7 reasons to celebrate ‘Aashiqui 2’, completing 7 years

Long before Bradley Cooper and Lady Ga Ga’s Hollywood romance ‘A Star Is Born’ became an iconic hit and set our pulses racing, Bollywood had come out with a similar star-crossed romance ‘Aashiqui 2’ that pressed all our buttons and was inspired by the original starring Barbra Streisand. Seven years ago around this time, director Mohit Suri gave his career’s biggest hit ‘Aashiqui 2’, starring the winsome talent Shraddha Kapoor and the hunky Aditya Roy Kapur. Aashiqui 2, based on the 1954 hit, ‘A Star Is Born’, directed by George Cukor, celebrates 7 years of existence, here are seven things that we loved about this Bollywood doomed romance:

1. ‘Aashiqui 2’ made its lead actress Shraddha Kapoor a bonafide Bollywood star. While Shakti Kapoor’s daughter had made her acting debut with a forgettable heist film ‘Teen Patti’ with Amitabh Bachchan in 2010, it was this musical that put Kapoor on the Bollywood map and made her an actor to reckon with. Kapoor played Arohi, a bar singer turned pop idol, with a mixture of strength and resilience.

2. Aditya Roy Kapur as the troubled musician Rahul Jaykar, played Kapoor’s angsty mentor. Kapur had to play a tortured soul with a debilitating alcohol addiction and the relatively new actor proved that he had the bandwidth to play such a demanding role. Both Kapoor and Kapur were revelations in this doomed romance.

3. Kapoor will never forget her career-defining film. On April 25, she took to Twitter to thank the makers and director for giving her this film. “Thank you forever Mohit Suri for this gift of a lifetime, Vishesh Films for believing, Shagufta Rafique for your exquisitely beautiful writing, Aditya Roy Kapur for being an unbelievably amazing co-star and the entire team who gave their everything to this precious film. Thank you everyone who gave this film so so much love. It is priceless,” she posted. She also thanked her fans and editors who made this film supremely enjoyable. “Thank you to all those who have made such beautiful edits and to the fan clubs for uniting and sharing a common dp today; this collage. I’m the luckiest girl in the universe.”

4. ‘Aashiqui 2’ was a heartfelt romance, but what made it tick was the brilliant music score. The songs ‘Tum Hi Ho’ and ‘Sunn Raha Hai’ are the perfect love songs even today. Singer Arijit Singh became the go-to artist for songs on heartbreak after the stupendous success of his tracks in this film. While majority of the songs were composed by Jeet Gannguli, Ankit Tiwari and Mithoon also contributed songs as guest composers.

5. The incredible chemistry between the lead pair Kapur and Kapoor gave rise to rumours on whether the two were actually dating in real life. While the actors didn’t confirm this, their chemistry was one of the biggest factors that made this romance work.

6. ‘Aashiqui 2’ remains one of the highest grossing films of 2013 and it was a film that entered the coveted and revered Rs1 billion club in Bollywood. Entering this club meant that Kapoor and Kapur now had the clout to bring in the box-office numbers reserved for big stars.

7. Bollywood folklore had it that Kapur adopted method acting while playing an alcoholic and turned up drunk on the sets. But these reports couldn’t be independently verified. Despite reservations, ‘Aashiqui 2’ became synonymous with heartbreak and toxic love stories with a tragic twist. If you are in the mood for a love story of two rebels who don’t have a happy ending, then be sure to watch this one during quarantine.