Dil se (Bollywood Movie / Indian Cinema / Hindi Film / DVD)

As one of India's huge Bollywood stars, Shahrukh has one of those marvelous subtle faces that can simultaneously express multiple layers of feeling. In one moment he is handsome, seductive, and in the next he is vulnerable, awkward, and compellingly ordinary. His enigmatic, little boy, rascal smile will steal your heart.

There are two famous actresses in Dil Se, but Manisha Koirala plays the heroine, a lovely mountain peasant girl. At age 12, she saw her family gunned down by soldiers who then raped her. She walks in a world warped from pain and frozen emotion most of us could never comprehend and, along with her fellow terrorists, has become a suicide bomber.

Shahrukh meets her by accident and mistakes her aloof cold manner for siren mystery. As she shuns his advances at every turn, he - a rather spoiled radio journalist - is driven deeper into his desire for her. That desire becomes obsession - Dil Se. She cannot become whole again to return his love, and he cannot endure life without her. He begs her to take him with her, and so she does.

What draws me to this film is not just profound spontaneous depth of the actors and their willingness to show a wide range of feelings, but Dil Se made it apparent to me how stiff and mechanical my own culture has become. Even the Bollywood musical numbers are somehow fun, fresh and captivating. The sheer beauty of the photography is stunning and Manisha has the power to be a rough desert girl, a sophisticated beauty, or the most classic odalisque of the French painter Ingres.

On the back of the DVD it says: Ancient Arabic literature classifies love into seven different shades...HUB...their eyes meet, it is like a touch...a spark...Attraction. UNS...the touch of the eyes was as if, it was infatuation. ISHQ...the flame of the body is felt, his breath starts igniting...Love. AQIDAT...Reverence...she touches him like a whisper, as if silence is mixed in here eyes...he prays, knelt down on the floor, a little consciously & a little unconsciously...IBADAAT...he is entangled on her path...entangled in her arms...Love turns to worship. JUNOON...his living is an Obsession...his dying is an obsession...apart from this there is no peace...MAUT...let him rest in the lap of Death...let his drown his body in her soul... DIL SE...a journey through these seven shades.

Perhaps it's only poetic illusion and sweet madness, but if so - play on! I love this movie, Dil Se.


The Power to Haunt: The Breaking of Human Beings   July 22, 2006
A. Ali (Istanbul, Turkey)
12 out of 13 found this review helpful

Dil Se was conceived as the finale in Ratnam's trilogy of films on the subject of Terrorism, following Roja and Bombay. But while the former films were constructed as social docu-dramas emphasizing liberal humanism and a multicultural utopia, Dil Se culminates this theme in an entirely separate genre. Ratnam's screenplay deftly sets up our expectations and then quickly proceeds to obliterate them. The film is, at first glance, simply a social drama. Many critics have tried to categorize Dil Se as a social film or as a film on Terrorism--some have even gone so far as to call it "separatist propaganda." To imply such an idea is to deny the central theme of the film: Love. Dil Se is essentially a film about the phenomenon of Love, executed in fiercely unconventional and unsentimental fashion.

If Lamhe ushered in a new genre of anti-social love stories, Dil Se substantiated the genre by epitomizing what had never been seen in a Hindi film: the anti-romantic Love Story. Lamhe was anti-social and anti-establishment in that it rejected outright the traditional sexual and moral status quo by merely inferring that it could ever be conceivable for a woman to love a man who was in love with her mother. Despite its rejection of traditional morality, Lamhe remains a deeply romantic movie. Dil Se is anything but. It is constructed not to convey the triumphant bliss of Love, but its devastating helplessness. It is a Love Story in its truest sense, where the traditional context and protagonists are equally subdued, told against the backdrop of terrorism wherein the central female figure is herself a humanized terrorist. Sadly, this many viewers have failed to recognize.

Long before Shah Rukh Khan reduced his career to a sad shadow if its former self, he was consistent at proving in film after film that he was willing to take artistic risks and broaden the definition of the Filmi Hero. Dil Se was and remains the great experiment of his career. Here he is a young lover, but one who must contend with Love, instead of reveling in it. His fondness for his fiancée, Preity, is buried under his passion for Meghna, his obsession. Clearly, he finds her both beautiful and enigmatic, and without much hesitation, he follows her throughout the war torn land of Ladakh. Smart move? Probably not. But never do we second guess his decision because we believe that he is so utterly bewildered by the shadowy creature that is Meghna.

Preity Zinta, in her debut role, is both refreshing and natural, giving a spontaneous performance that oddly never seems out of place in a morbid and pensive film. Her delivery is always natural, and never does she make the mistake of trying to 'act with emotion.' True, she has the most conventional role of the three leads, but she lends balance to the story which could have ended up being more esoteric and surreal than it already is. Irrespective of Khan and Zinta's effective performances, both the superstar and the debutante are given characters far less substantial than that of Meghna, played by Manisha Koirala.

In a role of almost no dialogue, Koirala conveys literally volumes. Through her stifled body language, her forbidding expressions disclosing an unnamed identity, and an unknowable language of sadness spoken through her eyes, she conjures a darkly beautiful portrait of the ghostly survival of suffocated humanity. She is the greatest example of human (and humane) artistry in a film burgeoning with the message of humanity. You will notice as you peruse through the various customer reviews of this film that Shah Rukh Khan gets mentioned quite a lot, Manisha less so. One cannot help but wonder why. Shah Rukh Khan may be the box-office draw that helped get the film made, but Dil Se is Manisha Koirala's film. Make no mistake about it.

Koirala's performance goes far beyond merely propping up the tender terrorist as a victim of circumstance: the actress digs into the character and pulls out the skeleton, bloodied and broken, and harangues the audience with a brilliantly lucid portrayal of a dark and disturbed avenger. Regardless of whether the claim that it was too vague or esoteric is indeed true, Dil Se remains an artistic benchmark for the triumph of Koirala's portrayal of Meghna in what can only be called a transcendent performance. Every element of Meghna's broken humanity is summoned by Koirala to conjure a portrayal that is breathtakingly skinless: the emptiness of the eyes, the somber visage swallowed in pain, the almost whispered dialogue, and a body language bespeaking a lifetime of defeat. There is no greater praise for an actor than to be told by a viewer that they had forgotten that the actor was acting. When a performance becomes so convincing, so emotionally naked, and so singularly manifest, the actor disappears--literally--and one forgets that they are watching a performer and not a character. This is the miracle of Koirala's Meghna. There is no Manisha Koirala on the screen. None whatsoever. What we see is the character, and only the character, so perfect is this performance. This is one of the greatest--if not the greatest--pieces of method acting ever accomplished in Hindi cinema. This is the kind of performance which, if Hindi Cinema were more cerebral and more conscious of artistic aims, dance queens like Madhuri Dixit and Aishwariya Rai would never pass muster as actresses. Alas. Part of the greatness of Koirala's performance is that she plays Meghna as a shadow, an almost ghost-like figure whose movements are untraceable and whose thoughts are impenetrable. She is a human being who rejects her humanity and has forgotten how simply 'to be', an existential quandary which Hindi Cinema almost boastfully ignores.

The beauty of the film lies not so much in the actual love story, but in the director's ability to put a human face on terrorism. The mood is somber, the cinematography astonishing, and the perfect performance of Koirala makes Dil Se a startling piece of cinematic poetry. The film stands in a class of its own as a modern masterpiece, and can be considered fodder for only those that are willing to incorporate sadness and starkness into their movie-going experience. Others will find it too harsh.


A Solid Film   May 1, 2005
Harkanwar Anand (New York, New York)
5 out of 5 found this review helpful

First Off, Dil Se has nothing to do with the title. It's not your standard love film or nothing like you'd think or expect. The songs to this movie are just awesome and add to the flow of the movie. I'd probably say they're better than the movie itself.
Anyhow, the film is a huge respect earner. Shahrukh Khan adds to this movie a fruitful flow of his own. His character is that of an average man just like you and me but one who actually believes in knowing everything he wants to. His reasoning in the movie is second to none , he does everything he can to get his love and more. Anyhow, I might make the movie sound small by making it sound like a love story but then yes it is a love story.

Dil Se is about a journalist/radio jockey falling in love with a women with a mission. There was a time when Manisha Koirala could act and Dil Se certifies that. I dont think any of our other beloved heroines could have played her role in the film as potently. The second half of the movie has some scenes of Shahrukh being chased by some legal authorities.The kind of 5-10 impact of terror that is displayed during those scenes is enough to certify the agony one must feel. The song AIYE AJNABI is one of the few songs that make this movie a winner.

SRK is shown as a radio jockey describing his brief meeting with a stranger he never spoke to,he only wish(es) he did.I'm not gonna spoil this for people who haven't seen it. Some say the end of the film was nonsensical but I think it's not for the weak hearts. I must admit I was a bit taken aback by the thunderous conclusion but then it fits a realist's edge of reasoning.

A great film.

Those who enjoyed this film must watch "Bombay" or for the younger audience "Yuva"
Mani Ratnam is genius.


Nothing like I expected   January 13, 2007
Aaron Myers (Toledo, OH)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful

I sat down to watch this thinking it would be a stereotypical Bollywood flic. I was way off in this assumption, to my pleasant surprise. I was once told that Indians hate movies with sad endings. The ending here could be considered happy or sad, it is debatable. I was sickened at one point, but the movie was also very beautiful, contained terrific music and dancing, an interesting story line, and it touched on some socio-political-historical issues.

It was musically, theatrically, and emotionally stunning. In my opinion this is a must see movie for a mature audience. You have to have patience for a movie this long, worthwhile for the introspective.


A masterwork   March 3, 2008
CascadiaGreenie97520 (Oregon, USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

For people not brought up on Indian films, this might be a bit of a stretch - but set aside your expectations and you might be blown away by this one. The story: The portrayal of the inner world of terrorists is very convincing and consistent with recent research (the peer group pressure being the strongest influence on suicide bombers). More than that, it's a powerful liebestod, a love-death story of life in the midst of war. The music by AR Rahman: amazing. The dancing: this is what first caught my attention; it's simply astonishing. The choreographer Farah Khan seamlessly melds classical Indian and European styles, Sufi, and Western modern dance from Duncan to Tharp. She can do anything, and so can these performers. And throughout the film there is fabulous cinematography in service to the music, dance, plots and subplots - and doing justice to the beautiful scenery of Ladakh. Acting: Superb by all. Now to the negatives... if you're not used to Indian films you must relax and let go of your expectations. The integration of different moods (from silliness to tragedy) isn't something we're used to anymore (though you find plenty of that in, say, Shakespeare) - but this juxtaposition is unavoidable and constant in real life, as Indians know. Then there's the length: reset your inner time clock. Scenes go on longer and sometimes the acting seems over the top. Like most Hindi movies it's long (remember the fuss about that when the movie Gandhi came out?) but this length (as with that other great movie) allows an experience that goes deeper that we're used to, too. Altogether, this struck me (as a longtime film buff) as an extraordinarily original film: a masterpiece on all fronts.