Ram Madhvani's Neerja which completed seven years on February 19, is about a 23-year-old Rajesh Khanna fan who goes to her death thinking dialogues from Khanna’s most famous films. In one of the film’s most absurdly poignant scenes, a terrorist orders Neerja to sing a song. Fighting back her fear and disgust Sonam Kapoor — who became a Rajesh Khanna fan while shooting for the film —sings Mere Sapnon Ki Rani Kab Aayegi Tu.
Was Neerja Bhanot, the airhostess who on September 5, 1986 perished while trying to save lives in a hijacked aircraft, really a Rajesh Khanna fan? In the film version of her life the zany, feisty and exceptionally courageous (as we soon discover) Neerja Bhanot is a fanatical Rajesh Khanna fan… Or maybe fanatical is not a word we ought to use, considering…
In an earlier sequence when Neerja’s boyfriend is accompanying her to the airport he sings the same song for her, tapping the tune out on the steering wheel. But here’s the thing. The irony of this Aradhana chartbuster is that when Rajesh Khanna sang his way into millions of hearts by lip-syncing this Kishore Kumar number composed by RD Burman (credited in Aradhana to RD’s dad SD Burman) his ladylove Sharmila Tagore was not even there to surrender to the sonorous serenade. Sharmila shot separately on a train compartment constructed on a set while Khanna drove on an open jeep with pal Sujit Kumar on the curvaceous roads of Darjeeling singing to an imaginary sapnon ki rani.
Using that song as a melodic leitmotif for the lovers in Neerja separated forever by terrorism makes Mere Sapnon Ki Rani the ultimate counter-romantic song of Indian cinema.
