An Ode to Friendship. Review on Dil Chahta Hai

The simplest of relation – The strangest of Relation. What is friendship? Well, it cannot be aptly defined, nor can be aptly described, but now, thanks to Farhan Akhtar, has been aptly depicted

Having seen the movie 30-40 times (yes.. there are no extra zeroes), thought it was high time I wrote down some good valid reasons for this obsession of mine. But having read hundreds of reviews on the movie (including those on MS) and having followed discussion threads over the years, what more could I write that has not already been written?

Let me thus write on the reasons why the movie appealed to me. Apologies to those who wished for a standard review: talking about the story, the direction, the music and https://lyrics.... I feel that has been more than sufficiently discussed in other reviews and I found it to be of no use to repeat it. Please bear with me as I talk the reason why this works!

The prime reason: Characterisation. Well the movie was about me.. it was about us .. the people around! There was me in the movie… the protagonists draw an inspiration from what I am in real life.. At times I am like Akash, the stud guy who believes in living life to its fullest; At times I am Sameer, the confused guy who loves to slip everytime there is a beautiful girl around; At times I am Sid, the mature guy who likes to have deep meaning in every relationship, in every situation. At times, I am also like Rohit, possessive and traditional. I am also like Subodh, organised and sincere and still at times craving for joys of puppy love (dil-shaped balloon anyone?)

My mom is like Akash’s mom... Doting on me yet giving in to dad when he says “tumne apni zindagi ke baare mein socha hai?” and I act as if I have got the shock of life and say “Nahin..!! ??” She is like Sameer’s mom.. trying to get me married to every girl she feels is nice “bete, ek baar dekh to le..” and as usual I go.. “mom, tum janti ho na mera jawab kya hai?”

She is like Sid’s mom who says.. “tu kehke to dekh.. main nahin samjhungi to kaun saamjhega” And of course when she fails to understand..

And my female friends have the attributes that are permutation and combinations of the dreamgirl Shalini, the dominating Priya, the mature yet self-destructing Tara, the girl-next-door Pooja, the callow Deepa.

All in all.. I completely identify with the movie and its characters.

The music of the movie rocks…!! The energetic feel of “koi kahe”.. the dreams rendered in “kaisi hai yeh rut”, the innovative picturisation of “woh ladki hai kahaan”, the youthful craving of “dil chahta hai” and sadness of “tanhayee” and the funda of love ..”jaane kyun”. All these songs are gems in their own right. Intermingled with the movie, its difficult to tell which improves the charm of the other..

I realise the review is slowly slipping back into the lines of a standard review. But there is so much to say, I just cant help.

The acting is first-grade, the dialogues are witty and the scenes most opportune. My fav ones being: Ms Kashyap scene, sameer going on the phone, “suno to, lekin main, kab se ke.”, sameer getting cheated in the hotel, the sydney opera scene, akash proposing to shalini, deepa telling sid that “agar main itni achhi hun..” and on and on.. well the list can just go for pages together

The crux of the movie is summed up in the statement “Har dosti mein ek hadd hoti hai jisse paar nahin karni chahiye…” How well said! Friendhsip is the most personal of relations that we build, still there are things more personal than that. If only, we all knew our limitations and abided by them. To use a cliché, “world would be a better place to live in”

Lekin movie kitne acchi honi chahiye uski koi hadd hai? No!! Farhan Akhtar takes movie-making to a higher strata, hardly ever reached before… one that wont be easily reached again… well farhan himself missed the ‘lakshya’ a few months back..

Could this movie had been made better? Drawbacks anyone? … You must be kidding… “Waise bhi perfection ko improve karna mushkil hai”

Write your comments while I go and have one more peek at this gem of a movie