Customer Reviews

Dil Se..

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Dil Se is a movie that captures you on so many levels. The actors are wonderful and it's a pity that Shahrukh Khan is not better known here in the USA, because he is pure magic. Maybe if you think of Al Pacino and Robert De Niro combined with someone with great moves, who can really dance, you just might come close to describing Shahrukh.

As one of India's huge Bollywood stars, Shahrukh has one of those marvelous subtle faces that can simultaneously express multiple layers of feeling. In one moment he is handsome, seductive, and in the next he is vulnerable, awkward, and compellingly ordinary. His enigmatic, little boy, rascal smile will steal your heart.

There are two famous actresses in Dil Se, but Manisha Koirala plays the heroine, a lovely mountain peasant girl. At age 12, she saw her family gunned down by soldiers who then raped her. She walks in a world warped from pain and frozen emotion most of us could never comprehend and, along with her fellow terrorists, has become a suicide bomber.

Shahrukh meets her by accident and mistakes her aloof cold manner for siren mystery. As she shuns his advances at every turn, he - a rather spoiled radio journalist - is driven deeper into his desire for her. That desire becomes obsession - Dil Se. She cannot become whole again to return his love, and he cannot endure life without her. He begs her to take him with her, and so she does.

What draws me to this film is not just profound spontaneous depth of the actors and their willingness to show a wide range of feelings, but Dil Se made it apparent to me how stiff and mechanical my own culture has become. Even the Bollywood musical numbers are somehow fun, fresh and captivating. The sheer beauty of the photography is stunning and Manisha has the power to be a rough desert girl, a sophisticated beauty, or the most classic odalisque of the French painter Ingres.

On the back of the DVD it says: Ancient Arabic literature classifies love into seven different shades...HUB...their eyes meet, it is like a touch...a spark...Attraction. UNS...the touch of the eyes was as if, it was infatuation. ISHQ...the flame of the body is felt, his breath starts igniting...Love. AQIDAT...Reverence...she touches him like a whisper, as if silence is mixed in here eyes...he prays, knelt down on the floor, a little consciously & a little unconsciously...IBADAAT...he is entangled on her path...entangled in her arms...Love turns to worship. JUNOON...his living is an Obsession...his dying is an obsession...apart from this there is no peace...MAUT...let him rest in the lap of Death...let his drown his body in her soul... DIL SE...a journey through these seven shades.

Perhaps it's only poetic illusion and sweet madness, but if so - play on! I love this movie, Dil Se.

Dil Se was conceived as the finale in Ratnam's trilogy of films on the subject of Terrorism, following Roja and Bombay. But while the former films were constructed as social docu-dramas emphasizing liberal humanism and a multicultural utopia, Dil Se culminates this theme in an entirely separate genre. Ratnam's screenplay deftly sets up our expectations and then quickly proceeds to obliterate them. The film is, at first glance, simply a social drama. Many critics have tried to categorize Dil Se as a social film or as a film on Terrorism--some have even gone so far as to call it "separatist propaganda." To imply such an idea is to deny the central theme of the film: Love. Dil Se is essentially a film about the phenomenon of Love, executed in fiercely unconventional and unsentimental fashion.

If Lamhe ushered in a new genre of anti-social love stories, Dil Se substantiated the genre by epitomizing what had never been seen in a Hindi film: the anti-romantic Love Story. Lamhe was anti-social and anti-establishment in that it rejected outright the traditional sexual and moral status quo by merely inferring that it could ever be conceivable for a woman to love a man who was in love with her mother. Despite its rejection of traditional morality, Lamhe remains a deeply romantic movie. Dil Se is anything but. It is constructed not to convey the triumphant bliss of Love, but its devastating helplessness. It is a Love Story in its truest sense, where the traditional context and protagonists are equally subdued, told against the backdrop of terrorism wherein the central female figure is herself a humanized terrorist. Sadly, this many viewers have failed to recognize.

Long before Shah Rukh Khan reduced his career to a sad shadow if its former self, he was consistent at proving in film after film that he was willing to take artistic risks and broaden the definition of the Filmi Hero. Dil Se was and remains the great experiment of his career. Here he is a young lover, but one who must contend with Love, instead of reveling in it. His fondness for his fiancée, Preity, is buried under his passion for Meghna, his obsession. Clearly, he finds her both beautiful and enigmatic, and without much hesitation, he follows her throughout the war torn land of Ladakh. Smart move? Probably not. But never do we second guess his decision because we believe that he is so utterly bewildered by the shadowy creature that is Meghna.

Preity Zinta, in her debut role, is both refreshing and natural, giving a spontaneous performance that oddly never seems out of place in a morbid and pensive film. Her delivery is always natural, and never does she make the mistake of trying to 'act with emotion.' True, she has the most conventional role of the three leads, but she lends balance to the story which could have ended up being more esoteric and surreal than it already is. Irrespective of Khan and Zinta's effective performances, both the superstar and the debutante are given characters far less substantial than that of Meghna, played by Manisha Koirala.

In a role of almost no dialogue, Koirala conveys literally volumes. Through her stifled body language, her forbidding expressions disclosing an unnamed identity, and an unknowable language of sadness spoken through her eyes, she conjures a darkly beautiful portrait of the ghostly survival of suffocated humanity. She is the greatest example of human (and humane) artistry in a film burgeoning with the message of humanity. You will notice as you peruse through the various customer reviews of this film that Shah Rukh Khan gets mentioned quite a lot, Manisha less so. One cannot help but wonder why. Shah Rukh Khan may be the box-office draw that helped get the film made, but Dil Se is Manisha Koirala's film. Make no mistake about it.

Koirala's performance goes far beyond merely propping up the tender terrorist as a victim of circumstance: the actress digs into the character and pulls out the skeleton, bloodied and broken, and harangues the audience with a brilliantly lucid portrayal of a dark and disturbed avenger. Regardless of whether the claim that it was too vague or esoteric is indeed true, Dil Se remains an artistic benchmark for the triumph of Koirala's portrayal of Meghna in what can only be called a transcendent performance. Every element of Meghna's broken humanity is summoned by Koirala to conjure a portrayal that is breathtakingly skinless: the emptiness of the eyes, the somber visage swallowed in pain, the almost whispered dialogue, and a body language bespeaking a lifetime of defeat. There is no greater praise for an actor than to be told by a viewer that they had forgotten that the actor was acting. When a performance becomes so convincing, so emotionally naked, and so singularly manifest, the actor disappears--literally--and one forgets that they are watching a performer and not a character. This is the miracle of Koirala's Meghna. There is no Manisha Koirala on the screen. None whatsoever. What we see is the character, and only the character, so perfect is this performance. This is one of the greatest--if not the greatest--pieces of method acting ever accomplished in Hindi cinema. This is the kind of performance which, if Hindi Cinema were more cerebral and more conscious of artistic aims, dance queens like Madhuri Dixit and Aishwariya Rai would never pass muster as actresses. Alas. Part of the greatness of Koirala's performance is that she plays Meghna as a shadow, an almost ghost-like figure whose movements are untraceable and whose thoughts are impenetrable. She is a human being who rejects her humanity and has forgotten how simply 'to be', an existential quandary which Hindi Cinema almost boastfully ignores.

The beauty of the film lies not so much in the actual love story, but in the director's ability to put a human face on terrorism. The mood is somber, the cinematography astonishing, and the perfect performance of Koirala makes Dil Se a startling piece of cinematic poetry. The film stands in a class of its own as a modern masterpiece, and can be considered fodder for only those that are willing to incorporate sadness and starkness into their movie-going experience. Others will find it too harsh.

While not much of a fan of Bollywood movies, I got this DVD after hearing the music in the opening credits of the Hollywood movie "Inside Man". The music is catchy, so I looked it up on the web and found that it was from this movie.

The song, "Chaiyya Chaiyya", has an excellent rhythm and wonderful sounding lyrics (although I don't understand the language). But the dance scene on the train is nothing short of incredible. The energy of Shahrukh Khan and his obvious enthusiasm along with an excellent job of filming and superb editing make the entire scene a joy to watch. While the video quality falls short of Hollywood standards, the the music sound quality is excellent (especially if you have a Dolby digital sound with a subwoofer).

As for the rest if the DVD, I found the story to be absorbing enough to maintain my interest through out the entire 2 hours and 40 minutes. There are four other songs besides "Chaiyya Chaiyya" which also add to the experience. I will probably investigate other Bollywood movies after seeing this. They have something to offer to even the most selective movie fan.

Before watching "Dil Se.." ("From the Heart") the closest I had come to seeing a Bollywood movie was "Bride and Prejudice," which had the virtue of being in English. However, if you are not reading the subtitles because the characters are speaking (and singing) in Hindi, then it does not really count. I picked "Dil Se.." for my first true Bollywood experience for the simple reason that it has the song "Chaiyya Chaiyya" in it. I first heard the song in the opening sequence of Spike Lee's "Inside Man," and finally downloaded it. Discovering that it was originally in this 1998 film I decided to find out what the catchy song is all about. The joke ended up being on me because watching the movie only gave me a vague inkling on that score and I had to head to the Internet to satisfy my curiosity.

I remember hearing that the great thing about Bollywood movies was that when you went to the theater and wanted to see a musical or a romance or an action film or any other genre, that is exactly what you were going to see regardless of which theater you walked into. Now I know what they meant. Amarkanth Varma (Shahrukh Khan) runs into Meghna (Manisha Koirala), and is immediately smitten by her. But they go their separate ways and he bemoans the shortest love story of all time before the film launches into the big "Chaiyya Chaiyya" production number:

He whose head is in the shadow of love
Will have heaven beneath his feet
Whose head is in the shadow of love
Walk in the shadow.
Walk in heaven, walk in the shadow.

There's a friend who is like a sweet fragrance,
Whose words are like poetry
Who is my evening, my night, my existence.
That friend is my beloved!

Amar works for All India Radio and has been sent from New Delhi to the northern provinces where he starts finding out about a separatist group engaging in acts of terrorism to secure a free and independent state. When it comes to politics Amar knows nothing, and he gets quite an education in that regard in this movie. I have only a general understanding of the disputed areas of Kashmir and Jammu, and it seems to be that the film is using the politics as a dramatic backdrop rather than actually taking a stand on the issues (the plague on both their houses would be another way in which "Dil Se.." is reminiscent of "Romeo & Juliet"). Meanwhile, Amar's obsession for Meghna is failing to make much of an impression on the mysterious woman, who hints at a tragic past that forestalls the possibility of love. The assumption that the political and romantic elements of the film are intertwined is correct, but like Amar we have to wait for things to be spelled out for us before it is clear how everything comes together. There is also your standard love triangle complication when Amar becomes engaged to Preity (Preity Zinta), who seems to be everything that Meghna is not, in ways both good and bad.

That is the basic set up of the film, which leads to fist fights and explosions, shouting and weeping, singing and dancing, and the proverbial much much more. There are only five songs in "Dil Se..," but each is a major production and since they are not translated how they add to or comment upon the action is completely lost on me (even now that I have sought out translations of the songs on the Internet). They almost function more like commercials, providing breaks in the narrative, and there is a sense in which the story would be more riveting without the musical digressions. It would also be a lot less fun, which is of some consequence in a film that runs 2 hours and 43 minutes. I do not know how representative of Bollywood director Mani Ratnam's film might be, and I am only now become aware of the requisite stages from "hub" (attraction) to "maut" (death) are key to the formula, which only tells me that the happy ever after ending of "Bride & Prejudice" may well be another aberration from the Bollywood model. Just do not ask me what American movie most reminds me of this entertaining conglomerate of cinematic elements because I seriously do not have a clue.

The delay in the subtitles is maddening - by the end of the film you've learned the timing and can sort out who says what relatively well. I agree with the other reviewer that was dismayed with the lack of subtitles for the musical numbers - a great loss for those of us who aren't fluent in the spoken dialects.

Sadly, this is the worst transfer to video/dvd of a modern film I've ever seen - there were points where the sound cut out, and there were spots and lines on the film as though it had been reeled a thousand times. (This isn't a criticism typical of Indian/Bollywood films, as I've seen many others...)

Most of the dvd menus don't work (the main one does though, thankfully), but I was able to get around by using the return and menu buttons on my remote.

All that said, the film is captivating. The 'embedded music videos' are enthralling - the film is worth buying for them alone. Get the soundtrack, too!!

3 stars is for an average between the quality of the dvd and the quality of the film.

I sat down to watch this thinking it would be a stereotypical Bollywood flic. I was way off in this assumption, to my pleasant surprise. I was once told that Indians hate movies with sad endings. The ending here could be considered happy or sad, it is debatable. I was sickened at one point, but the movie was also very beautiful, contained terrific music and dancing, an interesting story line, and it touched on some socio-political-historical issues.

It was musically, theatrically, and emotionally stunning. In my opinion this is a must see movie for a mature audience. You have to have patience for a movie this long, worthwhile for the introspective.

First Off, Dil Se has nothing to do with the title. It's not your standard love film or nothing like you'd think or expect. The songs to this movie are just awesome and add to the flow of the movie. I'd probably say they're better than the movie itself.
Anyhow, the film is a huge respect earner. Shahrukh Khan adds to this movie a fruitful flow of his own. His character is that of an average man just like you and me but one who actually believes in knowing everything he wants to. His reasoning in the movie is second to none , he does everything he can to get his love and more. Anyhow, I might make the movie sound small by making it sound like a love story but then yes it is a love story.

Dil Se is about a journalist/radio jockey falling in love with a women with a mission. There was a time when Manisha Koirala could act and Dil Se certifies that. I dont think any of our other beloved heroines could have played her role in the film as potently. The second half of the movie has some scenes of Shahrukh being chased by some legal authorities.The kind of 5-10 impact of terror that is displayed during those scenes is enough to certify the agony one must feel. The song AIYE AJNABI is one of the few songs that make this movie a winner.

SRK is shown as a radio jockey describing his brief meeting with a stranger he never spoke to,he only wish(es) he did.I'm not gonna spoil this for people who haven't seen it. Some say the end of the film was nonsensical but I think it's not for the weak hearts. I must admit I was a bit taken aback by the thunderous conclusion but then it fits a realist's edge of reasoning.

A great film.

Those who enjoyed this film must watch "Bombay" or for the younger audience "Yuva"
Mani Ratnam is genius.

There's a big, giant "Moser Baer" watermark that obstructs the upper, left-hand corner of the screen, and it never goes away. At times people look like they have "Moser Baer" digitally tattooed across their foreheads. If at all possible, find some other distributor for this movie. Don't buy this one unless you want to suffer hours of frustration.

Shahrukh: "Love is greater than terrorism."
Manisha: "This thing that is not our destiny, why should we love it?"

Don't read a plot synopsis of this movie...you won't find it there.

Despite its being overshadowed by its own music "Chaiyya-Chaiyya," Dil Se is a unique and intensely affective art work in cinema from India, from this greatest of artistic contributing trios- Mani Ratnam, A R Rahman, and Gulzar the poet.

The movie is focused on the 50th Anniversary of the Indian Independence and Partition, and for a second time in five years (Roja, 1993) Mani Ratnam chooses to revisit the turmoil of Kashmir, and with none of the idealistic flag waving of Roja, but from a different point of view, limited to the experience of the two main characters, their positions in Indian society- not the politics or its accuracy.

Dil Se doesn't lecture you or try to shame you into believing an interpretation of the politics, or explain the uncertainties as to who the characters represent- Assamese, Kashmiri, or Ladakhi. But by dramatic license Manisha Koirala's character Meghna is Ladakhi, by the implication of fraternal polyandry characteristic of Tibeten influence in that Buddhist area, the pictures clearly of Leh, the chorten in the many shots in the mountains, and an implied location shot at Pyang Gompa Buddhist monastery in Ladakh.


What MANI RATNAM contributes: I can imagine Ratnam performing the time honored process in Indian cinema production of lengthy reading of the narrative in exquisite detail, but WITHOUT A SCRIPT in the first pitch process of the film to the actors, which they then carry out in spirit.
The progression of this film is entertaining to watch every time. Its intensity of development owes at least some debt to Lina Wertmuller's redoubtable "Tavolti da un insolito destino nell'azzurro mare d'agosta", aka "Swept Away" (1974), and mirrors a contemporary release Tom Twyker's "Run Lola Run". The bus scene from Leh to Kargil reminded me of Fellini in an imaginary movie in Sicily in the 1950's. And the photo still of the ring leader outside in Delhi, to the war photography of Robert Capa.

What GULZAR contributes: The super-candescent fire of the lyrics themselves ignite the film, in particular Satrangi-re (The Seven Colors of Love) which is at the narrative center of the movie and actualized really effectively by Farah Khan's choreography and Sintosh Sivan's cinematography and video editing on the then advanced Avid Console. Gulzar is an incarnation of Ghalib and Baul songwriter Lalan, combined.

"Tu hi tu, tu hi tu, satrangi re" reminds me of uninhibited youth in nature, as in the PBS aired travel series "Globetrekker"- both Shahrukh and Manisha do some completely crazy, spirited, youthful, slap-dash, strangely compelling sequences (Sufi like invocations like the first scene of Shyam Benegal's "Junoon"). All this while acting in the video as though they were all alone, unseen by anyone. This gives the exact feeling of being released out into a vast place in nature. I can't watch this enough times...

What A R RAHMAN contributes: If you like the music, buy the movie! Every time I play the CD, I just want to watch the movie videos of these numbers. I don't know where the music would be without them, so complete is the unity of purpose with Gulzar and Ratman. Satrang-re is almost a miniature "Bhajan" (devotional hymn) sung in front of a cineamatic "phad" (a long narrative painting made on a strip of cloth used by itinerant bards in India) with nature as the "phad."

But there is also a symphonic theme for the movie, some few bars of the most spacious and affective music, elaborated and repeated many times through the picture, especially the close arrival at the monastery on the trek through Ladakh, plus the leitmotif war theme and its haunting lyric "there are many proofs of love."

What SHAHRUKH KHAN contributes: Others hve said that Shahrukh is a lousy actor, best at comedy, and not to be taken seriously as a dramatic actor in this film. Shahrukh Khan's performance here shows his admiration of Raj Kapoor's youthful, carefree "Awara", and even more, he deconstructs that suave masculine skin you expect him to inhabit and becomes a harried citizen combatant. Most importantly he carries every ounce of the spirit of Ratman's narrative purpose to its conclusion by his sloppy ad hoc determination- in this way like Giancarlo Giannini in "Swept Away".

What MANISH KOIRALA contributes: Don't be fooled by the glossy cover images of this movie, Manisha Koirla's character Meghna (Gulzar's daughter's name and the name of an area in Assam) is a stripped down, no make-up, non-Bollywood woman with an essence that continues to the end, giving her the stage to portray her part in an unbearable ambiguity of desire.

PREITY ZINTA got a well deserved award for her part as the betrothed to Shahrukh (half-way through the movie- the inevitable masala of Indian movies). BUT, those viewers who want to sympathize her character in place of Manisha's, miss the movie's main thrust- which is the power of the two main characters' opposing campaigns, how it changes, how it increases in strength.

Ratnam's idea is that the birth of a terrorist is a more important event to comprehend than the terroist's act. Reading Salman Rushdie, his "stories are like Marco Polo's adventures, fantastic voyages, nobody believes a word he says but everyone wants to listen..." BUT you MUST listen when Rushdie writes in "Shalimar the Clown" (2005) that the Indian army used rape against the Kashmiri population to demoralize them, starting in 1989.

And then there is the Oregon Senate Joint Resolution 23 of Spetember 17, 2007, repeating this accusation as "ethnic persecution and violence over the past 17 years"..."religious persecution and terror.." recognizing that ethnic cleansing was going on in Kashmir.

This movie was released in 1998- nobody wanted to hear this then...

ON THE DVD: some have taken issue with the quality of the transfer. Certainly in Ratnam's next movie "Guru", his access to higher quality video film equipment make a quantum leap in the quality of the DVD. Here he is his still functioning with a result similar to "Bombay".

There are two DVD's on the market: The VENUS, sold in the US by Amazon, looks like a DIRECT VIDEO TO DVD from a video working edit. It has good detail and is without visible artifact. But it is offered in something like 480p, which doesn't fill the screen of an HDTV without wide fit. In addition there are some differences from the EXHBITION PRINT. This DVD also only contains subtitles for music lyrics produced on the Venus Dil Se CD, which does not include the important theme lyric and development "There are many proofs of love", and especially the last three verses of Satrangi-re at the conclusion of the picture!! Important dramatic exclusions.

The MOSERBAER version is clearly marked for sale in India only, so while not being "bootleg", it is probably gray market. However, it is a SHARP FULL SCREEN SCAN FROM A DAMAGED EXIBITION PRINT. The producers HAVE offered full subtitles for all singing lyrics. (TO ACTIVATE SUBTITLES: after the openning titles are over, and the first scene has begun, access the main menu and follow the subtitle selection, turn them on and "resume movie".)

The MoserBaer DVD is impressive to me because it offers a presence of film cinema, even though the film originated in the field on video. Call me old fashioned...Even though the print is damaged, and MAYBE BECAUSE IT IS DAMAGED, it evokes the film as an ARTIFACT OF SOMETHING LOST, then after hauntingly retrieved after whatever it was has gone...just like the story itself.

I have watched this movie many times, and will be sad when I can no longer look at it.

'Dil Se' is certainly not your typical Bollywood film. You know, guy falls in love with girl, parents object but they end up together anyway. 'Dil Se' is nothing like this - which is probably why it did not do too well at the Indian box office.
This movie is a romantic film, but the political/social undertones are strong. In the first half a journalist (played by the legend Shah Rukh Khan in what I consider his best-acted role) falls hopelessly in love with a mysterious woman (Manisha Koirala, truly one of India's best actresses). Sounds typical, right? Wrong! No matter how many times I watch this movie I am always in awe of the way this 'romance' is handled. The journalist's relentless pursuit of this woman who REALLY doesn't seem to have time for him is both disturbing and intriguing. And this is only the first half. I can't tell you about the second half.
The cinematography of this film is like none other I have ever seen - it is raw and sinister, not saturated and bright like that of other Hindi films. The mood is also very different. From the very first scene you are drawn in. I've shown 'Dil Se' to many of my friends who have never seen an Indian movie before, and they have all been left in awe.
There are some really beautiful scenes in this movie. And it succeeds in the technical department as well. Often when Bollywood films try to tackle subjects such as terrorism and weapons (don't worry, I haven't ruined anything for you) they end up looking really silly because the directors don't seem to know much about these subjects. But 'Dil Se' accomplishes this with striking realism.
One last thing: the music! This film may not have done well, but the soundtrack became an instant classic and is still beloved in India (and beyond) today. It is simply superb. You may recognize the opening number "Chaiyya Chaiyya", danced by Khan without harness on a moving train. It is a very well-known sequence.
Basically if you consider yourself a serious film lover and are looking for something unconventional and beautiful, 'Dil Se' is a must watch. If you are looking for scantily-clad backup dancers, vacuous plots and sickeningly sweet endings - I don't recommend this film!