Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Dil Se.. (1998)

Dil Se.. (1998)
Dil Se.. • दिल से (1998)
Genre: Drama | Romance | Musical | Thriller
Director: Mani Ratnam
Starring: Shahrukh Khan, Manisha Koirala, Preity Zinta
Language: Hindi, Tamil, Assamese, Urdu, Telugu, English
Duration: 163 min.
Rating: 7.6
Summary:
The clash between love and ideology is portrayed in this story of a lovestruck radio executive and the beautiful enigmatic woman he meets at a train station.
Dil Se.. (From the Heart) is a film directed by Mani Ratnam, from a screenplay co-written with Tigmanshu Dhulia and Sujatha. It screened in the International Forum of New Cinema section of the 1999 Berlin International Film Festival, where it received the NETPAC special mention.

The film opens with a scene in a windy deserted railway station, where the film's star crossed couple, Amar (Shahrukh Khan) and Meghna (Manisha Koirala) meet for the first time. For him it's crippling love at first sight, but before he even gets her name she's gone, as her train arrives and takes her away into the dead of night just as the sky opens up in a downpour. This brief encounter sets the stage for what seems to be a typical Bollywood romance, but as it turns out, Ratnam has a few surprises up his sleeve.

Dil Se.. (1998)

It's got an almost three hour running time, and I half expected to be bored by all the hyper realistic melodrama, and extended song and dance, but remarkably it never felt overlong to me. Ratnam pulls this off by repeatedly hopping genres, covering so much ground that it doesn't even feel right to describe the film as a love story; and also taking us to a number of exotic locales in some of the most remote areas of India, which cinematographer Santosh Sivan makes the most of and then some.

Visually, this is an absolutely stunning film. Almost every scene has a heightened majestic feel, with vivid colors and stylized cinematic lighting, that to me, felt like a cross between Zhang Yimou's Hero and Dario Argento's Inferno. The first musical number in particular (clip seen above), is pure movie magic. It has absolutely nothing to do with the story, I guess serving as a fantasy dream sequence of sorts, but is still amazing to behold. A six-and-a-half minute long sequence set to ridiculously catchy original music by A. R. Rahman, filmed atop a moving train using no green screen or CG effects. I had to pause and rewind it twice because I kept getting distracted wondering how the heck they filmed it.

Dil Se.. (1998)

The characterizations though are rather flawed. Even for a fairy tale it's hard to buy Amar's sudden and immediate obsession with the clearly troubled Meghna, and even less believable is his undeterred stalkerish persistence in chasing after her. After being rejected multiple times and after getting worked over badly by her 'brothers', you'd think that would have knocked some sense into him, yet that only makes him more determined. I'm guessing there's some kind of social or political message that I'm missing here. Fortunately, the protracted courtship also provides an opportunity to partake in a little bit of tourism via cinema, with wonderful sequences in some fantastic far flung locations seldom seen in film, like Assam, Himachal, and Kashmir.

The story itself can't really be discussed without giving away too much, but I have to say that it is more complex than it first appears, deals with some very unexpected dark subject matter, and has a seriously unforgettable ending that left me speechless as the credits rolled.

Special shout out to Mette of Lime Reviews and Strawberry Confessions, where I first discovered this film after she listed it as her favorite movie of all time. I didn't exactly fall in love with it, but I am glad I watched it, and hope to one day be able to watch it again, in HD.
Bonjour Tristesse
Dil Se.. (1998)

Dil Se.. (1998)

Dil Se.. (1998)

Dil Se.. (1998)

Dil Se.. (1998)

Dil Se.. (1998)

Dil Se.. (1998)

Dil Se.. (1998)

8 comments:

d_4 said...

A few months ago I was chatting with a buddy and he mentioned and showed that video. That opening sequence. I didn't get to see it all the way through, but now that I did I wanna give this one a watch.

Bonjour Tristesse said...

I think you would definitely enjoy this one. That first one is the best, but all of the musical sequences in it are excellent.

SDG said...

You know Farah Khan, choreographer of Chaiyya Chaiyya won every single choreography award this year and first thing she said on stage was 'First of all, Thanks to Shahrukh, Malaika and whole crew for not falling off the train' :) It is actually shot on moving train, agreed that it was a Toy Train in Himachal but still it was a Train.

What I feel about this movie is pretty much same as yours. There is not much wrong about it but nothing great either. Santosh Sivan and Rehman are the highlights. However, one more thing I appreciate about it is Gulzar's Lyrics. Love every single word of it.

Bonjour Tristesse said...

Yeah that train sequence is crazy. I watched it a few times, looking for but unable to spot any telltale signs of trickery. Obviously it's traveling at a very slow rate, but even if it's maybe not as dangerous as it looks, it's still an extremely technically challenging thing to capture on film. The timing of those shots going through the tunnel are so perfect.

Mette said...

I'm so happy you saw this!
Well, it wasn't likely that you were going to fall in love with it, but you did like it so that's great. I mean, it's great that you watched in at any rate, but I'm really glad you even liked it.


I hope there's going to be a HD version of it some day, but I'm not exactly counting on it.

Bonjour Tristesse said...

Yeah it wasn't easy to find either. I had to ask around a few places, and ended up having to borrow a bootleg copy from a friend. But I'm glad I got to see it.

Thanks for stopping by. Sad to see you missed out on last months Bollywood feature at the Lamb, I was looking forward to your contributions to it.

Mette M. K. said...

There was a Bollywood feature?! I'll have to look up the posts - thanks for letting me know :)

Bonjour Tristesse said...

Yeah, it was the latest edition of Foreign Chops.

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