Mela (2000 film)

Mela
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Dharmesh Darshan
Screenplay by	Neeraj Vora Sanjeev Duggal Robin Bhatt
Story by	Suneel Darshan
Produced by	Ganesh Jain
Starring	Aamir Khan Twinkle Khanna Faisal Khan Johnny Lever Tinu Verma
Cinematography	Rajan Kinagi
Edited by	Bharat
Music by	Songs: Anu Malik Rajesh Roshan Lesle Lewis Background Score: Surinder Sodhi
Production company	Venus Records & Tapes
Release date	7 January 2000
Running time	172 minutes
Country	India
Language	Hindi
Budget	est.₹18 crore (US$2.3 million)
Box office	est.₹25 crore (US$3.1 million)

Mela (transl. Carnival) is a 2000 Indian Hindi-language masala film directed by Dharmesh Darshan and produced by Ganesh Jain. The film stars Aamir Khan, Twinkle Khanna and Faisal Khan in the lead roles.

Mela was released on 7 January 2000 where it received negative reviews from critics and bombed at the box office.

Plot

Roopa Singh is the only sister of her soldier brother named Ram Singh who returns to her village in Chandanpur to arrange her marriage in the form of a carnival. However, Roopa's happiness is short-lived as the village is raided by a group of terrorists led by Gujjar Singh, who murders a visiting politician and is attracted to Roopa. As Gujjar attempts to escape with the terrified Roopa, Ram and Roopa's young friend Gopal com to her rescue only to be killed by Gujjar who threatens Roopa that she will only be his mistress without the love of a brother or lover. Enraged and heartbroken, Roopa attempts to commit suicide by jumping into a waterfall, but she survives and upon vowing to confront and destroy Gujjar, steals the clothes of a theatre actor named Kishan, who works with his best friend Shankar.

While finding his clothes, Kishan meets Roopa and falls in love with her, where he also decides to make Roopa as the heroine of their dance show. With no option, Roopa travels with them and tries to escape, but returns when chased by the gang and a drunken cop named Surendra Pratap Singh, who was her rejected fiancée. Roopa is saved by Shankar and Kishan, where she feigns love for Kishan and the two men agree to help her return to Chandanpur. Learning that Kishan is going to marry her, Roopa feels guilty over her betrayal and reveals her past. Shankar becomes her brother while Kishan is heartbroken and leaves in disgust.

Roopa and Shankar return to Chandanpur, where Shankar mobilises the village and attempts to set a trap for Gujjar, who has learnt of Roopa's survival and terrorizes the village to find out her whereabouts. The trap backfires horribly until Kishan returns with a suspended cop named Pakkad Singh. The trap is re-set with another carnival and the terrorists are attack as planned. Roopa is kidnapped and Kishan and Shankar while giving chase are kidnapped taken to Gujjar's hideout where they are forced to fight him and his men. With the arrival of Chandanpur's villagers, Gujjar's men are finished while Kishan kills Gujjar with Shankar and Roopa's help. While driving along with Kishan and Roopa one day, Shankar meets Champakali where Kishan and Roopa watch them.

Cast

• Aamir Khan as Kishan Pyare
• Twinkle Khanna as Roopa Singh (faked herself as Radha to Kishan)
• Faisal Khan as Shankar Shane
• Tinu Verma as Gujjar Singh
• Ayub Khan as Ram Singh, Roopa's brother
• Johny Lever as Inspector Pakkad Singh (mistakenly called Inspector Pakoda Singh by Kishan)
• Navneet Nishan as Bulbul, a Postwoman
• Asrani as Banwari Baniya
• Tiku Talsania as Murari Mukhiya
• Kavi Kumar Azad as Warning Watchman
• Sharad Sankla as Warning Watchman
• Archana Puran Singh as Vidyavati, a village flirt
• Tanvi Azmi as Gopal's mother
• Parmeet Sethi as Surendra Pratap Singh (special appearance)
• Kulbhushan Kharbanda as Minister (special appearance)
• Aishwarya Rai as Champakali (special appearance)
• Viju Khote as Patil Rao Singh
• Harish Patel as Seth Chandulal Popatlal
• Anirudh Agarwal as Kaali
• Veeru Krishnan as Ghungroo
• Omkar Kapoor as Gopal, Roopa's best friend (Special appearance)

Production

Kajol was initially offered the female lead in the film. However, she refused, as she was concerned about Aamir Khan's habit of doing multiple takes. The role ultimately went to Twinkle Khanna. Darshan told in an interview that the 1971 film Caravan was an inspiration for Mela.

Aditya Pancholi was signed for villain's role but opted out as he did not want to be bare chested throughout the film.

Soundtrack

Aamir Khan, approached and persuaded A. R. Rahman to do compose music for the film, but due to time constraints, Rahman declined the offer. The music was then composed by 4 composers, with Anu Malik, Rajesh Roshan, and Lesle Lewis composing the songs and Surinder Sodhi composing the film score.

The song placements in this movie were heavily criticised, particularly the excessive usage of the title track ‘Mela Dilon Ka’. The lyrics were also perceived to be inappropriate as they were paradoxical and contradictory in nature.

Track listing

Sify gave the album a 3/5 rating.

Reception

Sharmila Taliculam of Rediff called Aamir Khan as the "saving grace" of the film and the "only one who does complete justice to his role". She found the film a mix of The Seven Samurai, Caravan and Sholay and also praised Tinu Verma's performance labeling his portrayal of the antagonist as "convincingly menancing". She noted that dubbing Khanna's voice was a "gamble that ... misfired" and "[added] unnecessary drama and aggression to her role". Sify gave 3 out of 5 stars and wrote "Mela is not the best film to start the millennium with, but if you are an Aamir Khan fan you can tolerate it, but for his sakealone."