1. Sassi Punnhun

Real Story: Sassi was the daughter of the King of Bhambore in Sindh (now in Pakistan). It was predicted at her birth that she was the curse to the family, thus her father ordered her to be thrown away. Later, baby Sassi was discovered by a washerman who thought of her as a boon from God and raised her as his own. She grew up to be a beautiful woman and the stories of her beauty started to spread and reached Mir Punnhun, son of King of Kech, Balochistan. He travelled to see her, and the two fell in love at first sight. However, their families weren’t ready for the marriage, but Punnhun tricked Sassi’s father and got married. On the night of their marriage, Punnhun’s brothers intoxicated him with alcohol and took him away to the kingdom. When Sassi realized it, she started to run barefoot towards the town of Kech. In the midway, a man tried to force himself on Sassi, so she started to pray to God. It is then the land shook and she found herself buried in the valley of the mountains. When Punnhun found out the truth, he ran to Bhambore and started to pray, and again the land shook and he found himself buried. Thus, the lovers finally united at the death.

Adaptation in Bollywood:

● Sassi Punnu (1928), a silent Indian film, directed by Harshadrai Sakerlal Mehta, starring Master Vithal and Zebunissa

● Sassi Punnu (1932) directed by S. R. Apte and Chimanlal Luhar, starring Eiden Bai and Haider Bandi

● Sassi Punnu (1946) directed by Jagatrai Pesumal Advani, starring Eddie Billimoria and Geeta Nizami

Sassi Punnhun

2. Mirza Sahiban

Real Story: Mirza and Sahiban were two lovers who lived in Khewa, in Jhang district. The two wanted to get married but Sahiban’s family was against the match. Thus, the two decide to marry against Sahiban’s parents’ wishes. They elope and are followed by Sahiban’s brothers. On their way, Mirza decides to take a rest under a tree, and while he is asleep, Sahiban breaks all his arrows, as she didn’t want her brothers to die or be injured. She decided that she’ll beg her brothers and convince them to let her marry Mirza. However, when her brothers reach them, they mercilessly kill Mirza. Shocked by the loss of her love, Sahiban stabs herself and dies in the arms of Mirza.

Adaptation in Bollywood:

● Mirza Sahiban (1929), an Indian silent film, directed by Bhagwati Prasad, starring Mehar Banu and P. R. Joshi

● Mirza Sahiban (1933) directed by Nagendra Majumdar, starring Khurshid Begum and Kamlabai Gokhale

● Mirza Sahiban (1947) directed by K. Amarnath, starring Noor Jehan and Trilok Kapoor

● Mirza Sahiban (1957) directed by Ravi Kapoor, starring Shyama and Shammi Kapoor

● Mirzya (2016) directed by Rakesh Omprakash Mehra, closely follows the love saga of Mirza and Sahiban. It stars Harshvardhan Kapoor and Saiyami Kher

● Mirza Juuliet (2017) directed by Rajesh Ram Singh, starring Darshan Kumar and Piaa Bajpai.

Mirza Sahiban

3. Dhola Maru

Real Story: The story of Dhola and Maru is as old as time. Dhola was the prince of Marwar and Maru was a princess from Poogal. The two were married when they were still kids. However, later, Dhola’s father died, and Dhola forgot about his marriage to Maru and instead married Malwani. Maru tried to contact Dhola several times and sent him letters too, but Malwani, out of jealousy, destroyed all her letters. Sometime later, a group of folk singers from Poogal went to Marwar and reminded Dhola about his first wife, Maru. Dhola made a hazardous journey, and finally met Maru and asked her to come back with him to his kingdom. On their return journey, Maru was bitten by a snake and died. Dhola, devastated by Maru’s death, decides to burn himself. However, he was saved by someone, and with the blessings of God, princess Maru was brought back to life. The couple then lived happily ever after.

Adaptation in Bollywood:

● Dhola Maru (1956) directed by N. R. Acharya, starring Pradeep Kumar and Krishna Kumari

Dhola Maru

4. Shirin Farhad

Real Story: The encounter between Shirin and Farhad is a part of a longer and more tragic love story between Khusrow and Shirin. Khusrow was a Sasanian King and Shirin was an Armenian Princess, who went on to become the queen of Persia. Shapur, a painter, and friend of Khusrow, told Khusrow about the beauty of Shirin, which made Khusrow fall in love with her instantly. Thus, Khusrow travels to Armenia to find Shirin and proposes to her for marriage. However, she wasn’t sure about him at first but eventually agrees to marry him after several romantic episodes. But, Shiroyeh, Khusrow’s son from his other wife, was also in love with Shirin and killed his father to marry Shirin. Shirin, to avoid marrying Shiroyeh, kills herself, and later was buried next to her husband Khusrow in the same grave.

Farhad was a famed craftsman, who was also in love with Shirin and carved the likeness of Shirin on the face of the mountain. However, he was tricked into believing that Shirin was dead, which leaves him heartbroken and kills himself using the same tools that he used to carve Shirin’s image. Khosrow and Shirin’s story is usually told under the name of ‘Shirin Farhad’ in different cultures.

Adaptation in Bollywood:

● Shirin Farhad (1931) directed by J. J. Madan, starring Nissar and Jehanara Kajjan

● Shirin Farhad (1945) directed by Prahlad Dutt, starring Jayant and Ragni

● Shirin Farhad (1956) directed by Aspi Irani, starring Pradeep Kumar and Madhubala

Shirin Farhad

5. Heer Ranjha

Real Story: Heer and Ranjha were two lovers from Punjab. Ranjha belonged to a Jatt tribe and was the dearest son of his father. However, after the death of his father, he was thrown out of his house. He went on to look for work. Finally, a rich and noble man gave him work to look after his cattle. The rich man was Heer’s father. Ranjha was good at playing flute, which made Heer mesmerized, and the two eventually fell in love. They met secretly for many years until they got caught by Heer’s family. Heer’s family was against the match because of their financial differences, but finally gave up and agreed to the marriage. But, on the day of the wedding, Heer’s family poisoned her to punish her for her bad behaviour. When Ranjha heard the news, he rushed to Heer, but it was too late. Heartbroken with Heer’s loss, he ate the remaining poison and died by her side.

Adaptation in Bollywood:

● Heer Ranjha (1928) directed by Fatma Begum, starring Zubeida and Jani Babu

● Heer Sundari (1928) directed by Anand Prasad Kapoor, starring Nirasha and Master Vithal

● Heer Ranjha (1948) directed by Wali Sahib, starring Mumtaz Shanti and Ghulam Mohammed

● Heer (1956) directed by Hameed Butt, starring Nutan and Pradeep Kumar

● Heer Ranjha (1970) directed by Chetan Anand, starring Priya Rajvansh and Raaj Kumar

● Heer Ranjha (1992) directed by Harmesh Malhotra, starring Sridevi and Anil Kapoor

Heer Ranjha

6. Laila Majnu

Real Story: Laila and Majnu is a very old story of two lovers of Arabic origin in the 7th century. Majnu was a poet, who was deeply in love with Laila and used to compose poems about his love for her. His obsession with Laila made many people think of him as a lunatic. When he asked her hand in marriage, Laila’s father refused, as he thought it would be unfair to marry his daughter to someone who is mentally unstable. Laila was then married to a rich and noble merchant and moved to Northern Arabia with her husband. However, she fell ill and eventually died of heartbreak from not being able to see her lover. When Majnu heard the news of Laila’s death, he fled from his tribal camp and wandered around. Later, he was found dead near Laila’s grave, and before dying he carved three verses of the poem, on the rock near her grave, which was dedicated to his beloved Laila.

Adaptation in Bollywood:

● Laila Majnu (1922), Hindi silent film, directed by J. J. Madan, starring Patience Cooper and H. B. Waring

● Laila Majnu (1931) directed by Kanjibhai Rathod, starring Ghaznavi and Jehanara Kajjan

● Laila Majnu (1945) directed by Nazir, starring Swarnalata and Nazir

● Laila Majnu (1953) directed by K. Amarnath, starring Shammi Kapoor and Nutan

● Laila Majnu (1976) directed by Harnam Singh Rawail, starring Rishi Kapoor and Ranjeeta Kaur

● Laila Majnu (2018) directed by Sajid Ali, starring Avinash Tiwary and Tripti Dimri

Laila Majnu

7. Sohni Mahiwal

Real Story: Sohni-Mahiwal’s love story dates back to the 18th century. Sohni was a beautiful girl born to a potter in Gujarat, Punjab. She helped her father in the shop to sell the pottery. One day a rich trader from Bukhara named Shahzada Izzat Baig stopped near Sohni's hometown and saw Sohni at her shop. Infatuated by Sohni’s beauty, he started to come to her shop regularly to get her glimpse. Sometime later, when it was time to go, instead of returning, he took a job at Sohni’s house as a servant and then came to be known as Mahiwal. When he asked Sonhi’s hand in marriage, Sohni’s father refused, as he wanted Sohni to marry a potter. Her father fixed her marriage to a potter, and helplessly she lives with her husband.

However, the two continued to meet each other, even after Sohni’s marriage. One day, Sohni’s sister-in-law discovers that she leaves every night to meet someone across the river and uses the pitcher to cross the river. Thus, the sister-in-law replaces the baked pitcher with the unbaked one and when Sohni uses it to cross the river, she drowns. Mahiwal sees it and jumps in the river to save her, and both of them drown and reunite at death.

Adaptation in Bollywood:

● Sohni Mahiwal (1928), Hindi-silent film, directed by Harshadrai Sakerlal Mehta, starring Gauhar Karnataki and Master Chonkar

● Sohni Mahiwal (1946), directed by Ishwarlal and Ravindra Jaykar, starring Ishwarlal and Begum Para

● Sohni Mahiwal (1958), directed by Raja Nawathe, starring Bharat Bhushan and Nimmi

● Sohni Mahiwal (1984), directed by Kanwal Biala, Latif Faiziyev, and Umesh Mehta, starring Sunny Deol and Poonam Dhillon

Sohni Mahiwal

8. Jodha Akbar

Real Story: Akbar was the third Mughal Emperor, while Jodha was the daughter of Raja Bharmal of Amber. Bharmal had a conflict with Akbar’s brother-in-law, Sharif-ud-din Mirza, which made Bharmal ask for help from Akbar. Akbar agreed to intervene on the condition of Raja Bharmal’s submission and marriage with his beautiful daughter. Thus, their marriage was a political one, and instead of converting to Islam, Jodha asked Akbar for a Hindu marriage, to which he agreed. Eventually, the two grew fond of each other and Jodha became Akbar’s favourite wife and remained favourite till death. As Jodha was a devotee of Lord Krishna, Akbar ordered for her harem to be decorated with the paintings of Lord Krishna, and she was never asked to convert to Islam. Subsequently, the two were buried close to each other.

Adaptation in Bollywood: The only Bollywood movie based on the Legendary Love Saga of Jodha Akbar was the 2008 epic drama Jodhaa Akbar, directed by Ashutosh Gowariker and starring Hrithik Roshan and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan in the titular roles. However, in the 1960’s epic drama Mughal-e-Azam, directed by K. Asif, showcases prince Salim and Anarkali’s love, however, part of it shows Jodha-Akbar’s love, where Prithviraj Kapoor portrayed Emperor Akbar and Durga Khote portrayed Maharani Jodha Bai.

Jodha Akbar

9. Bajirao Mastani

Real Story: Bajirao was the 7th Peshwa (Prime Minister) of the Maratha Kingdom. In 1978, Maharaja Chhatrasal, king from the Bundela clan, wrote to Bajirao requesting his help after Muhammad Khan Bangash invaded his empire. Bajirao defeated Bangash and as gratitude, Chhatrasal gave him a third of his kingdom, 33 lakh gold coins, and his beautiful daughter Mastani. However, Bajirao was already married to Kashibai, and by nature and family tradition, Bajirao was monogamous, but he accepted Mastani and took her with him. Back in his house, Mastani wasn’t accepted by any of Bajirao’s family. She lived with him for a while and later, Bajirao built another palace named Mastani Mahal for her. In 1740, Bajirao died following the ailment. Mastani couldn’t bear the shock of her husband’s death and committed suicide. Their 6-year-old son was later taken by Kashibai, who raised him as her own.

Adaptation in Bollywood:

● Bajirao Mastani (1925) directed by Nanubhai B. Desai, starring Master Vithal and Miss Jones

● Mastani (1955) directed by Dhirubhai Desai, starring Nigar Sultana and Manhar Desai

● Bajirao Mastani (2015) directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali, starring Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone

Bajirao Mastani

10. Prithviraj Chauhan and Sanyogita / Samyukta

Real Story: Prithviraj Chauhan was an Indian Emperor from Chahamana (Chauhan dynasty). When he was at the peak of his reign, he took a vast region of India under his kingdom, which made most kings envious of him, including Raja Jaichand of Kannauj. However, Jaichand’s daughter Samyukta was in love with Prithviraj Chauhan, even Emperor Prithviraj Chauhan fell for her bewitching beauty. When Jaichand found out about the affair, he arranged a ‘Swayamvar’ for his daughter and invited royalty from far and wide, but Prithviraj Chauhan. To further insult him, he commissioned a statue of Prithviraj that served as a doorkeeper at Jaichand’s court. Prithviraj, after learning about the ‘Swayamvar’, devised a plan to elope with Samyukta and succeeded. This enraged Jaichand, which further created a rift between their kingdoms.

Adaptation in Bollywood:

● Prithviraj Chouhan (1924), silent Hindi film

● Prithviraj Sanyogita (1929), directed by Narayanrao D. Sarpotdar

● Prithviraj (1931), directed by R. N. Vaidya

● Prithviraj Sanyogita (1933)

● Prithviraj Samyogita (1946), directed by Najam Naqvi, starring Prithviraj Kapoor

● Samrat Prithviraj Chauhan (1959), directed by Harsukh Jagneshwar Bhatt, starring Paidi Jairaj and Chand Usmani

● Prithviraj (2022), directed by Chandra Prakash Dwivedi, starring Akshay Kumar and Manushi Chillar

Prithviraj Chauhan and Sanyogita / Samyukta