Refugee

<p>-based Manzur Ahmad and his family had migrated to after the in 1947. However, after the of 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 leads to in India then to then to then to , and then on to Haji Peer in . 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 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, 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 elderly father Jan Muhammad. One day, Refugee helps four men enter the Indian side of the border. These men enlist the help of the Refugee’s brother 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 her to marry Mohammad Ashraf, a Officer. While crossing the border through the Rann they are captured by Pakistani Rangers. Refugee is beaten and sent to India on a camel. The Indian BSF captures him and gets him treated in the 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. The music of this movie is composed by and lyrics by . s music received two : one for and the other for (for the song “Panchhi Nadiyaan”. Additionally, Malik also won a 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 , around 35,00,000 albums were sold. The crew having traveled from was based at the city of and majority of the shooting took place around in the of the Indian state of including the (also on BSF controlled “snow-white” Rann within), villages and (BSF) posts in and the Rann, Fort village, , a village in southern Kutch, some ancient temples of Kutch, and with parts and a song filmed on set in Mumbai’s . was convinced by to play the role of a village belle opposite her son in ’s . However the film was shelved, and Dutta changed the script and made with . Basu was offered a role in opposite , which she declined. was signed to play a doctor, but her role eventually got scrapped. Dutta initially wanted to play Shadab Khan’s role but decided against it as the role was very small. is attributed to have been inspired by , a story by based around the . It is included as a short-story in the 11 and 12 English textbook for schools of in India.</p>