Dil Chahta Hai (Hindi Language) (DVD)

Dil Chahta Hai is a romantic Bollywood (Hindi language) drama interspersed with a touch of comedy and was filmed on location in Mumbai & Goa, India and Sydney, Australia.


CAST/CREW

Starring Amir Khan, Saif Ali Khan, Akshaye Khanna, Preity Zinta, Dimple Kapadia and Sonali Kulkarni, Dil Chahta Hai was released in July 2001. Produced by Ritesh Sidhwani and directed by Farhan Akhtar, the film runs for just over ...
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Dil Chahta Hai isn't worthy of any great awards as far as I'm concerned, although it did win some (such as Best Actor in a Supporting Role, Best Choreography, Best Screenplay) from the International Indian Film Academy and was nominated for many more (such as Best Actor, Best Actress in Leading Role, Best Film, Best Director) also from the International Indian Film Academy (award & nomination information courtesy of imdb.com)
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Dil Chahta Hai is a romantic Bollywood (Hindi language) drama interspersed with a touch of comedy and was filmed on location in Mumbai & Goa, India and Sydney, Australia.

CAST/CREW

Starring Amir Khan, Saif Ali Khan, Akshaye Khanna, Preity Zinta, Dimple Kapadia and Sonali Kulkarni, Dil Chahta Hai was released in July 2001. Produced by Ritesh Sidhwani and directed by Farhan Akhtar, the film runs for just over 3 hours (yes, yes I know that seems really long).The director of photography is Ravi K. Chandran

PLOT TEASER

The opening scenes of the film shows an ambulance arriving at a hospital and Tara (Kapadia) being wheeled into surgery followed to the operating room doors by Siddharth (Khanna) - this initial hospital scene is in silence which confused me for a moment. I wondered if the sound had gone on my TV. After talking with someone who looks like a nurse (which was a bit strange, one would think this news would be delivered by a doctor) Siddharth (also known as Sid) is advised that Tara needs a liver transplant. He calls his friend Sameer (Ali Khan) who says he'll come over to the hospital with Akash (Khan) but Siddharth states that Akash will not be interested in coming over. Sameer calls Akash to tell him the news and Akash tells him to go to the hospital alone. There's a flashback scene where the 3 friends have a playfight with paint in Sid's bedroom after he shows them a painting he has created of a mystery woman.

Back to the present Sameer's at the hospital and is consoling Sid and breaks the news that he intends to get married. Sid seems pleased about this but acts rather differently when Sameer says Akash is also getting married. Another flashback scene to a college disco follows. Sameer goes to the bar to get his girlfriend a drink and Akash points out to her that he is chatting up a girl instead of returning to the table with her drink so a scene ensues. Sid creates a chalk drawing on a napkin of a beautiful woman, who turns out to be Shalini (Zinta), who Akash spots and decides he is going to chat up. Cue the first song of the film and lots of dancing, and erm the 3 male leads are wearing leather pants! At the end of the song Akash introduces himself to Shalini pretending he knows her brother and declares his love for her much to the amusement of their fellow students. Shalini is not impressed nor is her boyfriend who knocks Akash out.

Sameer goes through girlfriends like old socks, each time he falls madly in love, but he's quite fickle. Akash is in love with himself and is a bit too arrogant for his own good, he doesn't believe in relationships lasting longer than 2 weeks nor does he believe in love. Sid falls for older divorced woman Tara who has a bit of a drinking problem and he falls hard, but Akash makes fun of his feelings and this is what causes them to fall out.

What changes take place in each of the male leads' lives to make them reach major turning points? What is it about certain women that bring about these changes?

ACTING

Of the male leads Akshaye Khanna plays the most serious and intense of the three. He portrays the softly-spoken, sensitive artist completely realistically. I'd not been the biggest fan of his acting skills prior to seeing him here, but he redeemed himself a great deal in this film.

Amir Khan played a very different character to his usual roles. He has a goatee and earrings - which is very different for him! He's self-obsessed, doesn't take life, love or his friends' feelings seriously, he goes out of his way to cause friction between his pals and their respective loved ones. But mostly he comes across as someone who's trying to be over-confident when, in fact, he's really covering up his true feelings. His role in this film shows what a multi-talented actor he really is - I felt intense dislike for him through more than half of the film.

Saif Ali Khan amused me (yet again) with his portrayal of a young man falling in love with every woman he dates. He's the eternal optimist when it comes to love and gets his heart broken often, but falls in love again very quickly. He plays his part with zest and as usual, good comic timing. His character is very likeable but a bit of a buffoon! He goes all out to fall in love but also tries to ensure he doesn't hurt women.

Dimple Kapadia plays the older love interest of Akshaye with ease. She's somewhat older than her co-stars but doesn't particularly look it. She's convincing as a woman who's distressed about her daughter being taken away by her rich ex-husband (money talks in India) and hits the bottle to drown her sorrows. Eventually her drinking leads to the climax of the film where all the loose ends are tied up nice and neatly…

Preity Zinta is just as brilliant in her role in this film as she is in pretty much all films I've seen her acting in. She's full of beauty and innocence and emits an aura of helplessness that makes men want to protect and love her.

Sonali Kulkarni wasn't present on the screen as much as the other supporting actresses but she was able enough in her part as Puja.

The rest of the supporting cast were well chosen, the respective parents, uncles, etc, played their parts with dignity and there were no "bad guys" as such.

MUSIC

The first song in the nightclub "Koyi kahe kehta rahe" is a peppy dance tune and quite catchy so I listened to it all the way through. The title tune "Dil Chahta Hai" is quite mellow and is played at various intervals and is quite pleasant to listen to. The rest of the songs in the film were quite pleasant to listen to and quite rarely for me, I didn't hit the fast forward button to whiz through the songs. They were all quite melodious and placed at relevant intervals.

The music for the film was by Shankar, Ehsaan and Loy and lyrics were by Javed Akhtar. Playback singers include: Udit Narayan, Alka Yagnik, Shaan, Kavita Subramanium, Srinivas, Sonu Nigam & Kay Kay.

WHERE TO GET IT

The DVD is available from Amazon Marketplace for £17.00 which seems rather steep or from TheHut.com for £13.97 (free delivery) or you could try renting it from your usual DVD rental source.

SUMMARY

Dil Chahta Hai isn't worthy of any great awards as far as I'm concerned, although it did win some (such as Best Actor in a Supporting Role, Best Choreography, Best Screenplay) from the International Indian Film Academy and was nominated for many more (such as Best Actor, Best Actress in Leading Role, Best Film, Best Director) also from the International Indian Film Academy (award & nomination information courtesy of imdb.com)

The main characters all seem to be quite spoilt and self-indulgent during the first half of the film. They're all from rich families - you see them lazing around doing nothing in particular, then driving to and around Goa in a convertible Mercedes Benz, you see Akash flying first class to Sydney, when his father forces him to go run the business out there. You only start to empathise with them from about halfway through the film where the characters are shown in a more sympathetic light.

The cinematography is worth a mention, the outside shots are beautifully done and there's a good use of bright and modern colours throughout the film. All the leads dress quite smartly throughout the film (even though the brightly coloured leather pants in the nightclub scene were a bit much to stomach).

Another thing I'd add, though, is that it was hard to believe these three guys were supposed to be recent college leavers, none of them are spring chickens in real life!

To summarise the film - it is a pleasant story about how 3 young men reach a certain maturity, learn about the real meaning of love and how their friendship evolves during that time.

All in all I'd give Dil Chahta Hai a generous 7 out of 10.

NB: As you might be able to gather from the title of this review - Dil Chahta Hai means "the heart wants" or "what the heart wants". Although the film is rated PG as there's no sex and violence, I doubt children under 15 would be interested in watching it. 

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