User Reviews

Even though this movie came out in 1998, the 1st time I saw it, was a few years back. This was because, at that time, it had received so much criticism that anybody who thinking of watching this movie, thought otherwise. But, while I was surfing the IMDb site, I had noticed that this particular movie had a high rating (considering the fact that it was considered a flop back then). So, I decided to see for myself how this movie was like, and boy, was I stunned..

Why was Dil Se a 'flop' in India? A gem amongst the commercially-hyped bollywood "hits"..

SRK's acting (as Amar) in this film was superb; at once we see a mix of his endearing boyish vulnerability, tenderness, and wild explosive impulsiveness that characterize the intelligence of this great actor. The transformation that his character went through was amazing to watch- from carefree arrogant pup, to an obsessed lover, to a desperate man, and finally to a dead man walking. It was a welcomed relief to all his other "bubble-gum" characters like "Rahul" in KKHH, K3G (I am not saying that he didn't act well in those movies. Its just that he remained the same, & at same time was boring compared to "Amar")...

Manisha Koirala's acting (as Meghna) was flawless. One minute she felt guilty about using "Amar" (by using the AIR {All India Radio} tag in order to get close to the President), while the next minute she didn't bat an eyelid when he was arrested. Her breakdown scenes seem extremely forced into the script, and the only reason why these scenes proved effective is because Manisha is an amazing actress. The sequence where she tries to cry but the tears won't come out is mind-blowing, and no other actress could have portrayed this scene so well. (Even though "Meghna" was portrayed as someone who was damaged emotionally with no recovery, the last scene when "Amar" asked her to say 'I love you', she just looked deeply into him and with the least possible motion, nodded lovingly – her eyes shinning with love for such a brief moment... Simply amazing)...

Santosh Sivan's cinematography was stunning. He flexes the visual muscle as the movie veers from the world's coldest lake to the inside of a monastery, and he's helped considerably by the eternal, undeniable beauty of this leading lady (sans makeup). As "Meghna" washes her face casually, we can see why "Amar" has fallen hard for her. For those of us who will probably never visit Ladakh, Sivan's images will forever remain in our minds....

Farah Khan definitely deserved the Filmfare Award for best choreography for Dil Se. Who can forget the dance in SATRANGI RE (incredibly erotic piece of footage - the two of them squirming in that red fabric.... Hollywood could learn some lessons here in how to be amorously sexy without being cheap or porno) or SRK's contagious energy on top of that train in CHAIYYA CHAIYYA or him tenderly protecting Manisha in the DIL SE RE?....

Music by AR Rahman is the soul of the film .The songs doesn't feel or look out of place at all. Dil Se is hauntingly done both musically and visually as well. This is all because of Mani Ratnam's direction. He told the story in the most human way possible- it is essentially a love story told against the backdrop of terrorism (also showed us the birth of the terrorist -- simplified to a great extent but neatly executed). Ratnam uses 'passion' as his keyword, exploring it on various (occasionally obvious) levels...

Overall, I think this movie will always be a classic and is way ahead of it's time. I am sure if this movie was released after 2002, it would have been a huge hit….

I think this movie failed on several counts: first of all, the protagonists were thoroughly unlikeable characters. I found SRK to be obsessive and creepy when it came to the girl, and completely underdeveloped when it came to his job and politics. If he was supposed to represent the opinions of mainstream India about ethnic uprisings, I have no idea what those opinions are. He was underdeveloped, and the motivations of his love interest were equally obscured.

Even beyond having weak story and characterizations, this movie could have been saved by having something interesting to say. Terrorism is obviously a very multi-faceted subject, and I have no idea what this movie was trying to say about it. Something that passed for a point was quite literally blown up by melodrama in the end.

What saves the movie are visuals and music. The settings are quite stunning and there are even some fine supporting performances. Obviously the music is catchy.

I honestly hate rating such a well-made film so low. The cinematography, acting, settings, and score were all practically perfect. The basic story concept was well conceived. The musical numbers were excellently choreographed, most notably, of course, the number atop the train at the beginning of the film. Furthermore, I felt that while obviously the film's terrorist acts were clearly portrayed as wrong, their motivations are quite well portrayed, so that the conflict does not always feel so cut and dry. Given all of this, I really wanted to like this movie. My problems were largely related to some key points in the script.

For the first hour or so of the movie, Amar comes across as extremely rapey towards Meghna. Unlike many other Indian films, she never gives the slightest indication that she's truly interested in him, and goes so far as to say she's married to get him to leave. This only works temporarily, and ultimately his advances culminate in triggering a PTSD flashback (the source of which is revealed later). Immediately after this he tries to talk her into marrying him. I have no words for how utterly stupid this is. What I am trying to get across is that we as the audience are given no reason to root for and care about this couple.

Enter Preeti. This girl deserves so much better. She and Amar connect almost instantly, and the movie acts like it wants you to root for them as a couple. They are even given a musical number in which Lata Mangeshkar does Preeti's playback singing. They become engaged despite some early reservations. Then Meghna returns and Preeti ceases to matter for the remainder of the movie. I hate everything about how this character and relationship were handled. It felt like Ratnam saw DDLJ, and assumed a second love interest and a destined-for-failure engagement were necessary for a movie to be good, even if they had no place in the narrative.

All these things said, I do actually feel that Amar and Meghna's characters and relationship are handled well in the second half of the film. The flashback sequence to Meghna's childhood contained some disturbing content, which I felt the film handled tastefully without sugarcoatimg anything. The ending was abrupt. That said, it was a bold storytelling choice and I had to respect it. It also fit in line with both characters' actions up to that point.

Mani Ratnam irks me, because in both of his films which I have seen (Roja being the other), I have found elements that I really wanted to like, that were ruined by obnoxious character writing and some pretty infuriating plot points. While I was able to get past these elements for most of Dil Se.. I do find them problematic enough that I don't think I would really recommend the film.

When I first saw Dil Se I had no idea who Mani Ratnam was, but I have since sought out and seen many of his films. Dil Se remains his best film in my opinion.

A chance encounter at a remote train station between a brash radio executive, Amar Verma, and a mysterious woman Meghna(?) leads to Amar's dogged pursuit of Meghna. He is in love, she is enigmatic, elusive and unattainable despite his following her and pressing his suit. She keeps walking away. Amar seems to give up and goes back home to get engaged to pretty and perky Preety. But then Meghna walks back into his life and asks for help. Amar takes a while to realize that all is not as it should be and the movie rapidly turns from a romance into a thriller in the second half. There is a terrorism sub-plot, there is intense emotion, and the fact that there is one woman too many in our hero's life.. The movie negotiates all this and moves us rapidly towards a stunning finale.

The film is visually stunning - the train top song Chaiyyan Chaiyyan, the Ladakh locales including a snow covered lake and ruins among the dunes, the masterful use of light in the most intense emotional moments, the mundane streets of Delhi, children running up and down the stairs in an old house - the moments of visual beauty are too many to list. A R Rahman's music is astoundingly good. There is no mediocre number - Sukhwinder's stunning Chaiyyan Chaiyan, Sonu's gritty Satrangi re, Udit's haunting Ae Ajnabi, AR Rahman's soulful Dil Se re, and Lata's sensual Jiya Jale - every song is situationally perfect masterfully sung and worth going on the A-list on your iPod.

Mani is a master craftsman - the tale of Dil Se is not easily absorbed at one go. The first impact is one of mystery and confusion. But the second time around one knows that this was the intention all along - Meghna carries deep dark secrets that will not allow her to accept her attraction for Amar, yet Amar can sense the mutual attraction and keeps pursuing her. Dil Se is set in some unknown North Eastern state in India. These regions were historically never a part of India and were added to political India by the British. Their populace is culturally and ethnically different. Post-independence these states have been in a state of unrest and more and more isolated. The influx of refugees from Bangladesh into this region has strained resources and made the political situation even more volatile. These states are less affluent and there is much separatist (terrorist?) activity going on in almost every state, despite programs from the central government that provide resources and raw materials at a reduced cost and also decree that only permanent residents and natives can buy land in these states (to keep ethnic identities intact).

This political situation has parallels in the story - Amar is happy go lucky, affluent, confident in his family relationships, in his identity, in his ability to achieve his goals - whether they be wooing a reluctant woman or meeting with the separatists/terrorists. This is very much like mainstream India. Meghna on the other hand is unhappy, relatively poor (notice the often close to tattered clothing), has feelings of dissociation and estrangement, a need to fight back.

Their meeting is by chance - just as by happenstance the NE states became part of political India. They are as different as can be - he is brash and hyper, she is introspective and quiet.

She is attracted to Amar yet also strangely repulsed by him. This is very much like the uneasy political alliance between the NE states and mainstream India. There is the danger of getting engulfed by other neighbors so an alliance is necessary, yet there is perceived disenfranchisement as there is not enough representation in the political process.

Amar is shown to be a bit coercive in the beginning and overly helpful in the end and this represents the two extremes of how the central government handles the situation in the NE. There are many facilities provided (cheaper resources), protection given in terms of property rights. Yet the hand is heavy when it comes to political decision making.

Meghna's past parallels some of the heavy handedness at the hands of the center while Aamr's attitude of trying to figure out why there is unrest indicates that there is a basic desire at the center to help.

The "love" story is rather unusual and highlights these forces of attraction and tension. Only in the very end is Mani completely enigmatic. In the end are we now witnessing the love story alone or is it a prophecy for the future? Mani stays completely on the fence the entire time and looks at the situation (and indeed at the love story) as Amar the journalist would. He is merely reporting the facts and not passing any judgments.

The film is superbly acted. Shahrukh effortlessly conveys the brash young man in search of a story, the obsessed lover, the reluctant fiancé, the angry man, the patriot. This is one of his finest roles to date. Manisha does an excellent job as Meghna - she is luminous, diffident, attracted and yet repulsed, driven - and all this with almost no words spoken. Shahrukh conveys so much with body language - watch him in the desert after Meghna leaves in the night - he is despair personified. And Manisha uses her eyes - a look says it all when Amar asks her on the roof top if she loves him. Preity is great as the perky girl - excellent in the sensuous number Jiya Jale. I hope Mani Ratnam is aware of the huge impact this film had and continues to have. Watch Dil Se, you will not be disappointed.

I have to say, honestly, that this movie was one of the best movies with Shah Rukh Khan. It is a bit arty and that is what makes it so special comparing to the usual commercial stuff that he does.

Both Shah Rukh and Manisha act outstanding. No words to describe it. Preity Zinta is bubbly, but that just makes Manisha more real and believable.

The soundtrack is without a doubt one of the best things about this movie. The song Chaiyya Chaiyya is really famous, and the choreographer Farah Khan, won some international prizes for it. Shah Rukh dances on a train with Malaika Arora. Something extra: in the movie Kaal, couple of years later, Shah Rukh and Malaika do another song together: Kaal Dhamaal, which rocks like Chaiyya Chaiyya.

There is one point, which I wished would have been different. That's the only reason that I give this movie a 9 of 10. The ending could have been different. But maybe this is what makes the movie special. I just don't like to see SRK dying in any movie...

"Dil Se" (literally 'from the heart' or 'with all my heart') is a story about a very obnoxious and obsessed Indian radio personality who sees a woman at a train station and relentlessly pursues her. He knows nothing about her--and doesn't realize that she and her family are terrorists. Yet, somehow, the film eventually have them fall in love.

Perhaps I saw this movie as being very offensive due to my culture. In the US, when a man relentlessly pursues a woman who CONSTANTLY tells him and demonstrates that she's NOT interested, it's pretty clear she is not interested. However, in "Dil Se", a man becomes infatuated with a woman he doesn't know and pursues her relentlessly. And, at about the 51 minute mark, attacks her and forces himself on her--and somehow this film is supposed to be a romance?! Such a film probably couldn't be made in the States today--and even in the old days, Amarkanth's behaviors would have been seen as creepy and potentially dangerous. Because of this, I really cannot recommend the film--especially since it seems to promote dangerous pro-rape myths as well as stalking. Additionally, compared to many Indian films, the song and dance numbers are not particularly good and sound very canned. I have seen about 100 Indian films, so I am certainly no expert--but you can certainly do better than this one.

Who would have thought, that love, singing and terrorism can credibly be combined? But the characters of Manisha Koirala and Shah Rukh Khan are so convincingly and urgently represented, that one can comprehend his deep, unconditional love the same way one can comprehend her fear of him getting closer to her. Because after all the atrocities she has experienced and her role in the suicide command and terrorism, she still in her quiet, reserved ways clings to life, as she develops relationships with other people again and again, for the reason of friendliness and humanity and not for her inhuman cause of terrorism. In the same extent he wants to save her, she develops a fear of this rescue. No matter how she rejects him, his love grows and he does not want to give up, even if it could cost his own life.

This story is so fascinatingly told, that one has hardly time to breathe. In addition to that the film language is so enormous and the use of light in some scenes is so space and timeless beautiful, that it is hard to find a comparison to DIL SE. One of those scenes is set at a campfire somewhere in a desert. In the unique Mani Ratnam style there is bright light in the background, intimate whisperings between Meghna and Amar about the three dearest things in the world, close up shots on their faces. The closer Meghna and Amar are getting, the fewer light beams radiates between the two heads and less the observer can see of this intimate moment, the farther away they are from each other, the more one can see of what they are doing, but less is happening. Light means life. Although in Indian Cinema rarely real kisses can be watched, this almost kiss belongs to the Top Ten of best film kisses ever. One could almost feel and taste the tension in this scene.

Whoever particularly watches Bollywood Cinema because of the music and the dance scenes will also enjoy this movie. The scene on top of the train became film history and meanwhile it is already quoted in advertisement. In this regard the film is also unusual, the music smoothly adjusts itself into the story and continues to carry it on a bit. As the characters wonder what could have happened if they would have met in another life under different circumstances. The music is made so beautifully.

I think that Western or European spectators could find an easy introduction to Indian Cinema with DIL SE , the story telling reminds of the European Cinema Style in a way. It gives enough room to read between the lines and in the faces of the brilliant actors. Words are not needed to explain their actions it is simply there to see it and experience it.

Dil SE is absolutely no film which one can easily forget. As far as I'm concern the question that still employs me after having seen it a few times is whether there could have been another end for the two characters or whether the end shown in this film remains the only possible ending to their story. Well, the end of this movie is really the only thing which does not please me. I don't think there has to be a happy ending after all but still the end shown is missing the strength and love of the rest of the story, it just ends it, period.

Dil Se.. is an amazing movie, being quite original and portraying the power of love in the purist form. The Sufi (spiritual and divine) essence of love in both the music and the movie as a whole makes it a brilliant piece. It is beautiful how innocence and love are projected in a background of misery and suffering. The song lyrics are amazing especially those of the song "Dil Se". It defines the delicacy and fragility of human nature and the passion and yearning with which the human heart calls out for .. love. Personally, I think that Shahrukh Khan has never acted better in any other movie than this one because of the demands of his role that seems like a minor character when compared to the complicated and fearless heroine. It is good to see that the hero is an ordinary man falling in love and being thrown in the face of patriotic duty rather than the typical macho heroes of Indian movies. His realistic character shows in the fight scenes where he gets beat up by the enemy repeatedly and consequently, grows to put up a fight driven by love. The heroine has more of a character than that of a Bond-girl or damsel type seductress typical of Indian movie heroines. The choreography of the songs is very touching as it combines different aspects of love i.e. innocence and spiritual fulfillment with sexual longing.