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Akash of DCH reminds me of me

Last updated on: August 12, 2003 15:49 IST

Dil Chahta HaiWhen people asked me the customary, 'How was the movie, did you like it?' after I watched Farhan Akhtar's Dil Chahta Hai, I gulped and mumbled, 'Yeah, okay,' and slipped away.

I was remined of Sabeer Bhatia who used to work on business plans for Hotmail till the wee hours of the morning and come to office red-eyed and sleepy. He would avoid looking at anybody and would especially withdraw when his manager would say, "Sabeer, you need to party less and get some more sleep."

Sabeer was scared if he opened his mouth, he would spill the beans about Hotmail.

I was equally, if not more, paranoid about babbling about DCH. While I relish almost all Bollywood movies at some level, I have a clarity about what appeals to me in every movie.

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A movie doesn't necessarily apeal to me as a whole. Every individual scene has potential to appeal to me for various reasons: script, cinematography, dialogue, audio/video quality, whatever. If there are sufficient such scenes in a movie, I come out with the paisa vasool feeling.

It would have to be a really really fanatical Bollywood film critic to say most Bollywood movies dont have any moments.

Take Akash (Aamir Khan) from Dil Chalta Hai. Just like him, I cannot fathom the very concept of love. I have helped innumerable friends because I have been able to look at their relationships objectively, without being biased by the emotion itself.

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I still cannot understand what it is about Kareena Kapoor, for example, that draws me. Perhaps it is her intensity. Perhaps she really looks very good and appeals to the Sameer (Saif Ali Khan) hiding (suppressed?) in me. But I don't know if I can spend a day with her. Does she have moments when she is moved to tears by simplistic beauty, unselfish acts of kindness?

If she doesn't experience it, would she be able to relate to someone who experiences it but is not too bothered by it? If indeed she does and comes across such a person, would she have the conviction to remind him they share a bond little known to most mortals, especially if he happens to be as enigmatic as Akash and she is every bit as confused and every bit a woman holding her own in a man's world as Shalini (Preity Zinta)?

Even if the rest of DCH were full of sleaze, mindless sex and violence, I would still step out feeling paisa vasool. But this is only me relating personally to Akash.

All through the three hours, I could relate to characters, scenes, even dialogues because of my experiences with friends, family, acquaintainces.

There is too much I could vibe with in DCH.

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Anil Goel