0 DIL CHAHTA HAI REVIEW

 

DIL CHAHTA HAI kabhi na beete chamkeele din...,' so goes the title track of Farhan Akhtar's debut venture, ``Dil Chahta Hai'', which opened to enthusiastic response. Well, if Farhan continues to make films like DCH, his days will continue to be bright and nights balmy, with producers queueing up to fuel his dreams and stars nudging each other to work towards their accomplishment. But, hey, one swallow does not a summer make. It, of course provides a welcome break all the same. In his maiden venture, Javed Akhtar's son shows enough glimpses of his pedigree to indicate that promise will attain fulfilment sooner than later.

``Dil Chahta Hai'' is a rare film on male camaraderie, on bachelor bonding. It is a fun film catering strictly to urban youth from middle and upper middle class which will find a reflection of their longing and lifestyle in it. Here there are not two but three close friends - Aamir, Akshaye and Saif - who share each other's good moments and have a good laugh at each other's goof-ups. Often they pull each other's leg. And once in a while, leave one of them tearing his hair in desperation. One moment they are soaking in the joys of Nature's beauty and its shapely creations in Goa. The next moment, they are in a discotheque, shaking a leg, raising a laugh.

``Dil Chahta Hai'' is a rare situational comedy which does not have to rely on facial contortions and banana peels to raise peals of laughter. Here the situations are almost normal with reactions of the three leading characters almost as natural. It takes one back to the college times and the years immediately thereafter. To the times when an enchanting specimen of the opposite gender meant the possibility of an invitation thrown in here, and the rejection meant another proposal somewhere else down the line.

The first half is a real blast, about as good as it gets in Bollywood comedy. The second one loses out in comparison. It tends to drag a while, as the three guys fall in love one after the other. While one of them who is always after gals - and never vice versa - flips for a maiden betrothed to someone else, the second one goes in for a widow older to him. The third one, a non-believer in love, does not realise when that special feeling slips in unannounced in Sydney. How each of them finds his mate is what the second half is all about. And how their friendship passes the test of time and character.

Among the three, Akshaye impresses with his understatements while Saif is boisterous as ever. And Aamir threatens to walk away with this three-hero film at times. As for Preity Zinta, well, she is pretty, perky and pleasantly plump. The surprise packet is Dimple Kapadia, totally kept in mystery in the run-up to the film's release. Not quite ``Summer of `42'', but here is a woman who is still ravishing, still enticing. ``Dil Chahta Hai'' that there should be more like her. And more such films.

ZIYA US SALAM