I honestly hate rating such a well-made film so low. The cinematography, acting, settings, and score were all practically perfect. The basic story concept was well conceived. The musical numbers were excellently choreographed, most notably, of course, the number atop the train at the beginning of the film. Furthermore, I felt that while obviously the film's terrorist acts were clearly portrayed as wrong, their motivations are quite well portrayed, so that the conflict does not always feel so cut and dry. Given all of this, I really wanted to like this movie. My problems were largely related to some key points in the script.
For the first hour or so of the movie, Amar comes across as extremely rapey towards Meghna. Unlike many other Indian films, she never gives the slightest indication that she's truly interested in him, and goes so far as to say she's married to get him to leave. This only works temporarily, and ultimately his advances culminate in triggering a PTSD flashback (the source of which is revealed later). Immediately after this he tries to talk her into marrying him. I have no words for how utterly stupid this is. What I am trying to get across is that we as the audience are given no reason to root for and care about this couple.
Enter Preeti. This girl deserves so much better. She and Amar connect almost instantly, and the movie acts like it wants you to root for them as a couple. They are even given a musical number in which Lata Mangeshkar does Preeti's playback singing. They become engaged despite some early reservations. Then Meghna returns and Preeti ceases to matter for the remainder of the movie. I hate everything about how this character and relationship were handled. It felt like Ratnam saw DDLJ, and assumed a second love interest and a destined-for-failure engagement were necessary for a movie to be good, even if they had no place in the narrative.
All these things said, I do actually feel that Amar and Meghna's characters and relationship are handled well in the second half of the film. The flashback sequence to Meghna's childhood contained some disturbing content, which I felt the film handled tastefully without sugarcoatimg anything. The ending was abrupt. That said, it was a bold storytelling choice and I had to respect it. It also fit in line with both characters' actions up to that point.
Mani Ratnam irks me, because in both of his films which I have seen (Roja being the other), I have found elements that I really wanted to like, that were ruined by obnoxious character writing and some pretty infuriating plot points. While I was able to get past these elements for most of Dil Se.. I do find them problematic enough that I don't think I would really recommend the film.
For the first hour or so of the movie, Amar comes across as extremely rapey towards Meghna. Unlike many other Indian films, she never gives the slightest indication that she's truly interested in him, and goes so far as to say she's married to get him to leave. This only works temporarily, and ultimately his advances culminate in triggering a PTSD flashback (the source of which is revealed later). Immediately after this he tries to talk her into marrying him. I have no words for how utterly stupid this is. What I am trying to get across is that we as the audience are given no reason to root for and care about this couple.
Enter Preeti. This girl deserves so much better. She and Amar connect almost instantly, and the movie acts like it wants you to root for them as a couple. They are even given a musical number in which Lata Mangeshkar does Preeti's playback singing. They become engaged despite some early reservations. Then Meghna returns and Preeti ceases to matter for the remainder of the movie. I hate everything about how this character and relationship were handled. It felt like Ratnam saw DDLJ, and assumed a second love interest and a destined-for-failure engagement were necessary for a movie to be good, even if they had no place in the narrative.
All these things said, I do actually feel that Amar and Meghna's characters and relationship are handled well in the second half of the film. The flashback sequence to Meghna's childhood contained some disturbing content, which I felt the film handled tastefully without sugarcoatimg anything. The ending was abrupt. That said, it was a bold storytelling choice and I had to respect it. It also fit in line with both characters' actions up to that point.
Mani Ratnam irks me, because in both of his films which I have seen (Roja being the other), I have found elements that I really wanted to like, that were ruined by obnoxious character writing and some pretty infuriating plot points. While I was able to get past these elements for most of Dil Se.. I do find them problematic enough that I don't think I would really recommend the film.
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