Nov 24, 2005 07:43 PM
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(Updated Nov 24, 2005 07:43 PM)
Introduction
The ultimate love story in India is the epic called Ramayana which apart from being a religious book also happens to define love at all levels. Dharmesh Darshan tries to pluck a few pages from the epic and tries to weave an eternal love story in Dhadkan.
The Plot
Dev (Sunil Shetty) and Anjali (Shilpa Shetty) are madly in love with each other. While Dev is poor, Anjali is very rich. But apart from being poor Dev is also a strong headed arrogant lad. So when he goes to ask for the hand of Anjali from her father Mr. Singhal (Kiran Kumar) he behaves in an odd manner. Mr. Singhal is deeply hurt and refuses to give the hand of his daughter to Dev till he can become rich enough to come to same standards as they. Dev rushes out of the house in seething with anger.
A few years later, there is still no news of Dev, so Mr. Singhal gets his daughter wedded to an industrialist, Ram (Akshay Kumar). Ram, like the legendary Ram from Ramayana, is a man of high ideals and believes in loving and trusting everybody. He does not think of doing bad for anybody be it his friends or enemies.
Slowly Anjali turns around and starts loving Ram because simply he is too good. But just as their love is going to blossom into something big, guess who enters the frame? Dev, who else. It seems that Dev has struck big in London and comes back as a millionaire only to find his love in the hands of Ram. Dev meets Anjali and asks her to come back to him, but she refuses saying that she is legally wedded to Ram and that is where her heart is now.
Dev goes blind with hatred at this and starts plotting Ram's fall from grace with the help of his step siblings. Dev succeeds in wrecking Ram's business ventures and renders him bankrupt. What happens next? Does the pain of being bankrupt force Anjali into the hands of the waiting Dev? Does Ram finally give up his high ideals and take up arms against Dev? Does Dev finally manage to win something in life? Check out this romantic offering from Dharmesh Dharshan for the details.
Critical Summary
Dhadkan was released 2000 and featured two action heros in Akshay Kumar and Sunil Shetty as romantic heros. That was a great risk to be taken by the director Dharmesh Darshan.
Dharmesh Darshan as a director had got lucky with his directorial debut Raja Hindustani which for a lousy movie went on to become a great hit. The initial expectation with Dhadkan was that it should not turn out to be another Raja Hindustani. But, Dhadkan marks a huge improvement on his first offering.
For starters although the story is time tested formula, but the presentation is quite novel. Also the experimentation with action heros as romantic heros comes out as a success. The primary reason is the mould of romance given to the two. Sunil the more macho of the two gets a rougish, arrogant kind of lover role which seems to go well with his looks. On the other hand, Akshay gets the Prince Charming kind of role which goes well with his handsome looks.
The story starts well and has a very interesting first half, in the second half though it goes at a breakneck speed almost like a car without brakes and rushes through the second half. There in lies a few short comings as a lot of things left unexplained like how in such a short time Dev becomes a millionaire and how can he pull the strings to get himself in the most popular parties in Delhi.
As far as performances goes, this is Akshay's best performance as a lover boy. He started his career as a lover boy in Khiladi and then migrated to actioners. But the last couple of years he has come around as a complete actor with comedies like Hera Pheri and Awara, Pagal, Deewana to complete his roster. He looks the role of Ram with a sedate, honest look on the face, never loosing cool and seems to hold the audiences.
Sunil Shetty as the loud mouthed and brash Dev has given the one off chance to be a romantic hero all his best and looks very good in some of the scenes. Though his brooding looks can't match with the likes of Amitabh or Shahrukh Khan, but for a person tauted as all muscles and zero expressions, he comes with a good performance.
Shilpa Shetty gets a chance to show her acting rather then her legs after a long time and she shows the talent that lies which goes untapped due to the leg show. Her role as a girl caught between a passionate lover and a loving husband has been done very convincingly.
Others in the movie have done decent jobs of their roles.
Music of Dhadkan
Dhadkan was the biggie music album of 2000. The pairing of Nadeem-Shravan returns to provide music for Dharmesh Dharshan after the superb success of music of Raja Hindustani.
The album starts with Dil ne yeh kaha dil se, mohabbat ho gayi hai tumse meaning Heart says this to the heart, I am in love with you, an eternal love song in the melodious voices of Udit Narayan, Alka Yagnik and Kumar Sanu.
Next on we are treated to Abhijeet and Alka Yagnik in Tum Dil ki dhadkan mein rehte ho meaning You live in my heartbeat. The song deviates from normal sweet music of a love song to a more beats oriented music which sells for the song.
Then we have a wedding song by late Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan in Dulhe ka sehra suhana lagta hai. The unconventional voice of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan really makes this song a winner.
Next up we have a musical sizzler in Aksar is duniya mein by Alka Yagnik. The song filmed on Mahima Choudhary turned out to be a mild hit.
Finally we have Na na karte pyar sung by Alka and Udit which also turns out to be a mild hit.
All in all, a fantastic album with all the songs scoring with the public. Nadeem has shrugged all the personal troubles (He is facing trial on conspiracy to murder charges) and has teamed with old partner Shravan to come up with a winner.
Filmfare Awards
Despite tough competition from other mega hits of the year Kaho na pyaar hai and Mohabattein, Dhadkan managed to steal a couple of awards.
Best Female Playback Singer - Alka Yagnik in Dil ne yeh kaha hai Dil se
Best Performance in a negative role - Sunil Shetty
Summary
All in all Dharmesh Dharshan's offering turns out to be a goody goody love story. The movie managed to a big hit and set the cash registers soaring for both its musical album as well as for the movie.
I would give this Dharmesh Dharshan musical romantic movie a 4 star rating.
