Dil Se..
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Actor: Manisha Koirala, Preity Zinta, Raghuvir Yadav, Sabyasachi Chakravarthy, Shahrukh KhanDVD: Region Code 1
Audio: Assamese (Original Language); Hindi (Original Language); Tamil (Original Language)
Format: Color, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled
Running Time: 163 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2003-02-25
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: Eros
DVD Reviews of Dil Se..
DVD Review: The Power to Haunt: The Breaking of Human Beings
Summary: 5 Stars
Dil Se was conceived as the finale in Ratnam's trilogy of films on the subject of Terrorism, following Roja and Bombay. But while the former films were constructed as social docu-dramas emphasizing liberal humanism and a multicultural utopia, Dil Se culminates this theme in an entirely separate genre. Ratnam's screenplay deftly sets up our expectations and then quickly proceeds to obliterate them. The film is, at first glance, simply a social drama. Many critics have tried to categorize Dil Se as a social film or as a film on Terrorism--some have even gone so far as to call it "separatist propaganda." To imply such an idea is to deny the central theme of the film: Love. Dil Se is essentially a film about the phenomenon of Love, executed in fiercely unconventional and unsentimental fashion.
If Lamhe ushered in a new genre of anti-social love stories, Dil Se substantiated the genre by epitomizing what had never been seen in a Hindi film: the anti-romantic Love Story. Lamhe was anti-social and anti-establishment in that it rejected outright the traditional sexual and moral status quo by merely inferring that it could ever be conceivable for a woman to love a man who was in love with her mother. Despite its rejection of traditional morality, Lamhe remains a deeply romantic movie. Dil Se is anything but. It is constructed not to convey the triumphant bliss of Love, but its devastating helplessness. It is a Love Story in its truest sense, where the traditional context and protagonists are equally subdued, told against the backdrop of terrorism wherein the central female figure is herself a humanized terrorist. Sadly, this many viewers have failed to recognize.
Long before Shah Rukh Khan reduced his career to a sad shadow if its former self, he was consistent at proving in film after film that he was willing to take artistic risks and broaden the definition of the Filmi Hero. Dil Se was and remains the great experiment of his career. Here he is a young lover, but one who must contend with Love, instead of reveling in it. His fondness for his fiancée, Preity, is buried under his passion for Meghna, his obsession. Clearly, he finds her both beautiful and enigmatic, and without much hesitation, he follows her throughout the war torn land of Ladakh. Smart move? Probably not. But never do we second guess his decision because we believe that he is so utterly bewildered by the shadowy creature that is Meghna.
Preity Zinta, in her debut role, is both refreshing and natural, giving a spontaneous performance that oddly never seems out of place in a morbid and pensive film. Her delivery is always natural, and never does she make the mistake of trying to 'act with emotion.' True, she has the most conventional role of the three leads, but she lends balance to the story which could have ended up being more esoteric and surreal than it already is. Irrespective of Khan and Zinta's effective performances, both the superstar and the debutante are given characters far less substantial than that of Meghna, played by Manisha Koirala.
In a role of almost no dialogue, Koirala conveys literally volumes. Through her stifled body language, her forbidding expressions disclosing an unnamed identity, and an unknowable language of sadness spoken through her eyes, she conjures a darkly beautiful portrait of the ghostly survival of suffocated humanity. She is the greatest example of human (and humane) artistry in a film burgeoning with the message of humanity. You will notice as you peruse through the various customer reviews of this film that Shah Rukh Khan gets mentioned quite a lot, Manisha less so. One cannot help but wonder why. Shah Rukh Khan may be the box-office draw that helped get the film made, but Dil Se is Manisha Koirala's film. Make no mistake about it.
Koirala's performance goes far beyond merely propping up the tender terrorist as a victim of circumstance: the actress digs into the character and pulls out the skeleton, bloodied and broken, and harangues the audience with a brilliantly lucid portrayal of a dark and disturbed avenger. Regardless of whether the claim that it was too vague or esoteric is indeed true, Dil Se remains an artistic benchmark for the triumph of Koirala's portrayal of Meghna in what can only be called a transcendent performance. Every element of Meghna's broken humanity is summoned by Koirala to conjure a portrayal that is breathtakingly skinless: the emptiness of the eyes, the somber visage swallowed in pain, the almost whispered dialogue, and a body language bespeaking a lifetime of defeat. There is no greater praise for an actor than to be told by a viewer that they had forgotten that the actor was acting. When a performance becomes so convincing, so emotionally naked, and so singularly manifest, the actor disappears--literally--and one forgets that they are watching a performer and not a character. This is the miracle of Koirala's Meghna. There is no Manisha Koirala on the screen. None whatsoever. What we see is the character, and only the character, so perfect is this performance. This is one of the greatest--if not the greatest--pieces of method acting ever accomplished in Hindi cinema. This is the kind of performance which, if Hindi Cinema were more cerebral and more conscious of artistic aims, dance queens like Madhuri Dixit and Aishwariya Rai would never pass muster as actresses. Alas. Part of the greatness of Koirala's performance is that she plays Meghna as a shadow, an almost ghost-like figure whose movements are untraceable and whose thoughts are impenetrable. She is a human being who rejects her humanity and has forgotten how simply 'to be', an existential quandary which Hindi Cinema almost boastfully ignores.
The beauty of the film lies not so much in the actual love story, but in the director's ability to put a human face on terrorism. The mood is somber, the cinematography astonishing, and the perfect performance of Koirala makes Dil Se a startling piece of cinematic poetry. The film stands in a class of its own as a modern masterpiece, and can be considered fodder for only those that are willing to incorporate sadness and starkness into their movie-going experience. Others will find it too harsh.
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