Review of Dil Chahta Hai (2001) by Gisèle B — 13 Jun 2009

After Ghajini and Taare Zameen Par, I have been backtracking and have started to watch all of Aamir Khan's movies. And I chanced upon this great treasure - starring all the current superstars of Bollywood i.e. Aamir Khan, Saif Ali Khan, Akshaye Khanna and Preity Zinta (she's my favorite Bollywood actress... so pretty and she looks more Chinese than Indian!).

This is a story about the lives and loves of 3 recently graduated university guys who hail from affluent backgrounds.

Aamir Khan is Akash - a young rich spoilt playboy who doesnt believe in keeping a girlfriend for more than 2 weeks and enjoys playing pranks on his unsuspecting friends. A carefree kind of guy who doesnt get himself emotionally involved in situations. But the unimaginable happen when he bumped into the lady of his dreams (starring the gorgeous Preity Zinta) who was seated next to him in First Class en route to Sydney. In Sydney, and thru a series of events, he suddenly realized that he is starting to fall in love with Preity's character in the movie. The only snag - she is already engaged to be married to another man.

Then there's Sam played wonderfully by Saif Ali Khan (a real life Indian aristocrat). I have seen Saif in movies like Kal Ho Naa Ho, Race and Salaam Namaste and I think this is one of Saif's BEST performances. Saif plays a guy who falls in love very quickly with every girl he meets. On a holiday to Goa with his best buddies, he fell head over heels in love with a Swiss girl only to find out about the real character of his lady love a second too late. Eventually, he found the lady of his dreams. Check out whom the fickle minded guy chose.

And finally, we have Akshaye Khanna playing Sid, a quiet and matured guy who is a mega talented artist. He fell head over heels in love with a woman old enough to be his mother (played by Dimple Kapadia). But every one around him (except maybe for Saif's character) found it difficult to accept Dimple's character into their circle. In an Asian society, a man falling in love with a much older woman is pure taboo. Find out what happened next.

The musical score was also first class. I love the theme from Dil Chahta Hai... and this movie won the Best Film category in 2001. This was also Aamir Khan's last movie before he took a 5 year break from movies. (I read that he was going thru a difficult time in his personal life i.e. his divorce from his first wife).