Revisiting a Classic: Dil Se...

At the start of this financial year, I found myself in a weird situation. I had loads of free time. My office did not think I needed to work and hence I was passing my days sleeping, eating, and daydreaming, but mostly sleeping. (No it is not great, more on my job separately)

It was at this time that I had a sudden burst of energy and I made a list of things that I needed to watch. It included TV/Web series, YouTube channels, movies… not just new but old and classics too. So, armed with this list I began to watch a few movies before giving in to my laziness again (Do not judge). One of the classics that I saw at this time was the 1998 Shah Rukh Khan starrer Dil Se.

The only reason this movie made the cut was the songs. The songs have been on my playlist for a long time and I could never remember if I had watched the movie or not. So finally, I decided to give it a watch.

A brief synopsis: What the hell is this and why was this even made?

This guy sees a random girl on a random railway station, ‘falls in love’, and then keeps bumping into her and follows her to her home. This is when she has shown zero interest in him. He keeps badgering her, forcefully spending time with her and being textbook Bollywood ‘charming’. Anyway, she rightly leaves in the middle of the night and gets away from him. (good for her)

It is revealed she is part of a terrorist organization planning to bomb the republic day celebrations. After years of leaving him in Leh, she comes to Delhi to execute her plans and decides to stay at his home, and he takes her in without a second thought. Mind you, this is when he is getting married and functions are ongoing. Also, he gets her a job at All India Radio. (I want this life where you can get a job without any qualifications, and just a referral works)

He is still in love. She is still staying away, partly because she is planning to blow herself up in a few days. He finds out about her plan, tries to stop her, gets suspected for being a terrorist (still not reporting anything to the CBI and being totally uncooperative), runs away from CBI, finds her and then they both blow up together because that is what lovers do… die together.  

The Problem: The lead character and everything he does

Every character is sensible in the movie, following their arc in general except the lead.

Manisha Koirala has a backstory that justifies her actions, explains what is driving her and how she is conflicted because of the introduction of this guy in her life. Preity Zinta is happy she is getting married and the guy seems decent enough. CBI is following up on the lead that is coming in and detaining suspects as they should.

And then we have Shah Rukh Khan. Dancing atop a moving train, being a creep to this unknown woman, being a wisecrack in front of an actual terrorist group and then, amping up the creep factor a bit more. When finally Koirala leaves him, he settles down in Delhi and decided to get married. But he throws away everything the moment Koirala is back in his life after years. She is still not showing interest but he is in love and obviously, feelings of none of the other characters really matter. Never once does the thought cross his mind that he should inform the right authorities and stop a terrorist bombing even after knowing the truth. As I said, he is in love so getting her back is more important.

Apparently, the theme this movie follows is a journey through the seven shades of love as per Arabic literature. I am clearly not a fan of any of the shades. In case you are curious, the shades are attraction, infatuation, love, reverence, worship, obsession, and death. (Death is a weird thing to include in shades of love, but who am I to question the ancient Arabs)

Closing comments: Because the post should have a structure and ending even if the movie did not make sense

The songs by Rahman are the only thing worth taking away from this so I am going to keep the songs in my playlist but keep this movie away from any of my watchlists. Mani Ratnam makes good movies, but this one maybe I just did not understand. If you understood it, good for you. Also, I don’t think we should exchange our favorite movie list. We won’t match.

Yes, you burned my time. You should run away after this

Feedback appreciated!

(if you are lazy, boxes below can be checked. If you are not, let me know in the comments, or use social media, DM me @meravishwaskaro)