Sooryavansham

The Sooryavansham family head, Thakur Bhanu Pratap Singh, is the respected sarpanch of the village of Bharatpur. He has rendered yeoman service not only to the people of Bharatpur but also to those of eighteen neighboring villages. He lives in a mansion with his wife Sharda and his three sons, Karan, Varun, and Heera. Heera, the youngest, is illiterate and therefore treated like a servant. Disliked by Bhanupratap, he is excluded from family matters and confined to menial tasks. Despite this treatment, Heera loves his father unconditionally and finds affection only from his mother and his friend Dharmendra (Mindra), a servant in the household.

Days before the wedding of Bhanupratap's daughter, the groom arrives with his sister Radha. Mistaking Heera for a servant, Radha makes him run errands. On the wedding day, she is shocked to learn from her father that Heera is Bhanupratap’s son. Curious, she asks Mindra to tell her about Heera’s past.

As a child, Heera consistently failed in school but continued attending to see Gauri, a girl adopted by Bhanupratap after her parents’ death. When a teacher beat Gauri, Heera quit studies altogether. Believing that Heera’s presence would hinder Gauri’s education, Bhanupratap sent her to a boarding school. When they grew up, Bhanupratap arranged their marriage. However, Gauri, unwilling to marry an illiterate man, attempted suicide. Heera saved her but accepted the blame, claiming he had refused the marriage. Bhanupratap misunderstood, thinking Heera harbored lust for Gauri, and his hatred for his son deepened. Gauri later married a wealthy man. Moved by Heera’s story, Radha proposes marriage to him, and he accepts.

Meanwhile, Deshraj Thakur, another zamindar in Bharatpur, aims to ruin Bhanupratap’s family by marrying Radha to his son Arjun. This would force Radha’s lawyer father to act in Deshraj’s favor, giving Deshraj an advantage over Bhanupratap. Radha’s mother approves the alliance and pressures Bhanupratap to separate Radha from Heera. Bhanupratap gives Heera an ultimatum: either marry Radha or regain his father’s respect. Encouraged by Mindra, Heera chooses Radha. On the wedding day, he elopes with her, angering Bhanupratap, who disowns him.

Heera and Radha settle in Mindra’s house on the village outskirts. Heera works as a labourer in a transport company before starting his own transport business with money borrowed from Radha’s uncle, Ranjeet. Naming the company after his father, in time, Heera becomes wealthy and respected. At the same time, Radha clears the UPSC examination and becomes an IAS officer. The couple has a son, named after Heera’s father, and nicknamed him Sonu. Bhanupratap, however, continues to hate Heera despite his rise in status.

Heera later fulfills his father’s dream of establishing a hospital for the poor. At the inauguration, he publicly credits his success to Bhanupratap, believing his father had expelled him so he could learn to depend on himself. Bhanupratap, secretly present at the ceremony, overhears this.

While reconsidering his actions, Bhanupratap encounters his grandson Sonu outside school and begins secretly spending time with him. Learning of this, Heera asks Sonu to give some kheer to his “friend” the next time they meet. Meanwhile, Sharda pleads with Bhanupratap to reconcile with Heera. Bhanupratap, tormented by guilt, phones his son but collapses after coughing blood. He is hospitalized, and Deshraj accuses Heera of poisoning the kheer to kill his father.

As Deshraj’s men assault Heera, Bhanupratap recovers and came to his son’s rescue. He reveals that the kheer had been poisoned by Deshraj himself. The father-son duo beat up Deshraj and his men until Deshraj confesses to his crime. Finally, with the family reuniting, Bhanupratap embraces Heera in front of all their relatives.

The film was initially to be directed by Vikraman, the director of Surya Vamsam (1997) with R. B. Choudary of Super Good Films and G. Adiseshagiri Rao of Padmalaya Studios as the producers. Songs were recorded and composed by Anu Malik at various places in Chennai including at the White House, Saligramam; V G P Video Studio at Mount Road; and The Residency. The film was planned to be shot in Rajasthan. Vikraman chose both looks for Amitabh Bachchan and a photoshoot occurred in Mumbai and AVM Studios, Chennai with Arthur A. Wilson as the cinematographer. After R. B. Choudary left the film, Vikraman mutually decided to leave the film also.^[5]

Before working in Hindi language films, Soundarya had acted in a total of 65 South Indian films. Her brother Amarnath, who managed her career, stated that she always performed decorous roles and same would be the case in Bollywood.^[6] Soundarya said that she was excited when a role in the film was offered to her and to have got an opportunity to co-star with Amitabh Bachchan. Having studied Sanskrit, the actress added, she was quite comfortable with Hindi, and could read and write it. She also asked the viewers to be optimistic about the film, although the actress was a bit dubious about her role.^[7]

The film's muhurat ceremony was attended by a number of celebrities from the Telugu cinema, including Nagarjuna, Venkatesh, Vijaya Nirmala, and Naresh.^[8] Rekha lent her voice for actresses Jayasudha and Soundarya.^[9] The film was shot at Ramoji Film City, Hyderabad.^[5]

The film score was composed by Koti while the songs were composed by Anu Malik. The songs were written by Sameer.

Sooryavansham (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)^[10]