14 films, all made with same characters, story, title, all failed at box office except one, it made a Kapoor superstar

Film titles are an important part of that film’s identity. In today’s time, when everything from numerology to number theory dictates a film’s title, the urge to be unique and different is higher than ever before. But it wasn’t always like this. For decades, makers always went for simple words and phrases that were easy to remember. That resulted in many films having the same title. Case in point, this one film title, which has been used by as many as 14 Indian films in four languages, and several other Pakistani films as well.

The title that gave birth to 14 films

The Arabic legend of Layla and Majnun has been told and retold in the cinema of the Indian subcontinent almost two dozen times in the last hundred years. The first time a film was made in India on the tale was in 1922 and it was simply titled Laila Majnu. Since then, 13 more films have been made on the star-crossed lovers’ tragedy, including one more silent film in 1927, and six more black-and-white films from 1931-53, the last of which starred Shammi Kapoor as Majnu and Nutan as Laila. Before the first colour Laila Majnu arrived in theatres (a Malayalam film in 1962), two Pakistani films with the same title had been made as well. Sadly, none of these films did well. This was changed by the 1976 film written by Abrar Alvi and directed by Harnam Singh Rawail.

The Laila Majnu that made a Kapoor superstar

The 1976 Laila Majnu starred Rishi Kapoor as Majnu and Ranjeeta Kaur as Laila. The film was a big box office success. Prior to this, after his successful debut with Bobby, Rishi had  not tasted box office success. He had been in Kabhi Kabhie but the success of that film had been attributed to bigger stars like Amitabh Bachchan and Shashi Kapoor. Laila Majnu was the first solo hit for Rishi since his debut and it established him as a bankable star in Bollywood.

The last Laila Majnu that became a cult classic

But there was one more Laila Majnu made in Bollywood after the 1976 hit. This was a modern reimagination of the tragedy by filmmaker Imtiaz Ali, starring Avinash Tiwary and Triptii Dimri. Set in Kashmir, the film was not a box office success but over the years, particularly after its streaming debut, it has attained a cult following.

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