DIL
KA RISHTAA
2003
/ produced by Aditya Rai / directed by Naresh Malhotra / starring
Aishwarya Rai & Arjun Rampal / music by Nadeem-Shraven /
lyrics by Sameer
People
have said this movie unites the two most beautiful actors in
Bollywood: Aishwarya Rai and Arjun Rampal. There is no doubt
that this is true, but everybody knows that looks alone cannot
carry a movie. Dil
Ka Rishtaa is the first Rai Family production, and there were
relatively high expectations as to how Aishwarya's first feature
production would be. Aishwarya's talent alone was not enough
to make this an extraordinary film, but it's still worth a watch!
Dil
Ka Rishtaa is the story of Jai (Arjun) and Tiya (Aishwarya).
Jai and Tiya lead very different lives. Jai has grown up in
a rich family with connections all over the Eastern Hemisphere;
on the other hand, Tiya is a teacher who comes from a middle
class background. Tiya teaches at a school for deaf children,
and Jai meets Tiya when he makes a large donation to the school,
for his best friend, Anita. Jai falls in love (more like, "is
infatuated with") Tiya the moment he sees her.
Jai
and Tiya develop a friendly relationship, while Jai's feelings
of love for Tiya grow deeper and deeper. Finally he works up
the courage to tell Tiya his feelings for her, but is shocked
to find out that Tiya loves someone else. Tiya rejects Jai,
and tells him that there is no way he can forge the bonds of
love (hence, "Dil Ka Rishtaa", or, "relationship of the
heart") in such little time. Raj (Priyanshu) and Tiya have
known each other for four years and love each other dearly.
Raj also shares a very strong bond with Tiya's mother (Rakhee).
Still, Jai cannot seem to fathom the idea that Tiya would fall
for a middle-class orphan over him, and Jai does not stop pursuing
Tiya until she is married.
Now
here comes my least favorite part of the movie - Instead of
moving on with his life, Jai turns into a "Devdas" and drinks
his sorrows away. By this time, Tiya and Raj have prospered
and have started a family. One fateful night, Tiya and Raj are
coming home from dinner when a drunk Jai hits their car. The
tragic consequences give Jai one last, highly unorthodox chance
to make a bid for Tiya's love — but whether he'll succeed
is another matter altogether.
Acting-wise,
Aishwarya does an excellent job. She looks gorgeous as usual,
emotes well, and the audience understands what her character
is going through. Arjun has improved quite a bit from his previous
movies. Dil Hai Tumhara left me with a bad impression of Arjun,
and I feel like Arjun has redeemed himself with Dil Ka Rishtaa.
He does a much better job with his dialogue delivery, and he
looks a lot less wooden; but, there is always room for improvement
(and he finally got his hair cut!).
In
the supporting cast, Priyanshu and Paresh Rawal do the best
jobs. Priyanshu is not spectacular, but he is very entertaining
and shows his potential as a good actor throughout the movie.
Paresh Rawal is funny as usual and does a good job as Jai's
father. Rakhee did not impress me much; I was expecting much
more from her performance.
The
story has its fair share of loopholes, but what Bollywood movie
doesn't? I feel like Tiya's love for Jai in the second half
of the movie was not developed well. It was a little hard for
me to believe that Tiya would fall so completely in love with
Jai after suffering through such a tragic accident. The script
is not very original; it basically consists of about two or
three typical Bollywood stories. The songs are catchy and entertaining,
and so is the choreography. I also liked the costuming, which
has Aishwarya in modern traditional Indian clothes again.
Dil
Ka Rishtaa is an entertaining family movie. It does not have
a very deep story, but it's still worth a watch. If nothing
else, see it for its songs (which I like a lot) and for Aishwarya's
performance. Even if the movie is not a box office hit, I do
not think it will affect Aishwarya's standing in Bollywood,
because most critics agree that she has given a very heartfelt
performance in Dil Ka Rishtaa...even if it's no Devdas.
-
reviewed by Farah
