Most Indian movies are infused with family values, love, honour, trust and obligation to one's family. Very few I have found as touching and sweet as Dil Hai Tumhaara.
SPOILERS
The story starts 20 years ago. We see the loving happy family of Rekha, her husband and their daughter. All is not how it seems, for Rekha's husband has another family on the sly. By chance Rekha discovers this and on the same night her husband and his 'second' wife die in a car accident. On his death bed he makes his wife promise that she will look after his other daughter Shalu.
As the years pass we see the two girls grow into young women. Approximately twenty years have passed but still Rekha sees 'her' daughter Shalu (Preity Zinta) as a reminder of her husband's infidelity. And her treatment of Shalu as a result of this has left the young girl emotionally scarred. Rekha is far from the evil stepmother for she has given Shalu everything except a mother's love. Despite this Shalu loves her mother dearly. But she has turned into a rebellious young woman. Because she can do no right in her mother's eyes, why bother... The love she has lacked from her mother, her sister Nimmi (Mahima Choudhary) has made up for.
The story gets shifted into second gear when young executive Dev Khanna (Arjun Rampal) shows up capturing both of the girls' hearts. His heart however belongs solely to Shalu. But when Shalu finds out her sister is madly in love with Dev she does what comes naturally to her. She puts her family first, but not before her mother in a rage reveals the truth to both girls.
What is very moving about this movie is the deep love between the two sisters. They truly do not let a man come between them, for both are willing to sacrifice their love and happiness for the other. Not even knowing that they aren't really sisters changes anything. Also the love a lover is willing to sacrifice simply because the other requests this. And ofcourse the love of a mother for a child. Eventually also for a child that is not her own. But as I said in my summary 'an ideal picture of love' for this picture we will very rarely see in real life. And herein lies the strength of this movie. For once it isn't annoying to watch unrealism at work, but comforting because we would all wish to experience this unrealism. The closest most however will come to it is watching it on tv (for three hours in this case).
Besides the lovely story, the acting is also very moving. Preity Zinta has taken on a pretty common role for her doing. As Shalu she is the main character and love-interest. Before long she will be able to switch to auto-pilot as we see so many American actors and actresses do. Rekha is very impressive as the mother. We see her turned into a strong independent woman after her husband's demise. We see her fighting to hold on to the past and her grudge but - thank goodness - losing in the end. But most impressive I found Mahima Choudhary. Not having watched many movies of her, I was pleasantly surprised not only by her appearance but also by her acting. Having seen her wailing and screaming in Dil Kya Kare I didn't have high hopes for her, but I am increasingly becoming her fan. Perhaps it was her character or perhaps it was the way she made her character look real, but in any event I would have to say that she was the shining light in this production.
What I didn't care for much though was the love story line. It is the only thing in the movie that seemed childlike and not very realistic. How could such a casual 'relationship' between Shalu and Dev turn into such a deep love. He might have fallen for her bold character, but considering she didn't express an interest in him untill she found out who he really was, makes one wonder why she fell for him. Perhaps the story would have benefited if Arjun Rampal had been written out of it alltogether and the storyline of best friend Jimmy Shergil deeply in love with Shalu would have been expanded and given more depth. It would have been nice in this case to see that nice guys don't always finish last.
****/5 stars
SPOILERS
The story starts 20 years ago. We see the loving happy family of Rekha, her husband and their daughter. All is not how it seems, for Rekha's husband has another family on the sly. By chance Rekha discovers this and on the same night her husband and his 'second' wife die in a car accident. On his death bed he makes his wife promise that she will look after his other daughter Shalu.
As the years pass we see the two girls grow into young women. Approximately twenty years have passed but still Rekha sees 'her' daughter Shalu (Preity Zinta) as a reminder of her husband's infidelity. And her treatment of Shalu as a result of this has left the young girl emotionally scarred. Rekha is far from the evil stepmother for she has given Shalu everything except a mother's love. Despite this Shalu loves her mother dearly. But she has turned into a rebellious young woman. Because she can do no right in her mother's eyes, why bother... The love she has lacked from her mother, her sister Nimmi (Mahima Choudhary) has made up for.
The story gets shifted into second gear when young executive Dev Khanna (Arjun Rampal) shows up capturing both of the girls' hearts. His heart however belongs solely to Shalu. But when Shalu finds out her sister is madly in love with Dev she does what comes naturally to her. She puts her family first, but not before her mother in a rage reveals the truth to both girls.
What is very moving about this movie is the deep love between the two sisters. They truly do not let a man come between them, for both are willing to sacrifice their love and happiness for the other. Not even knowing that they aren't really sisters changes anything. Also the love a lover is willing to sacrifice simply because the other requests this. And ofcourse the love of a mother for a child. Eventually also for a child that is not her own. But as I said in my summary 'an ideal picture of love' for this picture we will very rarely see in real life. And herein lies the strength of this movie. For once it isn't annoying to watch unrealism at work, but comforting because we would all wish to experience this unrealism. The closest most however will come to it is watching it on tv (for three hours in this case).
Besides the lovely story, the acting is also very moving. Preity Zinta has taken on a pretty common role for her doing. As Shalu she is the main character and love-interest. Before long she will be able to switch to auto-pilot as we see so many American actors and actresses do. Rekha is very impressive as the mother. We see her turned into a strong independent woman after her husband's demise. We see her fighting to hold on to the past and her grudge but - thank goodness - losing in the end. But most impressive I found Mahima Choudhary. Not having watched many movies of her, I was pleasantly surprised not only by her appearance but also by her acting. Having seen her wailing and screaming in Dil Kya Kare I didn't have high hopes for her, but I am increasingly becoming her fan. Perhaps it was her character or perhaps it was the way she made her character look real, but in any event I would have to say that she was the shining light in this production.
What I didn't care for much though was the love story line. It is the only thing in the movie that seemed childlike and not very realistic. How could such a casual 'relationship' between Shalu and Dev turn into such a deep love. He might have fallen for her bold character, but considering she didn't express an interest in him untill she found out who he really was, makes one wonder why she fell for him. Perhaps the story would have benefited if Arjun Rampal had been written out of it alltogether and the storyline of best friend Jimmy Shergil deeply in love with Shalu would have been expanded and given more depth. It would have been nice in this case to see that nice guys don't always finish last.
****/5 stars