Uyire.. (Eng: From the Heart..) is a 1998 Indian romantic thriller film set in the backdrop of the insurgency in Northeast India, written and directed by Mani Ratnam, and produced by Ratnam, Ram Gopal Varma, and Shekhar Kapur. Uyire stars Shahrukh Khan and Manisha Koirala in the lead roles, while Preity Zinta makes her film debut in a supporting role. Written by Ratnam and Tigmanshu Dhulia, Uyire is an example of parallel cinema and is noted as the final installment of Ratnam’s thematic trilogy that consists of Roja (1992) and Bombay (1995).
Amarkant Varma (Shahrukh Khan) is a program executive for All India Radio, dispatched from New Delhi to cover festivities in Assam. On his way there, during a rainy night, Amar stops at Haflong train station to catch the Barak Valley Express. As he waits, he tries to have a smoke and asks a mysterious person for either a match or a lighter. Suddenly a strong gust of wind blows the shawl off the person, revealing it to be woman (Manisha Koirala). Amar finds her very attractive and tries to strike up a conversation, but she ignores him for a bit and then asks him for a cup of tea. When he returns with the tea, he watches as she boards the next train with three male passengers and rides off into the distance.
Later, Amar spots the same woman in Lumding. He attempts to talk to her, but she says she cannot recall meeting him before. As part of his news reporting assignment, for the occasion of fifty years of Indian Independence, Amar interviews many citizens of Assam, and an extremist chief (Gautam Bora), who claims that the reason behind human rights violations and poverty in the region is due to the Indian Government, and that the Liberationists do not wish to enter into any dialogue with the government, and further justify their resistance in Utthar Purv.
A few weeks later, Amar describes his encounter with the woman, over the radio, which she hears. He again spots her at a post office. At this juncture, she tells him to leave her alone; but he follows her to the house and tells her that he is in love with her. She resists and tells Amar that she is married. Amar wishes to apologize to her, but she arrives with two men who beat him unconscious.
During the beating, Amar learns that the men are presumably her brothers and that she had lied about her being married. He reaches her home, and learns from the locals that she has left the place. Amar then goes to the post office where he initially spotted her and bribes the PCO owner into giving him her contact details, and learns that she is telephoning to Ladakh. Subsequently, Amar travels to Leh, and while recording the Sindhu Darshan Festival, a suicide bomber is chased to death by the military, and Amar spots the woman again. As the woman and Amar board a bus, military officers question each passenger before the bus is allowed to leave. While Amar tell the officers that he is there reporting on the festival, the woman uses Amar to her advantage and tells the officers that Amar is her husband.
After some travel, the bus breaks down and the passengers are required to walk to a nearby village. En route Amar forces the woman to reveal her name: Meghna. The two end up traveling together and recuperate. In the morning, Amar wakes to find Meghna gone. (It is later revealed that Meghna is part of a Liberationists group which plans multiple suicide attacks in New Delhi at the upcoming Republic Day celebration).
Amar returns to his home in Delhi, where his family has found Preeti Nair (Preity Zinta) from Kerala as a potential bride for him. Amar agrees to marry Preeti because he has no hope that he will ever meet Meghna again. On his date with Preeti, Amar spots one of Meghna’s associates, Kim, who banished him earlier. Amar chases him down to Connaught Place, where the man kills himself with a cyanide pill after being stopped by local police. Because of the extremist nature of the situation, the police relinquish the incident to the CBI.
Much to Amar’s surprise, Meghna shows up in Delhi and asks Amar to help her get a job as an office assistant at Amar’s All India Radio office. It is later revealed that Meghna actually arrives in Delhi with her terrorist group and stays in Amar’s residence to escape from the CBI inquiry operation. Based on eyewitness claims of the Connaught Place incident, Amar is now a prime suspect of the CBI (Piyush Mishra). At this juncture Amar follows Meghna and questions her motives, and she reveals to Amar that her name is actually Moina, and as a child, she had been a rape victim of the army and seeks liberation through her suicide attack on the Indian army and the President of India during Republic Day. Now the CBI convinces the Army general of India to grant permission to conduct security checks of all the Army convoys and tankers participating in the parade.
Amar is again assaulted by Moina’s associate (Aditya Srivastava) and the terrorists and as Amar fights back the terrorists receive a call from Moina on their mobile. Amar grabs the mobile and pleads with Moina to stop all this and marry him. Moina reveals that it is too late, and presumes Amar is being killed. But Amar returns home, only to find out from Preeti that Amar’s mother is also being questioned and that Moina’s location is at Sunder Nagar. The CBI also misconstrue that Amar is part of the terrorist group and arrest him.
Amar claims to the CBI that he is not in cahoots with the terrorists, but in love with Moina and that he has interviewed one of the extremist leaders and wants to prevent them from perpetrating the attack. The CBI rejects Amar’s claims and sedates him for further interrogation. The next day Moina is ready for the suicide attack. Amar escapes from the CBI and tries to hold Moina back. Amar expresses his love and desire to be with her. When she is still indecisive, he tells her he will even die with her if she does not wish to stop her suicide attempt. He embraces her and continues to plead with her to live with him. As they embrace, the explosive vest worn by Moina explodes, killing them both.
Directed by Mani Ratnam
Produced by Mani Ratnam, Ram Gopal Varma & Shekhar Kapur
Screenplay by Mani Ratnam & Tigmanshu Dhulia
Story by Mani Ratnam
Starring Shah Rukh Khan, Manisha Koirala, Preity Zinta
Music by A. R. Rahman
Cinematography Santosh Sivan
Edited by Suresh Urs
Production Madras Talkies & Varma Corporation
Distributed by Eros International
Release date 21 August 1998
Running time 158 minutes
Country India
Language Hindi
Visitor Rating: 4 Stars
Visitor Rating: 1 Stars