Himesh Reshammiya's Karzzzz released on Friday and the central theme of the film is reincarnation. But this is not the first time that a film deals with the concept of re-birth. In fact films revolving around re-birth and reincarnation are very popular in Bollywood.
Right from the 50s and till date, reincarnation has found itself in numerous films:
Bimal Roy's Madhumati released in 1958 and starred Dilip Kumar, Vyjayantimala, Pran and Johnny Walker. The film was a hit at the box office.
Milan starring Sunil Dutt and Nutan revolved around two lovers who remember their past lives. This film was huge hit at the box-office during that time
The true super hit revolving around reincarnation came in the form of Subhsh Ghai's Karz in 1980. Based on the 1975 American film The Reincarnation of Peter Proud Ghai's film received numerous awards and accolades. It showed the reincarnation of Ravi
Verma played by Raj Kiran who is born again as Monty (Rishi Kapoor).
The following year Cheran Anand tried to replicate Ghai's success. He made Kudrat which starred Rajesh Khanna, Raaj Kumar and Hema Malini. The story of Kudrat set in Shimla shows the birth of two lovers who are separated in their previous birth by Raaj Kumar.
In 1995, Rakesh Roshan made the super hit Karan Arjun that starred Salman Khan and Shah Rukh Khan. Rakhee played an important role in the film as their mother who holds the strong belief that her sons will return. The film collected huge money at the box-office.
Also released in 1995 was the Sanjay Kapoor and Tabu starrer Prem. Kapoor plays a young man who has visions of a past life and lost love. When he meets Sonia (Tabu), he recognizes her as his soul mate who has taken birth again. Sadly the film died at the box office.
Two years later in 1997, Saif Ali Khan and Kajol tried playing the concept of reincarnation once again. But the film flopped at the box office.
Ten years later it took the team of Shah Rukh Khan and Farah Khan to work with the idea of reincarnation. And the result was Om Shanti Om. The film broke records at the box office and for the longest time was the only thing anyone could talk about.
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