Producer: Ritesh Sidhwani
Director: Farhan Akhtar
Music: Shankar, Ehsaan, Loy
Lyrics: Javed Akhtar
Starring: Aamir Khan, Saif Ali Khan, Preity Zinta, Akshaye Khanna
Excel Entertainment's Dil Chahta Hai is a story about three friends and their ideas about love. Aamir Khan does not believe in love or the institution of marriage. Saif Ali Khan falls in love with any and every girl he meets. For Akshaye Khanna, love just happens - and when it does, nothing else matters. The three friends enjoy life but a day comes when Akshaye slaps Aamir for hurting his feelings. Aamir sulks and the friendship gets broken. While Akshaye gets busy with his passion of painting and love i.e. Dimple Kapadia, Aamir goes off to Australia to look after his dad's business. He meets a girl (Preity Zinta) whom he had briefly known in India, and their friendship slowly but surely turns into love. In the end, the friends sink their differences.
The first half is fun-filled and has good situational and words-based comedy. Several of the comedy scenes are hilarious. The post-interval portion has more of drama and movement but the film also slackens in pace. For one, Akshaye Khanna's revelation of his love for a woman, much older than him, doesn't hold the viewers' interest. Aamir Khan is simply splendid in a role that gives him the maximum scope among the three heroes. If he is marvellous in the light scenes, he is extraordinary in the scene in which he breaks down while talking to his father over the telephone. Saif Ali Khan springs a wonderful surprise with a performance that could be rated as his best. His sense of timing and his facial expressions in comic as well as emotional & dramatic scenes are laudable. Preity Zinta looks glamorous and acts beautifully. Dimple Kapadia looks quite old, but she fits the character very well.
Debutant writer and director Farhan Akhtar has given an extremely fresh and youthful look to the film. He handles the narration with self-confidence and contradicts the fact that this is his maiden attempt. However, the subject of this film is of the kind that will appeal mainly to the city audiences. Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy's music is pretty youthful. `Koi kahe kehta rahe', the title track, `Jaane kyon log pyar karte hain' and `Tanhayee' are brilliant numbers and their picturisation (Farah Khan) complements their tunes.
Ezekiels
