Dhadkan (2000)

I have seen this movie millions of times and do not mind seeing it again. This title is apt for the movie's storyline which is mentioned below: I will write the review in a very honest manner after seeing all is pros and cons.

The Plot: Anjali (Shilpa Kundra aka Shetty) loved Dev (Sunil Shetty) and would like to get married. Unfortunately, her father (Kiran Kumar) doesn't approve of Dev as he is poor and she is very rich. Also, his manners do not suit Anjali's father too so he arranged her marriage with Ram (Akshay Kumar) who is also a business tycoon but very religious and kind-hearted. Dev, who has promised his mother (Sharmila Tagore in a guest appearance) about Anjali's love is heartbroken about this news and his mother passes away hearing about Anjali leaving him despite made the promise to his mother. Anjali & Ram's marriage initially goes through some rough waves as Anjali hasn't forgotten Dev completely. Ram lives with his stepmother, step sister and step brother and they hate him behind his back. Then, he asks his family members to leave them alone so that they could live peacefully. Trouble starts after 3 years ie on their 3rd anniversary party, Dev returns as a wealthy businessman and is determined to win back Anjali by hook or crook. How Anjali and Ram convinces him about being happy and satisfied with whatever he has got now forms this beautiful movie climax.

The pros: There are several beautiful scenes in the movie which convey important messages: a) Giving respect to someone's feelings especially after marriage. b) Having no evil thoughts or regards to anyone even though they are bad. c) Helping others in times of need. d) The saying "money can buy everything but not not values like happiness, compassion " is very nicely said by Akshay Kumar in the climax.

The music: Nadeem-Shravan's music is enchanting. The songs; Dil Ne Yeh Kaha Hai Dil se in both versions, Tum Dil Ki Dhadkan Mein (sung in both versions), Aksar Ise Duniya Mein, Na Na Karte Pyaar and Dulhe Ka Sehra created a special place in my heart and also my playlists.

The cast: a) Akshay Kumar gives a brilliant performance as Ram. The characterstics that he denotes is like Lord Ram in the Ramayan. b) Shilpa Kundra acts as an arrogant girl initially after marriage but mellows down after seeing the character of her husband. Her performance is also good. c) Sunil Shetty gives the best performance as the rejected lover but needs to improve in some parts here and there. d) Mahima Chaudhry as Dev's business partner cum girlfriend gives a wonderful performance. e) Kiran Kumar as Anjali's father has acted the best. His concern, anger and sadness is well depicted in the movie. It was a change in seeing him playing a positive role after a long time (he was playing negative roles then). f) Sharmila Tagore as Dev's mother did her part but could not be given enough screen footage later on.

The cons: Even though the movie has plenty of positives, there were some negatives also below:

* Sharmila Tagore's role as Dev's mother could have lived on till Sunil Shetty established his successful career but breathed her last early. * How Dev became rich after Anjali left him remains unanswered. * The scene where Ram's stepmother promises to go to the temple for atoning her deeds was not shown * The wedding of Sunil-Mahima was not shown. * The apologising of Shilpa to her hubby was not shown despite her eyes denoting it.

Since the movie has lots of advanta

Fmovies: I watched this movie on TV. The acting of Sunil Shetty is very good & convincing, Akshay was OK. Watch it for Sunil Shetty. Back in 2000 actors usually suffer from overacting problems but Sunil Shetty is too good even when compared to today's standard.

This emotional musical was released in the year 2000 and I had watched it in the theatre (at Jodhpur) with my family (my wife and my little daughter).

Dhadkan (heartbeat) is based on triangular relationship between a husband, his wife and her ex-beau. Dev (Sunil Shetty) is poor and is in love with a comparatively well-off girl, Anjali (Shilpa Shetty) who gets married to Ram (Akshay Kumar) as per the wishes of her parents. After getting troubles in her married life for some time, she is able to adjust there and starts loving her husband too. Her idealistic husband is totally alone in the hostile environment of the family consisting of his step-mother (Sushma Seth) , step-brother (Parmeet Sethi) and step-sister (Manjeet Kullar). Anyway, three years pass after their marriage when the twist in the tale comes.

The twist is the return of Anjali's erstwhile poor ex-beau, Dev who is no longer poor and has become a big businessman, working in association with Sheetal (Mahima Chaudhary). Dev feeks that he can win Anjali back from Ram through his wealth and he makes attempts in this direction through many negative attempts. However, in the end, he realizes that Anjali can't be his now and without any bitterness in heart towards Ram, he moves back abroad with an intent to marry Sheetal now (who had been loving him in her heart despite knowing about his passion for Anjali).

The story starts interestingly and there are many impressive sequences in the movie, beautifully intertwined with the melodious songs. However there is little doubt that the direction is poor. The story could have been told much more convincingly. Instead, it has been told in a stupidly theatrical way and appears utterly unreliable even on the screen. All the supporting characters appear like robots having human faces with mechanical gestures, activities and dialogues. In the scene of wedding of Ram and Anjlai, Navneet Nishan has been shown as the sister of Ram. However in the very next scene (and for the balance part of movie), Manjeet Kullar is shown as playing that role. Well, the viewer can only pity at the brains of the director for this continuity-jerk.

It is told that when Anjali had left Dev, he had only 50 paise in his pocket. After three years, he is showed as owning a business empire worth Rs. 500 crores which is the height of exaggeration. Further he goes abroad so comfortably as if he had to go to Chinchpokli through a local train. He is so egoistic that he meets Anjali's father (Kiran Kumar) wearing a sleeper containing a hole. Even this is not sufficient, he shows that hole to his prospective father-in-law with pride. While watching that scene, I was feeling like taking that sleeper (with the hole) from Dev and hitting the moviemaker hard with that only.

The face-saving grace of this movie are Akshay Kumar and music. Nadeem-Shravan have composed highly admirable songs. Dil Ne Ye Kaha Hai Dil Se, Tum Dil Ki Dhadkan Mein Rehte Ho, Na Na Karte, Aksar Iss Duniya Mein and finally the wedding song - Dulhe Ka Sehra Suhaana Lagta Hai, all are worth listening to again and again. The picturization of the songs is also good.

Cinematographer has done a remarkable job. There are several eye-soothing scenes capturing the beautiful landscapes. The art-direction is also praiseworthy. The movie is not unduly long but the editing still leaves a lot to be desired (the continuity-jerk mentioned above is an example of the poor editing).

Akshay Kumar has excelled in the role of an idealist. His character has be

Dhadkan fmovies. I have just seen the movie Dhadkan. I generally don't write reviews for films but I was forced to write a review for this movie. First of all the film has a superb story. Its story is mixed of love revenge and emotion. The acting of the characters is awesome. Akshay kumar, Shilpa shetty and others does a decent job. But Sunil Shetty's acting is simply awesome. I have no words to explain how good his acting is. The music of the film is good. Background music of the movie is nice. But the song " Tum dil ki dhadkan me" is a very beautiful song. This film is just a epic masterpiece. This is the greatest Indian love story film I have ever seen. The direction of the film is the biggest plus point of this film. Mahima Chowdhuri is also beautiful but her role is not strong enough. This film simply Rocks. I can't give this film less than 10.

I hate it when movies that have the potential to be great end up to be messed up only because the director makes some stupid careless. That is pretty much the case with 'Dhadkan'. What was most irritating is that Darshan has left plenty of 'bloopers' and the writing is horrendous and banal. Dev's mom's sudden heart attack was such an old cliché. Despite a few good dialogues, most of them are bad, corny and ancient. The ending is forced and to an extent nonsensical. Though, having seen 'Lootere', 'Raja Hindustani' and 'Haan Maine Bhi Pyar Kiya Hai', 'Dhadkan' is way better than anything Darshan has made before and after.

But for me, 'Dhadkan' wasn't entirely a complete waste of time and I can rewatch it (keeping the remote ready to fast-forward the bad scenes) for a few reasons: the songs and performances. All the songs were beautifully picturized. My favourite visualizations were both versions of 'Dil Ne Yeh Kaha Hai' (it has some very good acting moments by Akshay and Shilpa), 'Aksar Iss Duniya Mein' (beautifully choreographed and a graceful Mahima Chaudhry), 'Na Na Karte' (romance in Zurich and Venice) and of course 'Dulhe ka Sehra' (wonderful lyrics and the late Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan's powerful voice pretty much sum up a wedding).

Sunil Shetty does mostly an okay job but does tend to ham in several scenes. A restrained Akshay Kumar is brilliant as the down to earth and optimistic Ram. The enigmatic gorgeous Mahima Chaudhry superbly stands out in a smaller role. But, 'Dhadkan' belongs to Shilpa Shetty. She finally gets a movie that centres round her character and Shetty effortlessly carries it. The supporting cast are mere clichés and caricatures. Kader Khan makes a surprising appearance.

'Dhadkan' is mainly watchable for the performances of Shilpa Shetty, Akshay Kumar and Mahima, Nadeem Shravan's music and nice outdoor locations (if you're still not used to seeing them in Hindi films). And for these factors it has repeat value if I'm given full authority of the remote control.

After watching this film I now consider this to be my favourite film, Akshay Kumar plays the role of Ram, a family man. He gives a strong performance, which makes a normal change from his action films. Sunil Shetty plays the role of Dev, his performance for me in this film was brilliant. Shilpa Shetty's role was worth watching due to the emotions being displayed through out the film The storyline was different, but I think the ending perhaps was a bit disappointing. The songs in the films are romantic and beautiful, I have two personal favourite songs, which are two of the main songs in the film. Both Akshay and Sunil give a brilliant performance, portraying their characters emotions. This is a must see film for fans of romantic films, worth watching for the star cast.