Dil Chahta Hai

Dil Chahta Hai
File:Dch.jpg
Directed by	Farhan Akhtar
Written by	Farhan Akhtar, Kassim Jagmagia
Starring	Aamir Khan, Saif Ali Khan, Akshaye Khanna, Preity Zinta, Sonali Kulkarni, Dimple Kapadia
Release dates	July 24, 2001
Running time	183 min
Language	Hindi
Budget	INR 200,000,000 (estimated)

Dil Chahta Hai (Hindī: दिल चाहता है, Urdū: دل چاہتا ہے, English: The Heart Desires, but billed as Do Your Thing) is a 2001 Hindi movie. It was directed by Farhan Akhtar and was a hit in cities in India and overseas. According to fans, it broke new ground by showing Indian youth as they are today.

The characters depicted are upper-class and cosmopolitan. They live in lavish houses, wear designer clothes, attend art exhibitions and performances of Western opera, and travel overseas as a matter of course. Some critics say that this is why the film did not do well in the non-urban areas; the lifestyle depicted was just too city oriented.

The style of the film and its setting was well appreciated. One song sequence recapitulates Bollywood dance history; one song drops the usual dance accompaniment and establishes the character's state of mind through lyrics and a moody photo collage. There is an extended opera sequence and a song-and-dance inside a painting.

The film's style extended to the music, by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy. Many film fans thought that the music was fresh and different. The film was screened at the Palm Springs International Film Festival and the Austin Film Festival.

Synopsis

The movie tells the story of three friends graduating from college and transitioning into life as adults.

Each character has a different outlook towards life, and love in particular:

• Akash (played by Aamir Khan) does not believe in love and says that one should never keep a girlfriend for more than two weeks.
• Sameer (played by Saif Ali Khan) is genial, well-meaning, desperately romantic and confused. He is prone to romantic infatuations; he is convinced that he has found true love whenever he is attracted to a girl.
• Siddharth, or Sid, (played by Akshaye Khanna) is a painter. He is the most serious of them all; dedicated to his work and not interested in trivial romances.

Akash is not only a cad in his personal life (breaking hearts, proposing to a girl named Shalini in jest), but a mischief-maker in his friends' lives. He engineers a breakup between Sameer and Sameer's girlfriend, then proposes a vacation trip to the beaches of Goa.

Sameer, predictably, falls in "love" in Goa, with a pretty Swiss girl, a story that ends in disaster. He returns home to find that his parents have arranged a meeting with a potential marriage prospect. He resists as he doesn't want an arranged marriage, but the instant he sees the girl (Pooja, played by Sonali Kulkarni), he decides that she is the one. Unfortunately, she already has a boyfriend. Sameer has to hide his unrequited love and content himself with her friendship.

Sid, in the meantime, is falling in love too. Tara (played by Dimple Kapadia), an older divorcee and alcoholic, moves into a nearby house. Sid befriends her and falls in love with her, even though such a relationship is considered scandalous in Indian society. Everything goes wrong. Akash's offensive remarks about this relationship create a rift in their friendship and Sid and Akash refuse to talk to each other. Sid's mother is horrified. Tara hears that Sid has quarrelled with friends and family because of her and feeling that she has ruined his life, refuses to see him.

Akash is also experiencing romantic upheaval. His parents send him to Sydney, to work in the family business. On the flight to Sydney, he meets Shalini again. She has no reason to trust or like him, but after they run into each other repeatedly, they both start to feel a certain "something." She presses him to tell her how he feels; he refuses. She then declares that she is returning to India to marry. Akash lets her go, then realizes that he can't live without her.

Akash returns to India to win Shalini back. He proposes to her at her wedding, and in a nod to Bollywood tradition, she accepts with the blessing of her parents.

Meanwhile, Sameer and Pooja fall in love after she dumps her boyfriend.

Sid's story is more tragic. Tara is hospitalized with cirrhosis, and even though Sameer engineers a reconciliation between Sid and Akash, she dies with Sid at her bedside. As the film ends, however, he appears to find some comfort in the company of a girl he meets in Goa, while on a trip with Akash, Shalini, Sameer, and Pooja.

Awards

National Film Awards

• National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi

2002 Filmfare Awards

The film was nominated for thirteen Filmfare Awards. The awards it won and nominated for are listed below:

Won

• Best Supporting Actor - (Akshaye Khanna)
• Best Comedian - (Saif Ali Khan)
• Critics Award Best Movie - (Farhan Akhtar)
• Best Screenplay - (Farhan Akhtar)
• Best Choreography - (Farah Khan)
• Best Editing - (A. Sreekar Prasad)
• RD Burman Award for New Music Talent - (Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy)

Nominated

• Best Actor - Aamir Khan.
• Best Movie - Farhan Akhtar.
• Best Director - Farhan Akhtar.
• Best Music Director - Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy.
• Best Male Playback - Shaan, "Koi Kahe Kehta Rahe".
• Best Female Playback - Alka Yagnik, "Jaane Kyon".

Cast

Character's name	Played by
Akash	Aamir Khan
Sameer	Saif Ali Khan
Siddharth (Sid)	Akshaye Khanna
Shalini	Preity Zinta
Pooja	Sonali Kulkarni
Tara Jaiswal	Dimple Kapadia
Deepa	Samantha Treymane
Rohit	Ayub Khan
Mahesh	Rajat Kapoor
Priya	Suchitra Pillai
Sid's Mother	Suhasini Mulay
Girl at Fort Chapora	Mandala Tayde

Soundtrack

The soundtrack features 8 numbers composed by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy.

• Akash's Love Theme - Mike Harvey
• Dil Chahta Hai - Shankar Mahadevan
• Jaane Kyon Log - Alka Yagnik,Udit Narayan
• Kaisi Hai Yeh Rut - Srinivas
• Koi Kahe Kehta Rahe - Shaan,Shankar Mahadevan, KK
• Rockin Goa
• Tanhayee - Sonu Nigam
• Woh Ladki Hai Kahan - Shaan,Kavita Krishnamurthy

The movie also plays briefly the english song, Desert Rose by Sting.

Trivia

• Farhan Akhtar originally wanted to cast Akshaye Khanna as Akash and Hrithik Roshan as Sid. After Hrithik Roshan and Abhishek Bachchan both turned down the role, Aamir Khan took the role of Akash and Akshaye Khanna was given Sid's role.

Quotes

• Yaar main ussey darta nahin hoon, I love her. Aur main ussey dukh nahin pahunchana chahta (Translation: Dude, I'm not afraid of her, I love her. And I just don't want to make her sad.) - Sameer (Saif Ali Khan)
• Meri maan, kisi ko kuch mat bata; Tera koi bharosa nahin; Aaj Puja, kal koi duja (Translation: Listen to me, don't tell anyone anything. There's no telling with you — today Pooja, tomorrow someone else.) - Akash (Aamir Khan)
• Tu kabhi nahi sudhrega (Translation: You will never change, for the better)- Sid (Akshaye Khanna)
• Waise bhi perfection ko improve karna bahut mushkil hai (Translation: Anyway it is very hard to improve upon perfection.)- Akash (Aamir Khan) .... in response to the line above
• Pyaar kiya nahi jaatha ..bus ho jatha hai (Translation: Love cannot be done..it just happens)- Shalini (Preity Zinta)
• Hum teeno Sydney ja rahe hain; tum, main aur yeh plane (Translation: We three are going to Sydney; you, me and this plane)- Akash (Aamir Khan)
• Cake khane ke liye humlog kaheen bhi jaa sakte hai (Translation: We will go anywhere to eat cake.) - Sameer (Saif Ali Khan)

External links

• Dil Chahta Hai at IMDb