Dil Chahta Hai (2001)

The Akshaye Khanna/Dimple Kapadia story was fresh, as far as I can see. I do not remember a hero falling in love with an older woman in Bollywood. (The Assamese movie, Brishti, handled this issue way back in 1974; but that was an 'Art' movie.) If properly developed, it could have been a nice 90 minute movie, based on this segment alone.

However, it was ruined by the million-times recycled Amir Khan story, not to mention the non-story of Saif Ali Khan. There is absolutely nothing new about the Amir Khan segment; no, actually the Opera was new! That segment is absurd; in real life that does not happen. And if it does, it is as rare as the life-style led by our heroes, at least in real life of real people in real India.

Fmovies: Just pitifully, we have lots and lots Hindi speaking people in town and they have been here for a very long time, still the local Chinese don't really care to know their culture, let alone watch good Indian movies. Perhaps there are more viewers in Tibet, Yunnan of China.

There are tons of "come of age" movies and this is a wonderful one, it's like a fresh air enters into a stuffy room when I was watching it. Unlike the Hollywood or Euro films, the difficulties that the three young men encounter are not presented in a realistic and sometimes brutal way but highly musical and artistic way. Besides the stunning length, this is another feature of Indian movies.

The boys are from middle class families, obviously, or even higher society. They have time and money to go to Goa to spend their holiday, go to chic places to spend their past time, have nothing to worry. Just like any well-to-do Asian families, (I mean those in Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Korea, Japan....) the old man of the family would send their children to their own overseas company to receive "wilderness training" so that later they can take over the family business. Akash just cannot escape this and stays in Sydney.

Once again, the songs, the dances, the plot and the script are all marvellously put together. Who is able to resist pretty and young faces, right? Who wants to see the real McCoy of the true India? Movie is always a dream. Let's continue it

Bollywood is ushering itself into the world stage but it is still not a strong counterpart to Hollywood. There are many good Indian people people behind the scene of many big movies, directors, editors, script writers.... Yet, I am just wondering it would take how many years for the mainstream (like Hollywood) center to "digest" Indians after taking in Chinese like Jacky Chan, Jet Li, Chow Yun-fat, Tony Leung. Through Hollywood, the Indians actors would be more widely known because it is a place to rocket people's name over one night.

The 1994 Miss World Aishwarya Rai caused a frenzy in Cannes in 2002. I hope some male "Khan" would do so somewhere in Oscar or Cannes again because they do deserve it.

Before getting into the details, I must admit that this is certainly one of the best and most entertaining films I have ever seen!

RATING: ****1/2 out of *****

Plot ---- The story is about three very good friends and their relationships with each other. Aamir Khan plays a sociable and mischievous Akash, Saif Ali Khan plays a confused, often 'love-struck' Sameer and Akshaye Khanna plays a mature, confident Siddharth or Sid. Preity Zinta plays Shalini - Akash's love interest, though throughout the film Akash claims that he does not believe in love. Sonali Kulkarni plays Pooja with whom Sameer finally (really) falls in love and Dimple Kapadia is Tara Jaiswal, a divorced middle-aged alcholic. Thats all one needs to know about the film because right from the first reel the viewer is absorbed into the story and learns about each character.

Review ------ Full credit must go to the director Farhan Akhtar who has broken many of the Bollywood production norms in order to make a technically perfect and enjoyable film. It would be unfair to call Aamir Khan the life of the DCH though his popularity in India and abroad would have drawn a substantial part of the film's audience. He gives a brilliant performance as usual as Akash. His scenes with Akshaye Khanna and some scenes shot in Australia (Opera, phone call to Sid, etc) are mind-blowing! SAif Ali Khan is the surprise packet of Dil Chahta Hai and there is a lot of untapped talent in him especially where comedy roles are concerned. But I felt that the best performance came from Akshaye Khanna who plays the character of Sid to perfection. His mannerisms, thinking, behaviour is very authentic and makes us all identify with his character closely. Preity Zinta looks gorgeous and is her usual chirpy self. Sonali Kulkarni could have certainly looked better without all that makeup. Dimple Kapadia shows how a good role can bring out an elegant performance from a seasoned actress.

The best aspect of Dil Chahta Hai other than the actors' performances was the music. This is hopefully the start of more non-run of the mill compositions in Bollywood. Ofcourse, I hope for a lot more compositions like these from the music directors Shankar-Eshaan-Loy. The title song was the best and gels really well with this trndy film. Other good songs are 'Jaane Kyon', 'Kaise HAi yeh Rut' and 'Tanhayee'. 'Woh ladki hai kahan' - a parody of old Hindi songs is simply hillarious. The lyrics provided by the director's father, veteran Javed Akhtar are simply amazing and complement the story of the film to perfection!

Overall, a very entertaining feature and I hope to see more films like these in the near future. Three cheers to Farhan Akhtar and his team!!!

Dil Chahta Hai fmovies. I stumbled over this film on late night TV and immediately ordered the DVD. It's a corker! Fresh, invigorating, romantic, bizarre even!

They don't make films like this in the West - and more's the pity but hence the freshness. The three lead actors are gorgeous - so it hardly matters that they must be the oldest students in town. The cinematography is beautiful - especially in the Australian sequences. The song and dance routines are as welcome as they are surprising.

As with all Hindi films, it is pure melodrama of course. The ability to suspend one's disbelief is a necessity. But that aside, it has all the attributes of a good old fashioned Hollywood romance. Boy meets girl, boy loses girl... etc., times three.

The core theme of friendship is a delight - as are the subtle homo-erotic overtones of Akash and Sid's relationship. Intended or not, I wouldn't have minded if they'd ended up together - but this is Bollywood remember!

All in all, fantastic fun which I plan to watch again and again. Highly recommended.

Dil Chahta Hai Starring: Aamir Khan, Saif Ali Khan, Akshaye Khanna, Preity Zinta, Sonali Kulkarni, Dimple Kapadia and Ayub Khan Director: Farhan Akhtar Music: Shankar-Eshan-Loy Released. Debutant director Farhan Akhtar's (son of Javed Akhtar and Honey Irani) Dil Chahta Hai is the story of three friends and their respective thinking of love. It has a new, trendy and youthful look, completely different from the standards norms of the Bollywood film.

Akash (Aamir Khan), Sameer (Saif Ali Khan) and Siddharth aka Sid (Akshaye Khanna), three close friends, have completed their education and are on the threshold of life. Akash does not believe in love. He is a flirt and his love affairs do not last for more than a month. Sameer believes in love. He is always carrying his heart on his palm and falling in love every time. But he still has not found that special girl. Sid, a painter, is the most sensitive and mature among the three. He knows the true meaning of love. He finds love in everything, everywhere and everytime.

All three are enjoying life. Then comes the twist when Sid falls in love with older woman Tara Jaiswal (Dimple Kapadia), an interior designer, who is a divorcee. Akash is not able to understand the depth of Sid's love and hurts his sentiments for which Sid slaps Akash, thus creating a rfit between the two friends. Sameer tries to bridge the gap but is unsuccessful.

Sid leaves for a painting workshop at Kaushali. Akash leaves for Australia for his dad's business. On the flight, he meets Shalini (Preity Zinta), who he had briefly known earlier. Their friendship slowly blossoms into love. Meanwhile Sameer also finds his special girl in Pooja (Sonali Kulkarni), whom he wants to marry. Time has passed. All three friends are again in the same town -- but things are different for them now.

Full marks to director Farhan Akhtar for giving a completely new and fresh look to the film in his debut film. The storyline is different from the run-of-the-mill fares which we are used to seeing for such a long time. Farhan is a welcomed entry in the list of talented and young directors. He has also dared to be different. He has taken care of the minutest details in the film. Technically, the film is no way behind some of the best Hollywood movies.

Now the performances -- all the three leads are fabulous. They all fit their roles to a T. Aamir Khan as expected is the best. He is too good in the comic scenes and is excellent in the emotional scenes also -- especially in the scene when he breaks down on the phone while talking to his father. He definitely is the best among the current lot who does his work with precision and utmost dedication. Saif Ali Khan is a wonderful surprise in this film. This is his career-best role and one cannot imagine anyone else playing Sameer's role. His sense of timing and facial expressions are very natural and makes Sameer a very adorable character in the film.The least significant role was of Sameer but Saif made it very important. Now comes the final winner -- Akshaye Khanna. An actor-par excellence and very natural in front of the camera, Akshaye has played the role of Sid to perfection. His emotions and expressive face say a lot. He has given a spell-binding performance. Preity looks great in her new look and has acted well. Sonali Kulkarni is wasted and Dimple Kapadia still looks gorgeous and plays her role well.

Music and the picturisation of the songs flow with the mood of the film. The locales of Sydney and Goa have been brilliantly shot. T

Indian movies tend to have a reputation for (a) being musicals and (b) having overmodulated, distorted sound tracks, as if everyone was singing and playing through a guitar fuzzbox. Fuzz is fine in its place (heavy metal rock music, for example) but a surfeit of it can readily wear down the listener.

Dil Chahta Hai is a welcome breath of fresh air in the genre. It does have musical numbers but they're very pleasant on the ear, as is the sound track in general - modern musical styles, in some cases mixed with more traditional musical instruments (even a didgeridoo, the presence of which is explained below).

I have an absolute hatred of musicals so for me to find this movie likable it really has to be something special. The awards it has already won demonstrate that it IS something special.

The storyline is a little convoluted (which may explain why it takes 3 hours to run its course - around twice as long as its western counterparts, although Indian audiences may prefer the much longer format) but the acting is excellent throughout and the viewer is kept interested as the multiple interwoven plots twist and turn.

This movie demands concentration though, to get the whole picture. There is a good deal of spoken English mixed with Hindi, so the subtitles are a must for those who don't understand Hindi, but the English speech is not often mirrored in the subtitles, so one must both listen carefully and watch carefully in order not to miss a beat.

The subtitles themselves are not perfect, using unusual punctuation at times to emphasize a point (a word bracketed by a plus or minus symbol on one side and a two thirds fraction on the other takes a little time to absorb, for example).

But these are only minor niggles. This movie is richly textured and provides a visual a feast throughout, especially if, like me, you are not familiar with the sights and sounds of places like Bombay and Goa. A good part of the movie is also set in Sydney, Australia, providing plenty of material to keep the interest going (and hence the presence of the aboriginal instrument noted earlier).

This is very much a westernised production, with characters and behaviours that are possibly harder for traditional Indian audiences to identify with; I had no difficulty though with identifying with the three main male characters - three guys who are firm friends and have been for some years, and who may separate but somehow always manage to come back together when circumstances demand it. This kind of theme is pretty universal - the British TV series "Last of the Summer Wine" operates along pretty much the same lines, albeit fifty years on.

One of the themes is the conflict between traditionalist parents and modernist offspring (in particular the arranged marriage) and the author leaves the audience to make up their own mind about which is "right", but maybe with a slight nudge in the direction of the traditionalists.

The only gripe I have is with the choice of the anglicised title "Do Your Thing" for the US market. I think that totally misses the point of the movie. From the subtitles, Dil Chahta Hai translates as "The heart wants...", which would be more accurately and pertinently translated as "What The Heart Wants...".

In other words, the storyline is more about following your heart in love than it is about leading a self-indulgent life (which, obviously, these characters do most of the time - courtesy of being very well off an