Movie Reading : Dil Chahta Hain

A very popular movie indeed, liked by most of the people. I watched it for the first time recently and perhaps the reason why people liked the movie was their ability to connect with its characters. They could understand and justify reasons behind the decisions taken by the protagonists. Dil Chahta Hain kind of movies can only be relevant for a specific generation and I doubt if such 3 hours-long kind of movie would have been equally popular and relevant to current generation in case it was released in today’s times. The sole point that can work in its favour today is depiction of friendship.

So, primarily, it is a story of true friendship and on multiple occasions it emphasizes the importance of this support system. Remember when Shalini (Preity) leaves for marriage the 1st call Aakash (Aamir) gives is to Sameer (Saif). Or when Sameer decides to tell Pooja (Sonali Kulkarni) that he loves her. He tells to Sid (Akshaye):

"Tu wapas aa gaya hain, and I feel stronger ki tu mere saath hain"

Apart from the friendship angle, each guy’s love story is also shown and the common thing in all 3 love stories is that each of them loves a girl who is either married or going to be married with someone else. That becomes one of the reasons for hiding feelings for their love. The movie gives a simple message: tell the other person what we feel. But we do not do so, why? Two reasons: first, we are not able to understand ourselves, we are not sure about what we feel for the other person. And second, when we get sure, we are afraid of letting out feelings known to the other person. Afraid of losing that person. At that point of time, we need someone to push us, and tell us to not keep the things inside and let the other person know. That someone, who promises to be still there if we fail. That someone, can be a friend, can be parents or any one close to us.

In case of Aakash, when his father says

"Duniya me bahut si aisi chize he jo hamari samajh ke bahar hain. Insaan jab koi faisla karta hain to us faisle ke piche koi wajah hoti hain."

The problem with majority of us is that we assume about the other person. We satisfy/torture ourselves by coming up with some reason for their actions. That makes an already complicated life more complicated. How easy would life have been if people could simply let their feelings known to other people.

The role of Aakash was first given to Akshaye Khanna, but I do not think anyone other than Aamir could have portrayed that role perfectly. The character changes from “a-girlfriend-for-2-weeks” kind of person to “kill-someone-for-his-love”. I am sure you would know some people who are extreme in their behaviours. They are intense in what they do, be it love or hate. Aakash is one of such character.

The scene where Aakash and Shalini have lunch together and Aakash talks about his philosophy of love has some subtle messages. One being, there is no need of asking any questions and giving any answers in love. And second when Aakash says,

"Maine pehle se hi faisla kar liya tha ki pyaar karke apni jindagi barbaad nahi karuga."

And Shalini replies,

"Lekin pyaar faisle se nahi kiya jaata, bas ho jaata hain."

Shalini’s character was somehow contradictory. She says Shadi karne ke liye pyaar hona jaruri hota hain but still decides to marry Rohit. If she really believed in what she said, things could have been different. No?

Sid’s (Akshaye) character is of a moderate, sensible guy, who is practical, and understands others. Sid also shows the power of art to demonstrate someone’s personality. In case of an artist, if you closely look at how he/she draws, or composes music, or writes stories, you can get a feel of what kind of a person he/she is. The scene where Dimple relates the closed eyes, closed doors in Sid’s paintings to his closed personality pretty well describes this.

There are many other good scenes which have some meaningful messages if you would try to listen the dialogues carefully and understand them. Scene at Chapra fort, the opera scene of Shalini and Aakash, the last dinner scene before Shalini leaves Australia, the scene when Dimple gets to know that Sid loves her. The scene when Sid and Deepa sits on a beach and Sid says,

"Is ret ko dekh rahi ho? Jitni jyada koshish karo ise pakadne ki, utni hi ungliyo ke bich se nikal jaati hain."

Some relations are better left uncontrolled, in fact, the more we try to control people, more the situation gets worse.

Finally, each relationship has its ups and downs. Even friendships go through them. The more mature a relationship is, better the chances of handling the challenges. When Sid slaps Aakash, Aakash gets so angry that he does not even talk to any of his closest friends before going to Australia. Just a simple sorry by any one of them could make so much of a difference to their friendship. Alas! We are so ashamed of admitting to our own mistakes, even after realizing them.

 

Some nice dialogues in the end,

"Kiski jindagi kise kaha le jati hain kya pata." - Sid

"Ajib zindagi hain, kuch rishtey hote hain, jinka koi naam nahi hota." - Dimple Kapadia

Hope you enjoyed the reading. 
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