I love DCH
The eligibility criteria for being recognized as a sane Indian possessing an un-demented mind is to like ‘Dil Chahtha Hai’(DCH) and name it as one of greatest movie ever produced.
I wonder whether these people who claim to love this movie have really understood the movie. Did they really realize the theme or just had fun or just followed the others? I don’t know.
This review is to explain my musings on what made me connect with this exceptional movie.
Exceptional, because…
a) DCH is one of the few Indian movies which made us feel without using those regressive cathartic techniques.
b) DCH is one of those movies which involved the audience and became a part of their lives.
c) DCH is one of those movies that took us through the pleasant facts of life without hitting hard on the face.
d) DCH is a refreshingly sincere effort of a first time director.
e) DCH is a commendable effort whose salient points include
i. Lack of Melodrama
ii. Lack of extra-emphasis
iii. Conversation oriented dialogues
iv. A cool and trendy look.
On Deeper Analysis
Seems it took two years for the director to write this immensely life-like script. The script is insightful to the mind of the creator. A personal touch is evident in terms of the importance given to certain feelings of each of the characters.
Seems to me that some of the characters are fragments of the creator’s mind and while a few seemed to be collected from external observations.
Any how, the treatment is fundamentally familiar and for some how personal, like the way we observe friends and pleasantly recollect the accounts of our lives.
Proof of Friendship
The script doesn’t narrate friendship. In fact the scenes just show friendship through physical presence, body language and casual actions. No hugging, no happy teary moments, no rollicking merry-go-rounds …
A group of guys are having fun together; as more aspects of their lives are introduced, it is we the audience who recognize pieces of ourselves in the characters and it’s we the audience who see the invincible bonds of friendship. And it was meant to be that way.
Love Angle
Saif’s love story is externalized. He is just shown magically falling for a girl. It’s supposed to amuse you.
Akshay’s love story is internalized – it explains the purity of love felt for the beautiful mind of an older woman. It’s supposed to make you drift away.
Aamir’s love story splits down love to its every minute details, the transformation from a negligible inclination to flirt with that strangely interesting girl to a special friendship to an undeniably serious emotion called love. It’s supposed to make you the feel the excruciating pain of love.
A journey towards emotional maturity
I see DCH as a relatively insensitive boy’s journey from selfish inhibition to feelings, to deep realization of the meaning of love and friendship. It is a journey towards emotional maturity which each one of us would take up at some point of time in our lives.
And that’s exactly why DCH connects … And it connects pleasant and deep, like sweet memories.