Dil Hai Tumhaara


Dil Hai Tumhaara is a 2002 Indian Hindi romantic drama film directed by Kundan Shah starring Rekha, Preity Zinta, Mahima Chaudhry, Arjun Rampal, Jimmy Sheirgill and Alok Nath. The film was promoted as a star vehicle for Zinta and, although a commercial failure on release, Zinta's performance was praised by critics and earned her nominations at award ceremonies. The soundtrack, composed by Nadeem-Shravan, did well on the charts.

Plot

Shalu is a fun loving young woman living with her mother, Sarita, and older sister, Nimmi. Unknown to Shalu and Nimmi, they are half-sisters. Shalu is the daughter of Sarita's late husband Shekar and the woman with whom he had an affair. Fatally wounded in a car accident with Shalu's biological mother, Shekar begged Sarita to raise Shalu as her own.
Although Sarita adopted Shalu, she cannot give her the love she shows towards Nimmi. Shalu, on the other hand, constantly craves her mother's affection. She seeks attention and retaliates by being rebellious. Nimmi loves Shalu very much and constantly stands up for her, though she refuses to think ill of her mother or take sides.
A young man named Dev Khanna enters the sisters' lives. Dev and Shalu initially do not get along but slowly fall in love. However, circumstances make Nimmi believe that Dev is in love with her. Sarita, only aware of Nimmi's side of the story, offers a marriage proposal to Dev's father on Nimmi's behalf. Mr Khanna is taken aback because he knows about Dev and Shalu. When Sarita sees Dev and Shalu being affectionate, she jumps to the conclusion that Shalu has stolen Dev from Nimmi just as Shalu's mother stole Shekar from her. In anger, she reveals her true heritage in front of Nimmi.
Shocked at her parentage, Shalu decides to sacrifice Dev to make her mother and sister happy. Saddened, Dev eventually agrees to marry Nimmi to make Shalu happy. Nimmi notices that something is wrong with Shalu, but Shalu deflects the question by saying that she has fallen in love with Samir, her childhood friend who has been in love with her for years.
On the engagement day, Sarita's political rivals try to use Shalu's illegitimate heritage to threaten Nimmi's marriage to Dev, who is from a prominent family. Shalu takes matters into her own hands, rushing to Dev's house where she publicly announces that she was born out of wedlock, arguing that it is proof of Sarita's kindness and generosity that she had adopted Shalu. Mr Khanna is impressed with Shalu's courage and promises that nothing will stop the wedding.
Sarita secretly witnesses Shalu's confession and is deeply touched. She is ashamed of how she has treated Shalu and they share their first hug. Sarita tells her that she will ask Nimmi to step aside if Shalu and Dev are really in love. Shalu stops her from doing so, saying that now she has her mother's love and acceptance, she does not want anything else.
Nimmi is very happy that her mother has accepted Shalu, but she still feels that something is not quite right with her sister. She soon learns of the whole ruse from Samir and gladly steps aside for Shalu and Dev to be united.

Cast

Dil Hai Tumhaara is notable for having unusually long takes during the musical scenes, most notably during the 'Mohabbat Dil Ka Sakoon' and 'Dil Hai Tumhaara' sequences. A number of the musical sequences were used to advance the plot, instead of simply being interludes.
This is the second film where Preity Zinta and Kundan Shah worked together, the first being Kya Kehna, a sleeper hit. The film was promoted as a star vehicle for Zinta.

Music

The soundtrack went on to be highly successful. It has nine songs composed by the duo Nadeem-Shravan, with lyrics authored by Sameer. According to the Indian trade website Box Office India, with around 15,00,000 units sold, this film's soundtrack album was the year's sixth highest-selling.

Reception

Dil Hai Tumhaara received generally mixed reviews, but Preity Zinta's performance was universally praised by critics, with those critical of the film marking her presence as its main highlight. Derek Elley of Variety believed that Zinta's "Star-quality playing" is the main reason to watch an otherwise formulaic picture. He further noted its "respectable" production values and praised Rekha for being "quietly commanding as the powerful but conflicted mom". Khalid Mohamed gave the film two stars and wrote, "Clearly, this enterprise is a showcase for the hi-energy and scampering spirit of Preity Zinta. She’s fabulous but content-wise, the stuff is … empty." Ziya Us Salam of The Hindu believed that as far as director Shah is concerned, the film is "among the more lopsided, half-hearted films he has made in his long career" but he called Zinta "the life of this film". He concluded the review saying: "Take away Preity Zinta and Dil Hai Tumhaara is a tiresome film in urgent need of heavy editing. Put Zinta in there and it becomes watchable frame-to-frame. Preity is there all through, purely due to her infectious charm." Similarly, Jitesh Pillai of The Times of India wrote, "it's Preity Zinta, with her mixture of vulnerability and brashness, who delivers a wallop. She's the only bright spark in this dull dil drama."
Taran Adarsh from Bollywood Hungama gave the film two-and-a-falf out of five stars, calling it "a film that is sure to pull your heart strings", and noted that : "in an author-backed role... Zinta steals the show with a sterling performance", which is "sure to win accolades from the junta and critics whole-heartedly". Mid Day's S Ramachandran believed that the film "has some touching moments, but cliched dialogues mar the script", and noted Zinta for excelling in her part. Sanjeev Singh Bariana of The Tribune was appreciative of the film, the main performances, and noted Shah for doing "a commendable job". Manish Gajjar described the film as engaging, and liked the "emotional story" where "Shah explores the sensitive issue of a mother-daughter relationship", and took note of the performance of the cast, calling Zinta "superb" Choudhry "touching". Piroj Wadia of Screen found the film unoriginal, depending on "formulaic love triangles, sibling rivalry in love, prototype character roles and the utter absence of logic". He did appreciate, however, the performances, labelling them the film's "redemption", and noted the unusually realistic portrayal of the sister bond and the camaraderie between Shalu and Nimmi." Subhash K. Jha of The Times of India called the film "delightfully comic". The BBC's Manish Gajjar recommended the film and noted Zinta and Rekha for their performances. Ronjita Kulkarni from Rediff.com accused the film of its "regressive thinking" and believed it might appeal particularly to Zinta's fans. She reviewed positively the performances of Rekha and Choudhry, despite the latter's underdeveloped role.

Awards

Nominated :
Screen Award for Best Actress - Preity Zinta