Why Dil Se is a good movie. Review on Dil Se

Love is as much of an object as an OBSESSION, everybody wants it, everybody seeks it, but few ever achieve it, those who do will cherish it, be lost in it, and among all, never... never forget it.

Curtis Judalet.

Obsession is excessive love. When you get obsessed with something, you lose your senses and logic. You do crazy things which you just wouldn’t do if you are not obsessed. Even normal people, given a situation, could get obsessed and go overboard. In this movie, Maniratnam looks into obsession –excessive love.

Shah Rukh works in AIR and is a normal down-to-earth guy. While waiting for a train, he comes across Manisha who is also in the station. He tries to strike a conversation with her but is not able to break the ice. He is able to notice that there is something really strange and attractive about her. It is like he wants to know more about her. But then, he misses her and then again gets to travel with her in a bus as a co-passenger. The bus gets into an accident and they are stranded. That is when he gets to spend some time with her…he gets to know more about her. For him, it was instant attraction. Something which was very strange for him. It has never happened to him before. But then, after one night, she again leaves him. Then, even though she is not near him, he is not able to get her out of his mind. But then, he meets with Preety Zinta and also gets engaged. He must have thought “Ok! That was the end of it!”...when he gets to meet her in his house during a marriage function .She needs some help with him. That was enough to rekindle the fire of obsession in him. He gets to know more about her. He comes to know that she is a suicide bomber. He tries to talk her out of it but then the situation is such that she has come to kill the PM...And she cannot get out of it. Now, she has had a very bad past life (she was violated when she was very young) .It is very difficult for her to come to terms with the present. He is already engaged to somebody .Even if they decide to live, they just can’t be peaceful because she is from a terrorist organization and they wouldn’t leave her alone. Even her conscience would prick her that she was not able to do her duty. He has come to a stage where he fully understands that he is very much in love with her and he cannot imagine living with another person. It has reached its peak. This is when they decide to die together. And they get blown into pieces when he hugs her tight.

“How can he be so much obsessed with a single girl whom he has met just once/twice? “.

This was the question asked by my friends when we left the theatre and when I said it was a great movie. My answer to them was that given the situation and people, sometimes situations gets so much out of control that you lose the senses and logic. Shah Rukh was a normal guy. But when obsession started to possess him, he lost his control. One can observe that when she is not near him, he was very normal. Even though she was in his mind. He met with Preeti and even got engaged. Situations got out of control when she started to live near him for some days. Given that he was already obsessed with her, there is nothing he could do to get back to his senses.

“Shah Rukh was stupid. He shouldn’t have allowed Manisha to stay in his house “...

Yes...he could have done that if he was in his senses...He was still thinking about her...and there was no way by which he could have refused her.

“Yet another terrorist movie by Mani…he could have chosen a better situation”

Let us just think in his point of view. Now that you have decided to take a movie about obsessive love, what is the best situation you could have in order to make a very good impact of what you want to say? Terrorism is also a kind of obsession. It is hatred in the wrong direction. It is obsession with your objectives. Whether it is right or wrong doesn’t matter. So, terrorism in this movie only enhances the impact of the film about obsessive love.

“Shah Rukh has overacted in a few scenes, particularly towards the end”

The director might have allowed him to do that so that the impact of the film would be even better. ..

“They shouldn’t have died in the end…”

I would say that the end when they get blown into pieces is the director’s way of saying that obsession is self destructive…in my opinion; there is no other better way by which you could end the movie.

“But how did he get obsessed with the girl whom he just met?”

There is a verse in Bhagavad-Gita Gita towards the end of Chapter 2 which explains this:

“''He who attendeth to the inclinations of the senses, in them hath a concern; from this concern is created passion, from passion anger, from anger is produced delusion, from delusion a loss of the memory, from the loss of memory loss of discrimination, and from loss of discrimination loss of all!”

First there is attraction (he gets attracted to her...physical attraction).Then there is frustration when you are not able to possess the object you want. (When he is not able to possess her, he gets worried about it and gets frustrated.)That leads to obsession (He get obsessed with her) it leads to anger. (This is very well expressed by him towards the end when he tries to get her out of the situation)...It leads to delusion. (He forgot that he was engaged to Preity.He forgot that he was a normal human being.)...It leads to loss of memory and loss of discrimination (He forgets about his family. he is not able to think properly and he is ready to even commit suicide)

“So do you say that he committed suicide only because he was not able to perceive the situation properly?”

Yes and No. It is true that he was not able to perceive the situation properly. But then, he was also attached to his country. So he was ready to sacrifice his life in order to protect the Prime Minister.

Shah Rukh and Manisha have done a great job. The music and back ground score by A R Rahman is just phenomenal and very apt for the situation. The movie was a failure probably because many might find the theme a bit extreme and illogical …But, needless to say, even though many people call this film a big failure, it is indeed a great film by Manirathnam if we are able to appreciate the finer aspects of the film which has been described above.