Watching Dil Jo Bhi Kahey is like stepping into a time machine and journeying back to a forgotten past, to the days when QSQT and Ek Duje Ke Liye were all a rage. Dil Jo... is a love story that's totally out of sync with its times. The only new thing is the setting—Mauritian expat families.
So how is Dil Jo... outdated? Romances these days are not really about conflicts with parents, in fact, modern moms help you come to terms with your feelings, they don't oppose your inter-religious alignments, they certainly don't ask you whether you'd baptise your kids or make them wear a janeoo. Love stories today are about the conflicts within, about realising that a friendship can actually be love and vice versa. Parents, in such a scheme of script, are either incidental or plain unnecessary. However, in Dil Jo... the traditional mom becomes the centrepiece. No harm in that, only if she could have helped deliver an entertaining or compelling film. Despite being played by a competent Revathy, the character turns out boring and regressive to the core. Her son Jai (debutant Karan) is in love with a coy British batchmate Sophie (Annabelle Wallace, not bad). The only scene which works marginally is when the girl's family invites the boy's parents for dinner. The uneasiness in this clash of cultures holds promise but peters out just as fast. Most of all because the director tries to translate the English dialogues in Hindi through a voice-over—an utterly irritating and ineffective device. Why not let the guys speak in English when your film is, anyhow, multiplex-oriented?
The film may have been launched to showcase Karan, but the guy gets a raw deal at the expense of the three ladies in his life. All he is made to do is sport a hangdog expression. It's anyhow hard to accept such a submissive GenNow person. Amitabh as the supportive father is wasted as well. He's nothing more than a pillar in the house. And if that wasn't enough, he's even made to do a token Holi dance with item girl Mumait Khan providing the Sega backdrop. Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy can't work out any good melodies save the title track. Dil Jo... has been made for the young but not by the young. Though it comes smartly packaged, it's dull, without any spirit or spunk of youth.
INDIAN Top 5
1. Salaam Namaste
2. No Entry
3. Chocolate
4. Dil Jo Bhi Kahey
5. Iqbal
US Top 5
1. Flightplan
2. Corpse Bride
3. Just Like Heaven
4. Roll Bounce
5. The Exorcism of Emily Rose
Courtesy: Film Information
