Dil Chahta Hai (The Heart
Desires)
Director: Farhan Akhtar
Music: Shankar Ehsaan Loy; Lyrics: Javed Akhtar
Year: 2001
Running Time: 185 minutes
In the first song that is located in a very
modern disco the three main characters sing out “We’re today. Why should
our style be old”. In a sense this first effort from director Farhan Akhtar
strongly echoes that sentiment. The film feels very westernized – not just
the characters, dialogue and to some degree the plot, but the filmmaking
itself has a very western glossy sheen to it. It is very smooth filmmaking
– sort of like a mellow cool jazz radio station – that seamlessly pushes
the story forward. To a large degree it appears to have shed many of the
traditional melodramatic elements of Hindi films and this “surrender” to
a non-Indian or perhaps more precisely urbane Yuppie Indian audience might
not sit well with some.
In the May/June Bollywood issue of Film Comment
one writer refers to Dil Chahta Hai as “a blandly formulaic hymn to the
values of the transnational bourgeoisie” and accuses current Bollywood
of the sin of going Global – which in these days is often the catchword
of those who hate to see inevitable change – whether culturally or economically
in non-western countries. There are times that I feel this way myself –
one hates seeing local film industries wither in the face of the onslaught
of the Hollywood machine or even adapt themselves to this by becoming the
enemy – ala films like Hong Kong’s Full Time Killer. Though the writer’s
sentiment is wrapped in tiresome political jargon, one can understand where
he is coming from while watching this film – though it often strikes me
as odd to see outsiders decrying another culture’s choice to change as
if we know best (something I have been guilty of certainly) – because there
is clearly an intention by the director to bring Indian films into the
world market by decreasing the “exoticism” that many from outside of India
feel while watching these films. To some of us non-Indians of course that
“exoticism” is a strong appeal of the films, but to many others it is no
doubt a huge negative and for a film industry as huge and with the history
of India’s it is rather amazing that it has made so little penetration
in the world film consciousness. New directors like Farhan seem to want
to change that.
It also has to be noted that the film was very
popular in India and won seven Filmfare awards suggesting that film taste
in India may be changing as a much larger well off middle class professional
segment has emerged who are very conversant with westernized life styles
and feel films like this have a lot more to do with their lives than a
traditional old fashioned Hindi film. There are still elements of this
in the film – an attempt at an arranged marriage and a self-sacrificing
woman feeling indebted to the family that raised her – but there are twists
on these oft-told themes that feel fairly fresh. It also has to be noted
that this is a pretty good film – it pulls you in immediately and keeps
your attention the whole time with some very well drawn out characters,
natural humor and three love stories that are all distinct and touching
in their own way.
It is the story of a strong friendship between
three men that becomes more complicated and difficult as their lives move
forward. It begins in a hospital as Akshaye Khanna arrives when he hears
another friend of his is very sick. He calls up Saif Ali Khan to join him
in his vigil and when Saif arrives he asks if Akshaye has called the third
friend, Aamir Khan, to come – but Akshaye says no – Aamir would never come
– and the film then goes into a flashback that tells the story of these
three friends from their college days to the present and what went wrong.
It is one of those rare films when you can really understand these three
being friends – so many films try to throw characters together as friends
and you think to yourself that in real life these people would never be
friends – but here you really can and that helps the film enormously. Akshaye
is sensitive and a hopeful painter, Saif a hopeless romantic that falls
deeply in love . . . constantly and Aamir is the prankster unable
to get serious about love or about life. All three are given a relaxed
natural appeal and are well played by the actors.
The balance and chemistry though is to change
as women enter their lives – for Akshaye it is an older divorced woman
(played by the legendary actress of the 1970’s – Dimple Kapadia) that no
one approves of, for Saif it is a woman that his parents have introduced
him to – she (Sonali Kulkarni) thinks arranged marriages are a joke and
he agrees but has actually truly found his love but is embarrassed to tell
her and Aamir has all his resolve broken down by the “transnational bourgeoisie”
appeal and irresistible charm of Preity Zinta. When he realizes that he
has finally fallen in love much to his own surprise it is a sweet moment
– but she is of course engaged to be married. The three threads play out
well and not necessarily happily and come together for a very satisfying
if mildly blandly conclusion.
The music is excellent without a weak song in
the bunch and again the director is aiming for something different as much
of it has a “world music” influence. The one issue I had with the film
was the “picturization” of the musical numbers. In only two of the six
numbers is there any real form of dancing taking place – the disco song
(Koi Kahe, Keh to Rahe) and the sweet ditty (Who Lodki Hai Kahon) that
lovingly satirizes old Indian musicals – while the other four songs are
basically music playing over dramatic scenes – again a fairly westernized
form of presenting music in a dramatic film.
My rating for this film: 7.5
Song
1
Song
2
Song
3
Song
4
Song
5
