Qayamat se Qayamat tak

Directed by Mansoor Khan, Qayamat se qayamat tak (From eternity to eternity) (1988) cites the familiar story of Romeo and Juliet in following a son and daughter of feuding families who fall in love. A box-office success known by teenagers as “QSQT”, Qayamat se qayamat tak was popular for its soundtrack composed by the duo Anand-Milind, and it won the 1988 National Film Award for best popular film providing wholesome entertainment, among others. The appeal to teenagers was evident in the US teen-pic inspired hit song “Papa kehte hain” (“Daddy says”) and in the distributor’s tactic to offer a free poster of Khan and Chawla to every person that purchased eight or more tickets.

Qayamat se qayamat tak’s story depends on a chance encounter, in which the two protagonists Raj (Aamir Khan) and Rashmi (Juhi Chawla) fall in love while lost in the woods together. When Rashmi’s father discovers their relationship he immediately organises her wedding. Instead, the young lovers elope from Delhi and venture into remote mountains where they establish a life together in an abandoned temple. Discovering their location, Rashmi’s father ventures into the mountains with a man he has hired to kill Raj. In a confused episode, this man shoots Rashmi, and Raj commits suicide with a dagger at her side. – Liam Grealy