Dil Hai Tumhaara (2002)

Dil Hai Tumhaara is the story of an influential widow who has everything - wealth, power, political acumen, and two lovely daughters, both dramatically different from each other, yet totally devoted to each other. While Shalu is spirited and full of mischief, Nimmi is feminine and gentle. Shalu makes friends wherever she goes and nobody is immune to her spontaneous vivacity. Yet for Saritaji, this lovely child is a thorn embedded in her heart. She smothers the quiet Nimmi with her love, while ignoring & undermining poor Shalu. Product Description

DIL HAI TUMHAARA - promoting motherly love and apple juice

In DIL HAI TUMHAARA the spotlight is firmly on Preity Zinta, Bollywood's dimpled and perky goddess. Preity is a natural in the acting biz and, from what I've seen on live interviews, seems to be a genuine, down-to-earth person in real life. She's the reason I bought this dvd, and she, Rekha, and Mahima Chaudhary provide the overwhelming reason to watch this film.

So, as laid out in the film's first few minutes, this is what's going on: Sarita (Rekha, KOI...MIL GAYA and KRRISH), mother to young Nimmi, shockingly finds out that her husband has been having an ongoing affair and had fathered another girl, Shalu. When her husband and the "other" woman become fatal casualties of an auto accident, Sarita very reluctantly agrees to raise Shalu as her very own. So Shalu grows up thinking that Sarita is her biological mother. But showering love on Shalu is something which Sarita can never bring herself to do, so she is only affectionate to Nimmi. However, Nimmi and Shalu grow up as loving sisters, even though Shalu incessantly acts up in a bid for her "mother's" attentions.

Meanwhile, over the years and as the sisters mature, Sarita has moved up in the world, having become the mayor of Palampur. Currently, she finds herself embroiled in a power play with a conniving politician who covets her position. This politician is in cahoots with the two crooked heads of an apple production plant owned by Khanna Industries. I mention this because Shalu shortly becomes involved in the doings as she first procures a job at the same plant and then meets Dev Khanna, who is heir to Khanna Industries. Dev (Arjun Rampal) has infiltrated the plant in hopes of discovering why it's incurring such heavy losses; he disguises himself as Anand, a lowly chauffer's son.

It's inevitable that Dev and Shalu meet cute and initially detest each other ("Bloody driver!") before the usual mushy shenanigans ensue. Then we have the following flies in this romantic ointment: Shalu's sister Nimmi also falls for Dev and then Shalu's ventriloquist friend Sameer (Jimmy Shergil), who has been in love with Shalu for ages, returns from Japan.

But all this romantic excess just serves to bog down the film and gets in the way of the film's real interest. The heart of DIL HAI TUMHAARA lies in a girl's quest to win her mother's love and a mother's eventual acceptance of this girl who was conceived from the most extreme of betrayals. It's a cold fact that, here, the women actors clearly outshine the men. Rekha is an intense actress born with that gift of being still. It's not a serene type of calmness, no; it's an icy stillness which suggests an anguished turmoil simmering beneath the stoic facade. Rekha is very clear in her portrayal of a mother doing her best in a most untenable situation. In her dealings with Shalu, I can't really blame her for being stingy with her affections. There is a ferocious, mesmerizing scene in which Rekha's character finally cuts loose as she searingly and vindictively confronts Shalu. Whew! Certainly, Rekha can exude venomous scorn like no one else in Bollywood. She's excellent.

Preity Zinta, normally bubbly and spirited, shows off her acting chops, as well. Her best moment and the film's best heart-tugging scene come when she crashes an engagement celebration and, in front of everyone, vulnerably confesses her illegitimacy to Dev's father. When watching it, I dare you to not tear up. Preity demonstrates again that she's one of the leading young actresses on the Indian cinematic landscape. Not to mention, she is very, very cute and engaging. And a shout out to her dimples.

Mahima Chaudhary makes the very most of her part as Shalu's gentle and generous sister Nimmi. She's quite wonderful and threatens to steal several scenes from Preity and Rekha. Mahima and Preity are convincing as sisters who bear a truly close bond, and you feel for them as they each make their own sacrifices to benefit the other. Arjun Rampal, Bollywood's response to Keanu Reaves, is again wooden but serviceable, barely. He's a good looking robot. I have to say that the movie's attempts at comedy, when involving Arjun, are quite feeble ("Chang's theory of business disguise," my fanny). Meanwhile, Jimmy Shergil's part as Sameer the puppeteer is vastly underwritten and, let's face it, that dummy of his is weird and often seems to have an independent life of its own. And it's lame that Sameer would insist on involving his puppet in normal, every day conversations.

Brace yourself for an inundation of songs here (9 in total). For the most part, the musical numbers are pleasant enough, if forgettable, and they do advance the plot. At three hours long, the picture drags a bit, thanks largely to all that romantic baggage. Still, DIL HAI TUMHAARA is very much worth seeing for its portrayal of a mother's relationship with her daughters. I can't mention enough how very, very good Preity, Mahima, and Rekha are as they invest their characters with real depth and emotions. You'll weep at their performances. Of course, you'll want to weep at Arjun Rampal's performance, as well, but for different reasons. Lastly, I can't help but want to take a sip from Khanna Industries's new product, Refresh. The way it was depicted in the film, this new line of apple juice seems to be the shiznit.
June 17, 2007

Dil Hai Tumhaara

Very good family movie about a half-sister, bastard daughter, how society views her status and how much the sisters love each other to the point of giving up the man of their dreams for the other. October 1, 2005

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