryavansham 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$943000), principal photography took place in and around various locations in India such as Hyderabad, Gujarat and Rajasthan, as well as Sri Lanka. S. Gopal Reddy acted as the cinematographer, while Gautham Raju edited the film. Koti composed the film score while Anu Malik composed the film's songs, with lyrics penned by Sameer.

The film was opened to positive reviews towards the performance of Bachchan but ended up being a box-office bomb, grossing only ₹6.67 crores (US$890000). However, over the years, it has gathered cult following among the Indian diaspora, and has been telecasted frequently on the television channel Sony Max.

Plot
The Sooryavansham family head - Thakur Bhanu Pratap Singh is the respected sarpanch of the village of Bharatpur. Bhanupratap has done yeoman's service not only for the people of Bharatpur but also for those of eighteen neighboring villages. He lives in a mansion with his wife Sharda and his three sons Karan, Varun, and Heera. Heera, the youngest one, lives like a servant because of his illiteracy. Hated by Bhanupratap, Heera is prohibited from being involved in familial matters and only performs menial activities. Despite being treated terribly, Heera loves his father unconditionally. Heera is only loved by his mother Sharda and Heera's close friend Dharmendra (Mindra), a servant in the house.

Days before the wedding of Bhanupratap's daughter, the groom visits the house with his sister Radha. Believing Heera to be a simple servant, Radha makes him do various chores. On the day of the wedding, Radha is shocked to learn the truth from her father. Curious, she makes Mindra tell her about Heera's past.

During his childhood, Heera constantly failed at school. Enamored, he used to go there only to see Gauri, a girl whom Bhanupratap adopted after her parents' death. One day, a teacher thrashed Gauri, causing Heera to discontinue his academic studies. Thinking that Heera's company would hamper Gauri's studies, Bhanupratap sent her to a boarding school in the city. When Heera and Gauri came of age, Bhanupratap planned their marriage. After learning of this, Gauri attempted suicide and Heera rescued her. Gauri then admitted she would rather die than marry an illiterate man like him. To save Gauri from blame, Heera took the responsibility of saying no to the marriage. Bhanupratap, misunderstanding the situation, thought Heera only had lust for Gauri. This made him hate Heera even more. Later, Gauri married a rich man. Moved by Heera's story, Radha proposes to him, and he accepts.

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 labourer in a transport company. Radha eventually encourages Heera to start his own business. With the money lent by her uncle Ranjeet, Heera establishes a transport company under the name of his father. Soon, Heera becomes a rich & respected person while Radha clears UPSC exam and is appointed as the District Collector as an IAS officer. The couple also has a son, named after Heera’s father (nicknamed Sonu). Bhanupratap, despite knowing that Heera and his family have moved up the social strata, continues to hate them. Heera fulfills his father's dream of setting up a hospital for the poor. During its inauguration, Heera publicly owes his success to his father, who, he believes, had expelled him from home so that he learned to fend for himself. Surreptitiously attending the ceremony, Bhanupratap hears this.

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. As he says Heera’s name on the phone, he throws up blood and becomes ill on the floor. 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.

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. 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.

Film's mahurat ceremony was attended by a number of celebrities from the Telugu cinema, including Nagarjuna and Venkatesh Daggubati. Rekha lent her voice for actresses Jayasudha and Soundarya.

Soundtrack
The film score was composed by Koti while the songs were composed by Anu Malik. The tunes of all the songs of the film are different from those of their Tamil counterparts, except one- "Dil Mere Tu Deewana Hai". The songs were written by Sameer. The voices are of Kumar Sanu, Sonu Nigam, Chithra, Jaspinder Narula, Amitabh Bachchan (in the song "Chori Se Chori Se"), and Anuradha Paudwal. The song "Dil Mere Tu Deewana Hai" is portrayed in different tones – once in happy note and twice with forlorn touch. All the songs aptly relate the story through various phases.

Box office
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.