When romantic love exceeds man-made boundaries and its forbiddenness, why is it labelled an “epic”—a story that becomes the tale of the period? Is it because it dismantles the “must dos” and surrenders to the “could be”? Or is it simply because it exerts the power of love over the set ideas of what a “sane relationship” looks like? The answer to these questions can be sought through the contemporary retelling of one of such epics, ‘Laila Majnu’.

Since the advent of movies, epic dramas—especially romantic ones—have inspired their storylines. The making of Hollywood movies like ‘Romeo-Juliet’ and its Bollywood adaptation, ‘Ram-Leela’, could be seen as an example of this. These movies capture the essence of the historical dramas and provide a sense of belongingness to the audiences by reimbursing the current situation in their plots.

The film Laila-Majnu, written by Imtiaz and Sajid Ali, captures the theme of the Persian narrative poem (Layla and Majnun) and turns it into a newfangled tale.

‘Laila Majnu’ was released in September 2018 but didn’t receive the limelight it deserved. As the years passed, its popularity peaked, and it was re-released in the Indian theaters in August 2024. It covers the story of Laila and Qais (later Majnu), played by Tripti Dimri and Avinash Tiwary, respectively, as their debut film. The actors have done justice to their roles by capturing the characters’ emotions well.

The film is a play between the heart and the world, and the lovers—Laila and Majnu—represent the graveness of one. Laila belongs to the world; she remains in its workings. She loves Qais, but she stands for the world even more. Meanwhile, Qais surrenders himself to his heart and listens only to it. Laila adheres to the way of her family and, especially, her father, but Qais adheres to no one except for love. This interplay and conflict bring Qais and Laila to the ultimate Shakespearean theme of “tragic flaw”, leading to the couple’s downfall.

The writer Imtiaz Ali is known for his style of presenting heart-wrenching love stories. His masterpieces like ‘Jab we met’, ‘Tamasha’ and ‘Rockstar’ have proven to be the blockbusters of Bollywood. However, the Ali brothers duo—Imtiaz and Sajid—have combined their clever creatives into ‘Laila-Majnu’.

When Qais returns to town for his father’s funeral, he avoids meeting Laila as he doesn’t want to face the devastating heartbreak again. Nevertheless, he eventually decides to meet her as he has no guts to deny Laila's upfront invitation for a short tete-a-tete.

As Qais faces Laila, he can only utter “Laa-ila”. Interpretations might be made that this statement he utters is a creative input of the writers that alludes to the famous saying in the Islamic religion, “La ilaha illallah”, meaning “there is no God, but Allah.” Similarly, for Qais or Majnu, there is no one that holds a grip on his heart like Laila does. Many other instances like this can be found in the movie, showing that Imtiaz Ali hasn’t lost his spark.

Looking at the context of the movie, its second half is mostly loved as it captures an abundance of emotions—happiness, pity, sorrow, grief, etc. However, the first half and its subtlety are overlooked. On their first official meeting, Qais expresses to Laila his desire to cross the immense heights of the hills that bound them, to look at what is “beyond”. But he fails to do so, as his car doesn’t give enough push to his journey. This can foreshadow Qais's beyond when he completes his journey of becoming Majnu. Majnu transcends to the reach of the “other world” to find his true love, Laila, who hasn’t slipped away from him.

Couldn’t this romantic catastrophe also resonate with the bitter moments lovers face in the present—when the couple become paramours in the eyes of society? Even today, similar to that of Laila and Majnu, family backgrounds, caste, respect, reputation and otherworldly ideas fortify the success of love. The hurt the separation induces onto the lovers forced to part ways only calms down as they progress to the saying: “Maybe, in another universe!” And suppose they do find the unmet success there.

However, that differentiates them from the tragedy of Laila and Majnu. When watching the movie, we might convince ourselves that if we were any of the two characters, we would make contrary decisions than they did. But that is not how the universes of Laila and Majnu work. If you were a character in the movie, your actions wouldn’t differ because in every universe, Laila and Majnu need to face the same misfortune, or else they wouldn’t remain themselves. For me, the tribulations that remain singular in every universe make the story of Laila and Majnu an epic.

Laila Majnu

Writer(s): Imtiaz Ali and Sajid Ali

Director: Sajid Ali

Starring: Tripti Dimri, Avinash Tripathy and Sumit Kaul

Duration: 2h 12m

Language: Hindi

Available: Amazon Prime Video

Year: 2018