For the first time, mouthshut provided me a direct and great amount of help when I sincerely wanted to defend dil se. mouthshut gives us four bars and asks us to rate the film on thos basis. and now, anyone dare say that the plot of dil se was weak, the performances were mediocre or the camera work lacklustre ?
dil se is a complex story of meghna, a frustrated citizen of neglected eastern states who decides to revolt and become a "terrorist" to win her rights. he meets amar, an A.I.R employee and falls in love with her. how her commitments and ideologies refrain her from following her heart and its outcome on the lives of amar, preity [ amar’s fiancee ] and that of her own, is what DIL SE revolves around.
before DIL SE, I had heard a lot of mani ratnam and his calibre. and it was only after DIL SE that I decided to catch ROJA and BOMBAY and compare them to each other. I simply cant understand what was so classy and brilliant in ROJA and BOMBAY that DIL SE didnt have.
infact, the hard hitting impact of dil se was much more potent than that of the aforementioned films. I was literally compelled by my conscience to write a review on dil se b’coz I seriously wanted to prove a point to those who just go on about dil se as "A HUGE DISAPPOINTMENT FROM MANI SIR", "MANI SIR’S WORST FILM EVER" and all that crap.
coming to the screenplay, no doubts it was a bit commercialised and took its share of cinematic liberties but that doesnt lessen the credibilty of the brilliant narration style displayed by mani ratnam and some great dialogues for good measures.
the film has a sensitive story and mani ratnam handled it beautifully. the scenes when amar made helpless by his love for meghna puts his life and pride at stake just to bring her to right direction were brilliant. the film was genuinely hard hitting and turbulent.
ok, the first meet of SRK and MANISHA was a bit overdone. also, the chaiyya chaiyya song was not so relevant. but the audience didnt accentuate on one thing - the song clearly explains amar’s philosophy and the lesson "the life has to move on" [ please do listen to the lyrics a bit more carefully next time ]
SRK after a long time gave a natural performance and so did manisha koirala. even preity zinta made a great impact in her somwhat minor role of a "bubbly" girl next time [ any surprises ? ], preity. piyush yadav as the chief C.B.I. officer was brilliant. mita vashishta and sabyasachi chakravarthy were damn authentic, and so was raghuvir yadav.
I wonder how santosh sivan manages to be so real and lyrical with his photography. he was absolutely brilliant. a.r.rehman was at his intriguing best, giving a whole range of music which fortunately suited the situation to a tee. the art direction was also worth a mention. technically, the film is brilliant, no two ways about it.
and oh yes, there was this haunting piece of music everytime its shown amar or meghna in a dilemma. that goes like "SITARON SE JAHAAN AUR BHI HAI, ABHI ISHQ KE IMTIHAN AUR BHI HAI" i get gooseflesh whenever I watch those scenes,
agreed, the film was not a regular weekend timepass entertainer but the failure of dil se at the box-office shows nothing else but the immaturity of our cine goers. but why the heck the critics were so scathy about dil se ? if dil se was not better than ROJA or BOMBAY, then it was no lesser also.
final verdict - dil se is a delightful and enthrallin take on brutal reality and a great treat.
comments and ratings most eagerly awaited
till next time
harsh