Synopsis

You mention any good usual love story and it will have all the usual emotions of love, longing, pain, quest and sacrifice. But the moment you mention Heer Ranjha, the word ‘eternal’ is pre-fixed to all these emotions – eternal love, eternal longing, eternal quest and eternal sacrifice. Time is perhaps the ultimate test of greatness and it is a testimony to the enduring appeal of the story of Heer Ranjha that it continues to be a dearly loved part of the collective and individual memory of millions across the world even after almost 300 years. Even today, people across cultures and languages read and sing about the love story of these two star crossed souls. Many a lover has invoked the names of Heer Ranjha to sanctify his love and to express the immeasurable depth of his feelings for his beloved. Such is the reverence and affection that this story has earned from the people that it is no longer a story but has become a metaphor, a symbol of pure and eternal love. Our film Heer Ranjha is an attempt to capture on celluloid the eternity of this metaphor.

Ranjha, flute playing ‘man-mauji’ who looks at life with a twinkle in his eye and a smile on his face, is shattered after the death of his loving father. He leaves his home in ‘Takht Hazaara’ after being disillusioned with the behavior of his family and wanders about aimlessly into the unknown world. However, his wandering feet and heart are arrested by just one glimpse of the mesmerizingly beautiful ‘Heer’ from ‘Jhang Siyaal’. Love blossoms and the two souls are soon pledged to each other for all eternity. However, the bitter ‘Kaidon’ and the wily ‘Qaazis’ conspire to separate the two lovers and Heer is forcibly married off to ‘Saidaa’ of ‘Rangpur Kherra’. A disconsolate Ranjha renounces the world and wanders around in search of Heer. The two lovers meet again only to be dealt a cruel blow by fate once again. Ultimately the two lovers meet a tragic end but their story doesn’t end with their deaths. It grows into a legend instead. Every time a ‘ghabroo’ sighs in love just as Ranjha must have centuries ago, and every time a ‘mutiyaar’ feels the tars of Heer flow from her own eyes, we know that the story of Heer Ranjha has lived on in the heart of every man who has known and experienced love.