Customer Reviews

Dil Chahta Hai

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Definitely a fun movie with great Hindi music. More than that, it is a GOOD story too. It starts out light, singing and dancing in a club with MTV like special effects, but it becomes a very good story very soon. It is a long film, but a wonderful way to spend a Sunday afternoon while the guys watch football. I bought one for me to keep, and 1 to give as a gift.
I really enjoyed Lagaan, also with Amir Khan, and this one is defintely on the same level or higher.

Who knew Bollywood could be such a sweet window to the nuances of Indian culture?! This movie was recommended to me by a lover of all things Indian (I'm looking at you, Stephan), and I was so surprised by how fun, clean and entertaining this movie was. Grab some curry flavoured popcorn, a box of Kleenex, and a comfortable seat, and prepare for a cultural immersion that will leave you wanting more.

DIL CHAHTA HAI follows the lives of three recent college graduates and long time friends as their paths diverge and intersect thru a span of two years. Akash (Aamir Khan, excellent in Lagaan - Once Upon a Time in India) is the callous and cynical one, Sameer (Saif Ali Khan) is in love with being in love, and Siddharth "Sid" (Akshaye Khanna, he of the overwrought eyebrows) is the contemplative painter. The film lays out their tangled love lives and how that affects their friendship. For the dismissive Akash and the sensitive Sid, one such romantic affair creates a rift which isn't so easily mended.

DIL CHAHTA HAI mostly centers on the guys and their doings, but Preity Zinta does have a hefty role in the film's second half and is fetching as Shalini, the girl being stifled by a controlling fiance. The other two female love interests - Sonali Kulkarni as the modern-minded Pooja, who doesn't believe in arranged marriages, and Dimple Kapadia as Tara, a troubled older woman who shares Sid's artistic passion - both receive minimal screen time, but they do impact the movie.

The film caters to the metropolitan Hindi youth. For one thing, the polished cinematography strengthens the story's very contemporary mindset. From the opening sequence - a club scene featuring menfolk in leather pants - we are immediately clued in that this film concerns a younger Indian generation cloaked in hipness and modern sensibilites. Apparently, this cool and well-to-do set also tends to listen to Sting and read Steve Martini novels, but whatever. But, as per usual, by the film's conclusion, traditional values are espoused. So, in fact, there's really nothing controversial here, excepting maybe the part where Sid falls in love with the much older and divorced Tara and all the baggage which that implies (ah, but does she reciprocate?). Akash and Sameer's love stories stick to the usual Bollywood conventions, with Akash's tale being the more melodramatic.

Even weighed down by a certain predictability, the mostly engaging performances still propel this film to a four star rating (from me, anyway). Akshaye Khanna is good as Sid, the earnest and most introspective of the trio and saddled with the most improbable of romances, and you feel for him near the end. Saif Ali Khan (Hum Tum DVD 2004 & Salaam Namaste) is a riot! He has a natural charm and demonstrates an array of truly comic expressions and masterful one liners. He justifiably walked away with several 2002 Indian film awards for his role as Sameer. Sameer is my favorite character in this movie and delivers my favorite line in this film ("I don't think she was from Switzerland, either."). Aamir Khan's Akash is the main lead character, but I never quite warmed up to him. Akash, as portrayed by Khan, is a smirky, prank-playing jerk who I found extremely unlikable, and, really, it took him way too long to see the light. There was a frustrating scene, after the opera, as he has a conversation with Shalini (Preity) outside her home, where I just wanted to sock him. So, by the time he did come around, he'd built up too much animosity in me to care.

The perpetually peppy Preity Zinta isn't as peppy here, but she still turns in a good, nuanced performance. Dimple Kapadia stands out in her brief stints on screen, and one could see why Sid might be attracted to her, despite their disparity in age. Sonali Kulkarni doesn't get enough screen time to be as relevant, but, as I've mentioned, she does leave an impact, especially in one musical sequence.

Speaking of the songs, there are only two worth mentioning here. The sunny and quite joyous "Woh Ladki Hai Kahan" (Where Is That Girl?) just shot up my personal music chart as one of my favorite Bollywood songs. This number befits Sameer's lighthearted story arc and is also a good natured, rib-tickling send-up of old Bollywood (love all that arm flapping). To contrast that catchy tune, there's the bitter strains of "Tanhayee" to bring you down, playing as Akash forlornly haunts the streets of Sydney.

At three hours long, this film is an ode to the bonds of friendship, with romance mostly playing second fiddle. As each friend is beset by a dilemma, one or both of the other two inevitably, steadfastly shows up for support. Even with the estranged Sid and Akash, it is never too late to rebuild bridges (it just may take longer). Again, the story offers nothing new, but the stars are compelling and diverting, and it's worth it to sit back and chill (yup, even for three hours) and be regaled by them. Oh, and did I mention how funny Saif Ali Khan is? Or how fun the song "Woh Ladki Hai Kahan" is? I did? Well, then, my job is done.

This was a huge hit in India, seen as an important step towards hipper,
less cliché Bollywood film-making, that combined the strength of
western films (more low key and subtle story and acting, slicker
technical values) with the Indian use of musical numbers, big themes
and epic running times.

The story is about 3 young men graduating from university, their
friendship, and how each deals with love and women.

There are things I could criticize. That 3 hour running time for one thing may
be hard on a US audience (just a cultural difference - that's a common
length in India). Casting actors who are clearly in their mid-30s to play
kids just graduating from college. A score that sounds like a Giorgio Moroder
cast off from the 1980s, and 'happy' montages that look like something Richard
Lester would have done in the early 1960s.

So why did I like it so much? Maybe it just caught me at the
right moment... it's just pretty damn infectious; the
few musical numbers feel slyly integrated (fantasies, performing in a
night club) and cleverly staged, instead of just stuck on. The songs
are good, with catchy melodies and clever wordplay. While the actors
are too old they're charming and natural in their roles. A lot of
clever, funny lines manage to translate across cultures, and while the
dramatic side could be attacked as hackneyed, and a more than a little
paternalistic, I still found myself caught up. Maybe on re-seeing it
I'll downgrade it. But the bottom line was, I had a fun, involved 3
hours I was glad to spend with this film. I smiled a lot. I cared about
what happened and how things turned out, and I was charmed, not turned
off by the seeming anachronisms.

One note, there are a lot of different DVD editions floating around. I saw the one
released by 'Spark' (the one pictured with the red cover), which looked decent, and was
a dual level disc. But when I ordered it, I got a knock off single layered
disc by a different company that has a much weaker image. I then
ordered from another company and got the correct 'Spark'
version (measures about 7.23GB per my computer).

It's a classic coming-of-age story: three old friends, fresh out of college, are standing on the brink of manhood and struggling to take the leap of faith that love requires.

Akash (Aamir Khan), Sameer (Saif Ali Khan), and Sid (Akshaye Khanna) are upper-middle-class urbanites in Mumbai, with cushy lives and promising futures, but they're reluctant to trade the fun of youth for the seriousness of adulthood. Their transition into the work world couldn't be easier--Sameer is going to work for his father's computer business, Akash is being sent to Australia to run his father's company office in Sydney, and Sid is a talented painter who has the support of his family. What scares these young men is the emotional risk that comes with that central rite of passage--falling in love and making a commitment to one person--and the three of them grapple with their fears in completely different ways.

Sameer is a serial monogamist who's too insecure to ever be alone. He gives himself too quickly and too completely without considering whether the women are actually right for him, and when he inevitably discovers they're not, he's heartbroken. First, it's his bossy, humorless college girlfriend, who forces him to choose between her and Akash, whom she thinks is an idiot, and Sameer picks Akash. Next, he takes up with a hippy tourist from the West (their ilk are frequently derided in Indian films), but her interest turns out to be a ruse to rob him. Finally, his parents suggest an arranged marriage and ask him to meet their friend's daughter. At first, he balks, but he ends up liking her. However, she has a boyfriend and doesn't believe in arranged marriage, and for the first time in his life, Sameer has found a woman worth fighting for. (Saif's engaging portrayal helped push his career into the big leagues.)

Akash is the polar opposite of Sameer--he casually picks up girls and doesn't believe in love. If Akash had his way, he and Sameer and Sid would remain best buddies forever, with no interference from women. His stubborn refusal to grow up makes him act like a jerk--until a pretty girl he fancies, Shalini (Preity Zinta), puts him in his place.

Sid is the most mature of the three and his story is the most interesting. He meets a beautiful interior designer named Tara (Dimple Kapadia, who came out of retirement to play the role)--a divorcée who's 15 years older than him--and they strike up a friendship over their shared love of art. She appreciates and understands him in a way no one else does, and her belief in his work makes a man out of him. Tara is not some hot-to-trot cougar desperately trying to recapture her long-lost youth, and when Sid falls in love with her, she discourages him. She's an alcoholic, drowning in pain over the loss of custody of her daughter, and she believes Sid deserves better. But he embraces their impractical love nonetheless and gives his heart to her without reservation.

Sid is insulted when Akash insinuates that he's only involved with Tara for sex with an experienced woman, and the resulting rift threatens the friendships that Akash cherishes so dearly. It's a simple, touching story about tender youth, with moving performances from start to finish.

- The Bollywood Ticket: The American guide to Indian movies (Subscribe: The Bollywood Ticket)

This is a good step into Bollywood if you like cross-cultural straddlers like Bride and Prejudice, Monsoon Wedding or Bend It Like Beckham (Widescreen Edition). Dil Chahta Hai features the powerhouse Bollywood triumvirate of superstar Aamir Kahn, Akshaye Khanna ("he of the uber-expressive eyebrows," as another reviewer notes perfectly) and Saif Ali Khan. Like many Bollywood releases, this is a long one - almost 3 hours - but the trade-off is worth it. Writer/director Farhan Akhtar uses the time to develop each character in rich, detailed layers, especially Khan's Akash and - to a slightly lesser extent - Khanna's Sid.

You have to stretch your imagination a bit. The three play themselves as university students (in sort of an extended flashback) despite Khan looking every bit his 35 years (and more) at the time of filming (that hair looks suspiciously jet black) and Khanna's famously receding hairline. No matter - the trio capture the essence of devil-may-care student attitude, especially Khan's spirited instigator. There's a couple of Bollywood song-and-dance numbers here, but the focus is mainly on the story. By the end of the film, you care about all three of these guys, hoping it ends up well for each of them individually and as a group.

15 minutes into the movie I was not certain I would like it. But the story grew on me and before I knew it, the entire 185 minutes had gone by and I felt nicely entertained. I confess I did not particularly care for the music. So I took it for what it was ... film music ... which did not distract from the picture. The dance scenes were good. This is definitely one of the better Bollywood "Comedies of Errors". Camera work, locations, colours, editing, all very appealing. The acting is believable. Plenty of glycerine tears, of course. Nice to see Dimple Kapadia again. Pleased to notice that under all the entertaining surface subjects like arranged marriage, divorced and thus unsuitable women, alcohol abuse, family values and traditions were touched upon. Overall: light, pleasant comedy which turns profound in the 2nd half. Enjoy!!! Dil Chahta Hai and Dil Chahta Hai

amazing movie... my all time favorite. No words to describe this movie... Aamir rocks, so others.

One of my favorite Indian movies of all time!! It's a little different since it's more about friendship rather than love (for the most part). And Amir Khan looks great in it! =)

My review is not about the movie...The movie is great! but the Amazon service is terrible!!!!! I never received my movie but they obviously charged me the money and I can't even find a phone number or customer service department for Amazon so I can call and fix my problem. I will never buy anything from Amazon again.