Akshaye Khanna’s Dil Chahta Hai is a film that makes us congratulate that much-maligned genre of popular entertainment known as mainstream Hindi cinema. At the end of this interesting and charming film about youthful harmony, Aamir Khan, playing the arrogant, sometimes unbearably egotistical Akash, softly says, “You can’t do better than perfection. Of course you can.” Barely two months after Lagaan, Mumbai’s most daring actor Aamir Khan has teamed up with a fine debut director called Farhan Akhtar to make a film that is flawless in almost every aspect. Dil Chahta Hai is a film that makes us congratulate that much-maligned genre of popular entertainment known as mainstream Hindi cinema. It is a brilliantly written story of three friends who grow together to maturity, losing some inner values and outer vanity on the road to maturity. If Dil Chahta Hai can be enjoyed on one level as a complete soufflé entertainer with excellent acting, it is brilliant. The choreography (Farah Khan) and the peppy, bubbly and relevant songs (by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy), on another level, the subtle references of the film relating to the choices made by the individual in life are so profound that we are overwhelmed by the narration of debutant Farhan Akhtar. Farhan Akhtar’s insightful youthful screenplay details the tribulations and setbacks in the lives of three college friends. Siddharth (Akshaye Khanna) is a painter and artist whose sensibility finds a solace in the company of a middle-aged alcoholic divorcee Tara Jaiswal (Dimple Kapadia). The relationship with the older woman is played with subtle delicacy. We never feel that we are being persuaded to believe in the motives of the characters. They are who they are. And we love them for it.
Sameer (Saif Ali Khan) is a dreamer. His romantic antics in Goa and Mumbai make his two friends as well as us smile and nod. Sympathy not just between the three male characters, but also between the main characters and the audience. Driven by sparkling, witty dialogues and in-depth descriptions of the workings of the young urban psyche, “Dil Chahta Hai” proves to be a winner right from the start.
Of course, this film belongs to Aamir Khan. From playing a 19th century villager in “Lagaan” to today’s poised urbanite, vivacious and adventurous man, Aamir once again proves himself to be a “thirsty” among equals. His indomitable pursuit of bold dramatics has landed him in a role that is a perfect showcase of his talent. Starting from a rude nonbeliever in Mumbai, Aamir’s character moves to Sydney and discovers, to his (and our) surprise and amusement, that he actually believes in true love!
What always captivates us is Farhan Akhtar’s immense and unwavering control over his narrative. It’s hard to find a single character like that. It’s an unnecessary moment in the film’s three-hour playtime. Some scenes, like the Sydney Opera scene where Akash ‘transforms’ from an arrogant cynic to a weepy romantic, are so intriguing that you fear the film might falter on its unfinished path at any moment.
Miraculously, every component of Farhan’s debut film holds together with a force that defies gravity. Nothing in Dil Chahta Hai plays by the old rules of mainstream cinema. At a few moments, like the dance-song sequence inside the cinema hall with Saif Ali Khan and his co-star Sonali Kulkarni (who incidentally is the only artiste in the film who doesn’t fit in), where the director pokes fun at the dance-song conventions of mainstream cinema, we feel that the young director is targeting the audience for tolerating mindless and clichéd cinematic entertainment for too long. No more! Farhan Akhtar’s film redefines, reworks and reinvents many of the rules of popular entertainment. This brings us to the film’s only drawback as compared to the average non-urban viewer: the characters think, speak and behave in a cosmopolitan way. But that doesn’t make them less believable.
If most of the characters look absolutely natural on screen, credit goes to the actors who have molded themselves into their roles in Farhan’s film as if they were made for it. Apart from Aamir, who gives a terrific performance, “Dil Chahta Hai” brings back two invaluable artists who had been underdogs of late. In each other’s company, Akshaye Khanna and Dimple Kapadia find themselves both as actors and stars.