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I can still picture it. The moment when Raj sees Rashmi riding her horse, knowing full well who she is, his heart is nonetheless lost immediately. With an equal share of humour, romance and drama, Mansoor Khan has created a timeless film, perfectly blending the oft repeated themes of 'Romeo and Juliet' with a youthful Indian spin. The storytelling has an innocence, freshness and simplicity that is one of the film's biggest assets, aside from the pairing of Juhi and Aamir. Even amongst the warring, the hatred, the tough Rajput ideals and principles of family honour, we are graced with a sweet love story - one that shows us the process of how the boy and girl fall in love and their subsequent courtship.


The movie starts out on a very serious note - that of honor killings - and I had no idea how common it was. After visiting The Bollywood Fan's blog (who, incidentally has a fantastic joint review of this film with Bitten By Bollywood here and here) I was sent to one article, which lead to another and another. It truly is horrifying to read that all of this happens between the people we are supposed to love the most, but it all really lent a huge credibility to the beginning of this movie. Thank goodness, the grim and horrific happenings dissolved quickly and lead the way to a movie with great heart.

Having only seen a small handful of Aamir movies, but loving them all, I am well aware that this is a man who plunges himself into his roles. I've really only had the opportunity to see the serious side of him with his roles in Ghajini, Lagaan, Fanaa, Taare Zameen Par, etc. so it was a very different experience for me to see a young hearthrob grace my screen. Had I seen this movie when I was younger, sillier and more prone to obsess over movie stars, I may have added Aamir Khan to the list of actors and musicians whose posters graced my bedroom walls. Aamir captures the charm and yes, awkwardness, of Raj perfectly.


Juhi Chawla gives us an perfectly endearing performance - one in which I can only assume was probably cutting edge in the late 80's - the independent, strong willed and unusually forward Rashmi. I have an affinity for strong woman characters and loved how Rashmi held no pretense about who she was and what she wanted. For example she leaves her 'assigned' place the other side of the campfire to sleep next to Raj, she flirts with him through Gazab ka Hai Din and she is the first to tell him she likes him. Even in a typical scene of the heroine being harassed by goons, Rashmi gives it to the man hitting him 'right where it hurts.' At the risk of sounding completely cliche, YOU GO GIRL!


While Aamir and Juhi are no doubt the stars of this film through and through, the young couple are extremely well supported by Raj Zutshi as Raj's cousin and Shehnaz as Rashmi's friend, Kavita, while the older brigade Dalip Tahil, Reema Lagoo, Beena, Asha Sharma and in particular, Goga Kapoor (who I also think looks a little like Amrish Puri) give a good account of themselves. Alok Nath, however, was my favorite supporting character as Raj's sensible uncle who tries to be the voice of reason, but is all but neglected at every turn.


Breaking my teeth on movies like Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, Veer Zaara, Don - the Chase Begins, and Om Shanti Om, I always thought of Udit Narayan as the voice of Shah Rukh Khan. Little did I know that QSQT was also his debute as a playback singer, and not only did he go one to be the voice of Aamir for many more movies to come, but he won a multitude of awards for those songs, the first being for Papa Kehte Hai. I can't go on without recognizing that behind every good man is an even better woman. Props to Alka Yagnik for matching Udit every step of the way!

My fav's from the film:





I was not at all surprised to see the multitude of awards that this film won. I imagine the Filmfare awards are to India like the Academy Awards are to Hollywood, so for a movie to win everything from best movie to best direction to best actors to best music, it has got to be something special. I think it deserved them all and, even if I was a little late in joining the QSQT bandwagon, I'm sure I'm in good company.