[FLASHBACK REVIEW] Dil Hi Dil Mein (2000)

As of this writing, it's been a week at the dub/remake central on Zee TV's Matinee shows. This week (12/31) featured "Dil Hi Dil Mein." Directed by Kathir, the cast comprises of Kunal, Sonali Bendre, Nasser, Jhonny Lever, Chinni Jayanth, and Anupam Kher.

The film starts out with protagonist, Raja [Kunal] who hails from a poor family, comes to Mumbai to do his MBA course at the Ramchandra University. Along the way, he gets into an Cyber-Cafe (Note: Film was released during the introduction of the internet-age) where he chats up with Roja. A couple of songs and whatnots later, the story takes a twist filled with tearjerkers, paariwaar and whatnot.

While the songs rendered by Maestro Mozart A.R Rahman are absolutely brilliant [Ae Nazaneen Suno Na, Chand Aaya Hai and Dola Dola are my favories] the dubbing is really poor. For about the first 30 minutes into the movie, the actors are synched well in Hindi while the majority of the film is dubbed.

Apparently there are 2 causes to blame. Kathir and the Hindi distributors. Kathir for instance had actor Kunal in Leonardo di Caprio hairstyle talk in badly dubbed dialogues while the "synched" dialogues had his "Jack" hair gone. The dubbed portions are courtesy of Tamil hit,"Kaadhalar Dhinam." In fact, you can expect this much for the upcoming Dubbed "Sivaji" hitting the North states pretty soon.

Back to DHDM, the actors who actually speak hindi are Anupam Kher, Jhonny Lever, Kunal (Non-Titanic, "Jack" hair) and Nasser (ONLY IN SAWAR GAYEE SONG). The rest of them, Chinni Jayanth, Sonali, Nasser are dubbed. That aside, the story took a steady start but got plunged into the pit of contrivance. Yet, Kathir had good intentions. For instance, no masala fights, just commericial songs. Oh and the dubbed tracks from the Tamil original were reshot in Hindi (except in instances in the beginning of "Roja Roja" where Kunal's dubbed line "Mere Roja" doesn't match the tamil lyrics.)

Acting wise, Nasser is the highlight of the show. Be it his noble intentions of admitting Kathir to the college or his poor-house background. Kunal gets it right, but the tear-jearker stuff didn't get me as misty as TAARE ZAMEEN PAR did. Also, his body language is irritating and repetitive.[read: his walking style.] Sonali sleptwalk through her role. Chinni Jayanth is apt while Johnny Lever tickles your funny bones to an extent. Anupam Kher is excellent. The camera and visuals are excellent.

On the Whole, DIL HI DIL MEIN has it shares of "dubbed" flaws, yet it's finders is often limited.

Rating: ***