“Arms and The Man” to be retold through “Love and War” , a Sanjay Leela Bhansali film starring Ranbir Kapoor, Aalia Bhatt and Vicky Kaushal

New Delhi: Ever since Sanjay Leela Bhansali announced his upcoming project “Love and War” with Ranbir Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, and Vicky Kaushal, speculations have been rife about the story and plot of the movie. Some media reports have claimed that it’s a love story set against the backdrop of war and is inspired by Raj Kapoor’s blockbuster “Sangam”.

Well, going by the title of the film “Love and War” it’s very easy to speculate that it will be a love story against the backdrop of war, however, the news of the movie being inspired by “Sangam” does not seem to be true.

 

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If we look at Bhansali’s filmography he has mostly created visually stunning period dramas in the last few years. He mostly draws inspiration from literature(Devdas and Gangubai), and history(Padmavat and Bajirao Mastani) so one can conveniently guess that “Love and War” will also be one of those period dramas adapted from some great literary work or historical event.

However “Sangam” does not fit into typical larger-than-life world of Bhansali. So what is going to be in store for Bhansali’s next?

Going by the title and Bhansali’s choice of story, his next film “Love and War” appears to be inspired by George Bernard Shaw’s great play “Arms and The Man”.

The play was first premiered in 1894 and the central theme of the drama was “Love and War”. It’s a love triangle set against Serbo-Bulgarian war. The story follows the romantic entanglements of Raina, a young Bulgarian woman, Sergius Sarnoff a Bulgarian soldier, and Capt. Bluntschili is a Swiss mercenary soldier.

“Arms and Man” has been adapted into multiple movie versions. One of the most notable adaptations is a 1958 movie directed by George Schaefer, starring Julie Harris, Mel Ferrer, and Mary Ure. Raj Kapoor in “Sangam” had also borrowed few plots from “Arms and The Man” but the basic story of “Sangam” was entirely different. While “Sangam” was about friendship, love, and sacrifice, “Arms and Man” is about romantic idealism and realism against the backdrop of war.

However, if we go by Bhansali’s past work, we can expect him to make changes in the plot and take the creative freedom of turning the film into a tragedy while the original“Arms and The Man” is a romantic comedy.

Well, it will be really interesting to see how Bhasali is going to recreate the desi version of “Arms and The Man”.