All the Things I Love about Dil Se

"Dil Se" is said to be a journey through the 7 shades of love that are defined in ancient Arabic literature. Those shades are defined as attraction, infatuation, love, reverence, worship, obsession, and death.

Dil Se - One of my favorite , special and memorable movie of all time.

Any great movie could be my favorite one, given that I love to watch movies. But this one happened to be not just any movie, but the movie that had followed me through many years and that has never stopped intriguing me every time I watch it. 

I felt like making this article as soon as I watched it again after so many years. This time I watched it with eyes that are quite different from the ones of my 13-year old predecessor. 

 I feel I admire and love this film even more than I did before.Dil Se.. is not flawless, objectively speaking - so what makes it so special to me?

That's what I want to find out in this post, namely by listing all the things I love about this film. Of course I won't be able to fully understand and explain the greatness of this film, I know that - but it's an attempt that I have to do. :)

1.  Shah Rukh's youthful and natural performance - I miss that.

2. Manisha's mysterious implication of a smile. Who wouldn't get crazy about her?

3. Amars beautiful declaration of love:
   
Meghna: Tell me what you love.

Amar: No. First I will tell you what I hate the most. This distance between us. I hate it... So many things are hidden inside you. And most of all, I hate you eyes. No matter how much I want to see something in them... I can't. Now I will tell you, what I love.

Meghna: Hm?

Amar: The thing I love the most are these eyes of yours. Because, no matter how much I want to see something in them... I can't. Everything that's hidden inside you... I love all of that. And most of all I love this distance. Because if it wouldn't exist... there would be no reason to get closer...

I Just Love how Manisha's Eyes Move in this Scene

Amar says: ‘I like this distance between us the best. Without this distance, I would have no reason to get closer.’

 Here the director expresses something deeper, something eternal about the human condition itself – the essence of what drives us all, the space that allows us the adventure into the unknown.

 
 
 4.  Rahman's soundtrack in its entirety - might even be his best.

5. The 90s-style that isn't embarrassing. Haven't experienced that in any other film.

7. How can you classify this film? Which Genre?
    Action? Drama? Love? Musical? Thriller? ..... Which one? 

8. It's not everyone's cup of tea. It will not satisfy all people and It's rather unknown and unloved by the masses, kind of an insider tip.
Hmmm.. My filmic taste is exciting and rebellious.


9. Preity's debut. Fresh and bubbly, you can see how excited she is.

 10. Amar's radio broadcasts - that guy would be a hit in todays RJ world.

11.  Its audacity. I think even today if it's released, it woul d flop and cause demonstrations in India.

12. The Ladakh-setting in the first half. I hope I will Visit that place someday :)

13. The beautiful, beautiful, incredible work of cinematographer Santosh Sivan.

14.   All the songs are total are partly dream sequences (except for one), and they are awesome. 

15. Shahrukh's voice.  Nasal and youthful.  

16. Manisha's voice. Mysterious and soft. 

17. Preity's voice. Always loved it, it's very... bubbly. (Too much of these reasons, right?).  

18. This gaze and the next quote:

Meghna:After all, what do you know about me?

Amar:Nothing, except that I love you. From the heart.

19. The fact that the quote doesn't seem kitschy.

20.That rawness, everything seems so raw... even the title font is raw.

 21. Dil Se Re is an un-romantic, yet romantic song.

22. It's the first indian film to enter the Top 10 in the UK box office charts.

23.  It's disturbing. But you don't want to put a gun at your head after watching it. You want to... just  applause. 

24. The blood-thirsty, cloying last 30 minutes don't get the film down at all.

25.   The lyrics of Ae Ajnabi - shockingly close to perfection.

26.  The fact that I'm giving away precious leisure time to list up everything I love about this film.

27. The beautiful colors, even in the saddest, most brutal scenes.

28.  The weird choreography of Jiya Jale is kind of cool, I don't know why. Maybe the kerala arts background setting made me fall for it.. :) 

29. Amitabh Bachchan sings Jiya Jale in Nishabd. He says it's the only songs he knows. If I knew  one song, I would be glad if it was this one. 

30. The poetry of the film. Everything has a meaning, every shot, word, song... and the result is perfection.

31. I just found out that the song Satrangi Re also shows the 7 stages of love from arabic poetry, which is why Amar looks like he is dying at the end of the song. That would also explain the arabic look of the song.

32. The more I find out about the film, and the more I think about it, the more I love it.

 

 33.  Shah Rukh won Filmfare Awards for films like Deewana, Mohabbatein and Chak De India. But for me this was his best perfomance.

34.  True love is said to be kitschy, non-existent and many other things. But after watching Dil Se.. I feel it is at least one thing: true.

35.  The smell of spring reminds me of this film, because I first watched it in spring. :)

36.   Shah Rukh's Call : "HOYE!"

37.  Politics. An interesting topic that is often uninteresting.Well, Dil Se.. certainly had some comments to it.

38. The way Meghna turns the radio on and off.

39. After Meghna's "brothers" battered Amar, the first thing he tells ShuklaJi is that she's not married.

40. The result of all the words from this list of words put together would come close to describing my feelings for Dil Se.. "Kissable", "graceful", "splendid"...

41. The climax sequence- which some may consider as inapt- is perfect.

Our hero beaten and bloody, approaches his beloved who has explosives hidden under her clothing. She has accepted her martyrdom and is headed for death.

He says: “I once said I’d never leave you. I have come.”

Knowing she is a walking timebomb and concerned for his safety, she warns him to stay away. Determined to fulfill her suicide mission, she tries to get by him and he lunges, grabbing her arm.

He says: “This is truth.”

He pulls her to him, holding her from behind, he can feel the explosives – but he doesn’t care. He stopped caring about that long ago. He has made his decision.

He whispers to her, “Don’t come with me, if you don’t want to.”

This is a man, who has just been beaten up, escaped the terrorists and the Indian CIA, and beaten up another terrorist to find her – and he says passively, gently, “Don’t come with me, if you don’t want to.”

Her eyes are wild with fear – she’s freaking out now.

He whispers, holding her close, “Take me with you.”

Once again, he is passive. He will not be the one to ‘take’ her.

He is surrendering to her Will.

Again he says, “Take me along.”

Here is a passive expression, again of surrender from a normally willful man.

He holds onto her, ever tighter. Her face is twisted by her anguish and pain, tears streaming down her cheeks. He turns her around to face him – tears in his eyes and blood on his face.

Again, “Take me along.”

Once more begging her, his bloodstained bandaged hand reaches for hers and desperate to feel her touch, he places her hand on his face.

Once more, he begs her, “Take me too along.”

Almost a mantra, ‘Take me along’ is his expression of surrender to her...

And then he says, “You love me. Just once, say that you love me.”

Again, “Just once, say that you love me. Just once, say that you love me. Just once, say that you love me.”

Again a mantra of surrender...

Then, eye-to-eye, their faces very close now – he says, “Say it just once!”

Their eyes are locked in a silence that for them must reflect the slowing of time, as they both know they have only a few seconds left of life.

She looks deeply into him and with the least possible motion, nods lovingly, teary eyed – a new tenderness comes into her face, her eyes shinning with love for such a brief moment. She moves her head gently – a subtle demonstration of her final surrender to him and his love for her, which has at last overpowered her.

They embrace – after enduring the pain of so long a separation. They are now completely ONE. And in what may be his greatest moment of acting genius, to my knowledge, Shahrukh makes a series of the most amazingly subtle and intelligent expressions I have ever seen.

In what can only be a few seconds, he makes a timeless expression of a profound and deeply felt acceptance of this their tragic moment – and in defiance of their fate, he holds onto her as if to protect her within the strength of his tender embrace and undying love, as they move together into Death.

His lips purse slightly, expressing a stubborn determination, a slight nod of the head, like shrugging your shoulders, in relinquishment of all control, giving in and giving up, while his eyes say - 'It was all worth it.'

His lips are barely touching her forehead, as she is hiding in his protective embrace, waiting, steeled against the next moment. He takes a small breath, his last, letting go of everything, of life itself. He closes his eyes on this his tear and blood stained face, for the final time – and the bomb goes off in a white explosion! The ultimate total surrender…

There will not be another DIL SE ever in Bollywood.. For me, this is the only film SRK acted from his heart(dil se), and Manisha will always be remembered for her role as Meghna.

In comparison to the empty, soulless, 'special effects' films released year after year, I love DIL SE, yes, with all my heart.

There is no other way to say it:

I LOVE YOU, DIL SE..!

... Dil Se (from the heart)!

And if you don't love Dil Se.. yet, then watch it. Now.