Dil Se… One Of Mani Ratnam’s Best
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Bharath Vineeth
(Boston, USA)
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WITHHELD
Dil Se… One Of Mani Ratnam’s Best
I don’t know how many of you still remember Dil Se. This movie was supposed to be the first true mainstream product that wanted make an impact globally like no other movie from India. It had some big names coming together Mani Ratnam, RGV, Shekar kapur.
This was the last of trilogy, the first two being roja and Bombay. Even though the music became a rage, the movie bombed and just faded into oblivion.
I first watched Dil Se when i was 15 years old, first day first show. Was a kid then so i did not understand the movie other than the fact that i was mesmerized by the music and the cinematography.
I saw dil se recently on DVD, am 24 now and have to say that it blew me away. Not stunned by the movie coz of songs and photography but by the plot and the content. This movie raises a lot of questions about love, I know that 4 letter word which makes the world go round and round and a concept which has been explored in movies since ages.
According to ancient Arabic literature, love is classified into seven different shades. This is true even today.Dil Se is a journey through these 7 shades of love. The feelings are as old as mankind, only the circumstances have changed.
1)HUB….eyes meet,
it is like a touch…
a spark…
—————— Attraction
2)UNS…the touch of the eyes
was as if,
it was…
—————— Infatuation
3)ISHQ….the flame
of her body is felt,
his breath starts igniting…
—————— Love
4)AQUIDAT……she touches him like a whisper,
as if silence is mixed in her eyes,
he prays, a little consciously,
a little unconsciously…
—————— Reverence
5)IBAADAT……..he is entangled on her path,
entangled in her arms
love now turns to…
—————— Worship
6)JUNOON….living is an obsession…
dying is an obsession…
apart from this there is no peace…
—————- Obsession
7)MAUT…..let him rest in the lap of death…
let him drown his body in her soul…
—————— Death
After seeing Dil Se again, it was easier to see how the seemingly irrational actions of the characters were a result of their life circumstances. I understood much better why Amar was compelled to pursue Meghna; like what happens if you fall in love with a wrong person. Meghna is like many other damaged people: erratic, confused, sometimes dangerous, but in the end her own worst enemy. Both know that their paths are not supposed to join but find themselves irresistibly drawn to each other. This is evident by Amar’s reaction to seeing Meghna at his engagement, and again in Meghna’s attempts to convince herself to feel nothing but to fulfill her mission. It is this attraction that forces the shattering scene at the end of the movie–there is no other way for them to be together. (or is there is a better ending) This is a very thought-provoking movie, but it does require you to think and it will move you to your core, if you let it.
The acting is perfect here, manisha as a terrorist whose innocent face covers the truth of what she really is, shah rukh who emotes fear, anger, frustration, desperation and love at various points in the film easily and realistically.
Shah Rukh said correctly that this movie is 10 years ahead of it times. It was ahead for me at that time. Dil Se is one of mani ratnam’s best movie till date but a forgotten one.
This movie is often compared with The Terrorist, directed by Santosh Sivan (which is an amazing movie again but it deals with the emotion of a single person and the circumstances are different there). This was never a movie on terrorism, it’s a love story set in very unusual circumstances.
I think the songs just overshadowed the whole movie of what it is really about. Was thinking how the movie would have fared if it was released now in 2008, thinking that we are much more open now to unorthodox endings.
Thanks,
Vineeth
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
I think Dil Se.. is one of the most under-rated movie of its time. Brilliant choreography, music, cinematography, direction and acting.
A very intense movie and the ending just blew me away (pun intended).
I wish Mani and SRK join hands again soon.
Although as a whole the movie is gud, i think it has many scenes inspired from work of other great movie directors. Just for a sample consider this scene -
There is a scene in the radio station where SRK is talking to Manisha in a corridor and constantly people come in and out opening the door.
There is exactly this scene in Satyajit Ray’s ‘Nayak’, towards the end of the movie. Uttam Kumar is speaking to sharmila and man moves keep cutting their conv by moving in and out of the corridor.
Camera angles, shot taking evertything is the same except Dil se is in color.
The biggest testimony that Mani at times gets ‘inspired’ from others work is Roja. Initially I thought he was genius. Later on I read somewhere it is a modern adaptation of sati savitri.
I too felt indeed it was an modern adaptation of sati savitri.But later.. on doing some RnD on internet, I found it was ‘inspired’ by Vittori De Sica’s ‘Sunflower’. On watching it, I felt Roja is Sunflower.
Sunflower + Bad copy of Kurosawaish Cinematography (Ran/Kagemusha) + Terroism = Roja
I feel Satyajit Ray is a genius. Mani is not.
Anyways we should not stop encouraging him.
“i think it has many scenes inspired from work of other great movie directors. ”
Please list all such scenes.
I am sure all u guys who liked dil se are on some substance man…
Right now I have 2 more
- Song on top of train (Chaiyya) – Song “Kaalvannu Tadeyoru” Kannada film “Kittu Puttu” (Early 70’s) – dir – S V Rajendra Singh Babu. This was way before Rishi kapoor’s hoga tumse pyaara kaun came. As of my knowledge this is the first song in Indian film history on top of a moving train (No back screens or Imaging gimmicks used to give a feel of moving train. Really shot on moving train)
- Song where switching between Desert and Ice cap hills (Satrangi re) – Song “Devaru hoseda” Kannada film “Muttina haara” (1990) – dir S V Rajendra Singh Babu. This song won a national award.
Mani used this thing in his Iruvar song – Ayirathil Naan Oruvan in 1997 and then in Dil Se.
If somebody else has seen these film techniques earlier in India films, please quote.
S V Rajendra Singh is a veteran film maker in kannada. Mani and Babu happen to be close friends.
I think maniratnam most underrated or u can say moust underrated movie in indian cinema is “IRUVAR”..for ppl who doesnt have a clue its the political saga of MGR and Karunanidhi.
This movies is mother of film-making, its great peice of work..and Mohanlal is incredible.
and pls stop all this non-sense inspiring, copy n all…k
every work is indeed an inspiration to another…so dont bull shit on dis trivia buddies.
I don’t know about copy or anything but there is one place which Mani likes a lot to shoot :-)
Its some waterfall where Preity dances in Jiya Jale (Dil Se), Aish jumps around in Barso Re (Guru) and also another song in Kannathil Mutthamital.
I don’t know the exact place but yeah, I do see recurrences of locations in Mani movies.
ManiRatnam is a genius and ‘Dil se…’ is a brilliant movie. Period.
@Soorma Bhopali
“Stop encouraging him?”
Come on!! Give him some credit. Do we have any Satyajit Rays left?
Mani might have really inspired from the movies mentioned. However can’t two people think alike? Maybe not the whole plot but the idea of ’song over a moving train’ or technique used in Dil Se radio station.
Certainly people can relate Roja to Sati Savithri and Dalapathi to Kunti/Karna/Arjuna episode of Mahabharata.
Dil Se….masterpiece in every aspect. I also din’t understand it’s beauty in first watch. Then I saw it again last year and I have the Original DVD
I think in all Mani’s films cinematography is just too good….I really liked the scene in which SRK describes his first meeting with Manisha…..that was ACTING…full marks to SRK for such a brilliant portrayal of a lover yearning for his soulmate.
Dil Se is one of Mani’s average movies except for the music and cinematography. It started off with a good plot and weakened as the movie progessed with a lot of WTF moments. It was also spoiled by weak acting – SRK’s trademark loverboy mannerisms especially. The action scenes at the end were laughable. Instead of feeling anxious for the hero, I wanted them to catch him so it would end my misery.
i like mani ratnam films
i dont know if he copied ray or not
i like rays films also
rays films r far superior than manis films but then there is only 1 ray in india/world
i also find it objectionable that mani ratnam song style is repeated in his films
but overall i like his films….. he is best at present…
but dil se was a weak film….
roza was better..
best was naygan
Vineeth. Good attempt at recreating the indelible memory that was Dil se. liked the seven phase thing. Brought back those tv promo memories. Was just listening to satrangi re and realized all the lines serve up like a complete dictionary tour in Love.
UNS
Aankhon ne kuchh aise chhuaa
Halka halka uns hua
ISHQ
Tere jism ki aag ko chhoote hi
Mere saans sulagne lagte hain
Mujhe ishq dilaase dete hain
Mere dard bilakhne lagte hain
IBAADAT
Teri raahon mein uljha uljha hoon
Teri baahon mein uljha uljha
AQUIDAT
Chhooti hai mujhe khamoshi se
Aankhon mein ghuli khamoshi se
Main farsh pe sajde karta hoon
Kuchh hosh mein kuchh behoshi se
JUNOON
Mere jeena junoon mera marna junoon
MAUT
Mujhe maut ki god mein
Mystically pleasing, with a meaning that went way beyond the literal. After a couple of views it was clear that the characters and events were supposed to convey a meaning at so many levels. This went well beyond a story of unrequited love and the terrorism backdrop. Even the downer of an ending does not diminish my pleasure in repeat watching this film. It is a masterpiece that was well ahead of its time. The talents that came together to create this one may never again be seen together – Mani’s powerful story and Dil se direction, the collaboration with Shekhar Kapur and Ram Gopal Verma in production, Santosh Sivan’s lens, Gulzaar’s lyrics, A R Rahman’s soulful music, Manisha’s astounding portrayal of a lost soul as a perfect foil to Shahrukh’s obsessed and pursuing lover. No it ain’t gonna happen again ever – but we can be grateful that this confluence happened once!
have written it earlier while commenting one of the post
“Dil Se was a complete crap when you consider Terrorism/Terrorist as a root of the plot.. but if you consider Dil Se as a journey/stages of Love (Hub, Uns, Ishq, Aqidat, Ibadat, Junoon, and Maut) with a sub plot of Terrorism, it was an interesting experiment.. Consider
“but if you consider Dil Se as a journey/stages of Love (Hub, Uns, Ishq, Aqidat, Ibadat, Junoon, and Maut) with a sub plot of Terrorism, it was an interesting experiment..”
In fact Dil se is much beyond that and is really an allegory for the relationship between mainstream India and the North Eastern states. The attraction repulsion that Mani shows between the protagonists mirrors the relationship between the NE 7 sisters and the rest of India. Like Mainstream India Amar is confident, brash, affluent and large hearted while also strict. And like the NE 7 sister states, Meghna is poor, confused, needy yet proudly aware of her identity and most of all she is physically abused. The start with Chaiyya Chaiyya shows Amar’s (India’s) confidence to be able to attain what he wants:
Woh Shokh hai rang badalta hai
Main rang roop ka saudayee
And then his confidence is brought down to earth with Satrangi re:
Ishq par zor nahin hai yeh woh aatish ghalib
jo lagaye na lagey aur bujhaye na baney
In fact I cannot of think of any other pair of actors apart from SRK and Manisha who could have done justice to this film.
I have lost count of the number of times i have come to the PFC site and read a post and felt … “Finally … someone else also feels the same”.
Had seen Dil Se in the sidey Deccan theatre in Pune (presently demolished) and even then was completely blown away by the visual beauty of the film.
3 squences that remained with me were :
1) The initial meeting at the railway station with rain dropping in the cup of tea and SRK summarising “Duniya ki sabse choti prem kahani”
2) Preity Zinta asking SRK ” Are you a virgin” … her bubbliness really shone thru …
3) SRK forcing the earphones in Manisha’s ear and the song Ae ajnabi starting off …
Simply Superb … And thanks for the original post …
You guys easily get blown away! I found the movie highly stylized and very unrealistic. It was a very superficial take on the roots of terrorism. Where in the world will you see a half naked women dancing atop a train or with a bunch of fishermen on a moving boat? She is also mouthing rubishy words that don’t mean a thing in any language. This is a new type of magical realism that seems to be propagated mostly in southern movies. Rajikant wearing a blond wig and spoofing Stagecoach. Looked ludicrous to me!
“She is also mouthing rubishy words that don’t mean a thing in any language.”
Thus is Gulzar Saab’s fine poetry dismissed. Well do have a saying about casting pearls…….
thanks for all the responses….
and by the way these were the questions asked to mani ratnam in a Rediff interview….
Why did you choose Shah Rukh Khan [Images] for Dil Se?
It was just a feeling. I hadn’t seen too many of his films before. You feel that you want somebody who would be a common man, who would represent All India Radio, which is the voice of the ordinary citizen, and still be able to carry the film on his shoulders. I needed somebody who would take us across the line. It was a difficult subject, it was the 50th year of Indian Independence but there are corners which still have darker areas. We tried to cover it and this film was trying to explore into the gray thing. And we wanted this happy mood to control that side of it. So he somewhere represented that kind of mood.
When you were picturing the film in your head, were you seeing it always with him in the role?
Not really. I don’t think you see it 100 percent with a particular actor in mind. To be honest, I was working on another script with him, the Tamil film, Alai Payuthey. It was done in Hindi by my friend and assistant, Shaad Ali, as Saathiya [Images] later. So I was working on that script with Shah Rukh, and I told him the outline, which is just a simple city-based love story. But the script didn’t fall fully into place so we moved to something else. So I was thinking of Shah Rukh for Aley Payuthey, and I ended up doing it with totally new people.
There’s a scene in Dil Se where he’s talking to Manisha Koirala [Images] in the sound studio, and the door keeps swinging and the light keeps coming on and off. Who do you give credit to for that scene? Was it in your mind?
The scene was meant to take place in a lift — you have moments of privacy and moments of invasion. But when we went for the shoot the day before, the place didn’t have an elevator. So we just converted that threshold into another threshold that was a song studio and a doorway, and there were people moving in and out, they’d be caught in the threshold of the thing and then we added both sound and light, which would come and go. You’d hear bits of music and it would get shut off totally. You’d hear silence but see light and then it goes away. It was a kind of private moment in a public space.
@vineeth – lovely! Thanks for sharing that.
It’s my favourite movie.It took me five to six viewings of the movie to understand everything about it.The music is the best ever made in Indian Cinema.The story was so great that it could’nt be understood easily & people in India like the same old orthodox movies with positive endings.However,the ending in Dil Se was’nt negative if one can properly understand the movie.Such a movie was neither made before nor would be made ever again.What frustrates me is that most people say it’s not a nice movie & the script was’nt nice.they have no sense of humour.In India,it was a flop.But in Britain,it was a hit.It shows how foolish our audience is……..SRK rightly said ,this movie is 10 years ahead of it’s time ;just like Chandni Chowk To China is 10 years ahead of it’s time now.Even today,the audience likes same old orthodox stories with exactly same endings……
‘Satrangi Re’ was not just a song switching between snow & desert, i believe it displayed all the
elemnts – sky, fire, water, land & wind…& this was not done by a filmmaker before…
Dil Se is a classic. SRK’s best till date. Memorable scenes in the movie….
1. SRK talking to his mom, and suddenly spots Manisha in the background…his reaction and he runs across the bridge, with sukhwinder’s voice in the background.
2. Manisha enters SRK’s house during his engagement…SRK’s expression and reactions when he sees her.
3. SRK and Manisha going in bus….manisha tells police personnel that she is SRK’s wife.
I simply loved everything about the movie….I don’t understand why people call it unrealistic ?….arey ye cinema hai yaar..apnaa ghar nahin…thoda sa acting toy hona chaahiye.