Dil To Pagal Hai

Dil To Pagal Hai -- The Heart is Crazy

MAIN CAST:

Shahrukh Khan -- Rahul

Madhuri Dixit -- Pooja

Karisma Kapoor -- Nisha

BRIEF PLOT OVERVIEW:

Rahul and Nisha are dancers and best friends. When Nisha hurts her leg, Rahul is forced to find a new lead dancer, and he quickly casts his eye on the beautiful Pooja. Before you know it, love is in the air, and Rahul and Pooja are smitten with each other. Unfortunately, Nisha is also in love with Rahul, creating a love triangle to rival KKHH's.

FILM -- 4/5

I distinctly remember loving this movie as a young teen in the late 90s; rewatching it as a young adult in the new millenium, I can see why. It's a cliche story as old as Bollywood itself: a girl falls in love with her best friend, but he's in love with another woman. Yet Dil To Pagal Hai still manages to entertain you. The movie is shot nicely and includes a cute scene where you can see in to Madhuri and Shahrukh's dressing stalls at the same time. No horrible Hitchcock-esque editing here! The screenwriting is just so damn cute that you can't help but love the cheesy masala goodness. I'm especially fond of the film's atmosphere, because although it was made in a late 90s India, the costumes and props all seem very 1980s America to me, and I loved that garish era. The choreography is pretty good, but not excellent, because there are a few dance moves that just look ridiculous and DTPH employs them all. The "Dance of Envy" sequence, however, is awesome. The script is well-written, and the rather basic plot is stretched out and filled with little incidents to keep the film interesting. I felt that the story went downhill a bit about 2 hours in, but it picked back up shortly thereafter. Overall, it's a perfectly-crafted romantic movie with only a few flaws, most of which are cosmetic.

CHARACTERS -- 4/5

Before Kareena was around to mar the Kapoor name, her darling sister Karisma was one of Bollywood's biggest stars. To be honest, I don't think any of the Kapoor sisters are gorgeous, and they always have the most obnoxious giggle, but Karisma has...well, charisma! She dances, acts, and lip-syncs well, looks good in her costumes, and is pretty in a girl-next-door sort of way. Karisma Kapoor is the real star of Dil To Pagal Hai. Madhuri is a classic beauty, and while I definitely think her acting has improved since DTPH, I don't think she performed horribly, either. Her real strength is her dancing: Madhuri Dixit is one of the best dancers in Bollywood, and the choreographers gave her plenty of room to show off her skills. Shahrukh Khan isn't given any new material to work with, but he plays the modern loverboy well, as per usual. He works well with the child dancers in "Chak Dum Dum." Akshay Kumar's guest appearance is memorable, although he isn't my cup of tea.

SOUNDTRACK -- 4/5

DTPH is on my list of "50 favorite Bollywood soundtracks." It's a solid soundtrack with a few hits and no misses, and even the songs that you don't love right away will probably grow on you. "Le Gayi" and "Bholi Si Sorat" are great. "Chak Dum Dum" features some truly intoxicating drums, and it's one of my absolute favorite Bolly songs! I know that the composers left instrumental room for the in-film picturizing, but I still wish the title song had a little more lyrical meat. "Chad Ne Kuch Kaha" is really good; it isn't my favorite song of its kind, but it fulfills its purpose, and I listen to it every now and then.

OVERALL -- 4/5

I like to think of Dil To Pagal Hai as a blend of Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Raja Hindustani, and so forth, probably because it's one of Shahrukh Khan's typical loverboy masalas with the popular "Karisma-is-a-dancer" character. Still, the film is completely entrancing and very entertaining, and it manages to throw a new light on Indian youth of the 1990s with its urban setting. I won't deny that the end to the Rahul/Nisha/Pooja love triangle pissed me off royally, but I also have to admit that my loyalties were set in place after the first 5 minutes. I loved DTPH when I was 13, I still like it at 20, and I'd recommend it to just about everyone I know.

TOTAL SCORE -- 16.5/20 (great)