Images from Dil Dhadakne do (updated)

thanks to Xhobdo..



thanks to Sanjana…

thanks to Xhobdo..











thanks to Sanjana…

thanks to Master…


thanks to Sanjana..

109 Responses to “Images from Dil Dhadakne do (updated)”

  1. I see she’s going to pick up right where she left off in ZNMD! Maybe they’ll come of age on a cruise in this one. Or have an epiphany swimming with dolphins.

    In my dream film a sea monster gobbles up the lot.

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  2. looks like an ad for J Crew.

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    • LOL! True! I liked the styling in ZNMD though- Katrina’s wardrobe was so spot-on. I’ll give the Akhtars this- they make insufferably yuppie movies but at least they get the vibe and aesthetics right. When other Bollywood filmmaker try to do ‘cool and modern’, the results are usually excruciatingly embarrassing.

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  3. omrocky786 Says:

    who all are in it?

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  4. I dont have a problem with this movie. Sure its not connected to middle class lives but ZNMD was a good enough movie for me to look forward to this one.

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  5. Utkal Mohanty Says:

    I don’t see why people should have problem with the la a land of a cruise ship when they have no problem with the la la land of Gabbar Singh’s Ramgarh.

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  6. Utkal Mohanty Says:

    Omrock 786: My point is simple. The land and characters portrayed in Sholay is far removed from the everyday lives of most of us as is Zindagi Na MilegaDobara. What gives us pleasure is when an alternative world is created , which is logically consistent by and interesting, people by characters we can empathise with, depicting emotions and issues that are universal. That applies to Sholay as much as to ZNMD. If some people cannot appreciate the drama and play of human emotions in ZNMD, the lack of empathy among certain viewers cannot be the makers’ problem. Every film is not for everybody.

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    • this analogy certainly holds for those who find Pyaasa’s world as convincing as Cocktail’s. Luckily some of us have better taste and sense..

      and yes the makers of American Pie might want to draw a similar analogy with the Godfather..

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    • omrocky786 Says:

      Utkal, I agree to some extent, for example the emotions in Wake Up Sid to me were as powerful as the emotions of Aankho Dekhi .. I could relate to both of them ..Munna Zara Dhayan do !!
      I liked ZNMD a lot, However to compare ZNMD settings to Sholay ??????? Na, neverrr !!
      I would compare ZNMD to maybe movies like Dil, Ishq, Mann kind of movies ( minus the melodrama of course )

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      • haha…Your last line sums up most. I can watch ZNMD but the moviemakers set the bar themselves by suggesting they are making serious cinema but they are more like the movies you mentioned.

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      • agreed..

        and I too found ZNMD quite watchable for its genre. The question as always is one of ‘definition’.

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      • and to this degree it is not at all (as many think) about the representation of a ‘middle class’ or any such populist move. It is about the larger or deeper political contexts of the same. In the great ‘elitist’ novels of 19th century Europe you had a very powerful fiction that was de-stabilizing in a variety of ways and ‘rich’ in the most expansive sense. The great registers of poetry in many subcontinental traditional were also primarily an elitist affair in the very same sense, at least the way they began and or were nurtured (the same is true for the West in the same context). Over time these might have acquired a popular resonance (to some extent) or as was the case with Tamil there might have been the development of a more populist language over time for all sorts of political reasons that in turn then led to a similar kind of literature and so forth (though even here ‘high’ art forms remain elitist in many ways..). So the point is twofold — on the one hand a literature or art form (not necessarily the written kind) which assumes a high level of literacy which was at one point of time always the purview of a minority and on the other a representation of an elite class that does not diminish the nature of the interrogation in any sense. Put differently you can write more powerful novels representing the aristocracies of europe than you necessarily can representing lower strata of society. It is always about what is done with the material than the subject matter itself. And this is a distinction lost on most people.

        And so it is with cinema. Scorsese is not ‘great’ because he somehow opts for a certain realism or represents gangsters or lumpen masses or whatever. He is ‘great’ because of the choices he makes to serve those ends. The same holds for Sholay where a whole series of cinematic registers and allusions are employed but at the same time a whole range of social and political registers is explored and where ultimately all of this is brought together to hold up a mirror to the contemporary Indian nation-state. And so from skillfully employed allusion to Ben-Hur’s great chariot race to the Kurosawa-like framing of the story (and not only this.. there are in between Hollywood Westerns referenced..) with all its societal subtexts to the villain anti-hero figure of Gabbar who seems to walk around in a Che-like uniform and suggests a Maoist figure of sorts [but in addition to that revolutionary charge (he is going up against the ‘Thakur’ of the story.. again from the hands being cut off to the spiked shoes there are all sorts of political memories here) he might represent a lower caste type or even more precisely have a tribal valence] to a Shakespearean marriage of the high and low where the most over the top comedy is juxtaposed with more sophisticated satire (say Basanti’s or Veeru’s obvious pitches in this sense versus Jai’s sardonic commentary, or Asrani’s otherwise over-pitched burlesque which in the Emergency state nonetheless acquires a certain added resonance (not to mention in a more ‘serious’ vein the director’s original and more anarchic ending which so alarmed the original censors) or even the employment of a comic picaresque narrative which alternates with (though without slowing down) the epic momentum of the narrative or its very dramatic sequences and finally in turn the very masala mix all round, not just in terms of ‘film grammar’ but also in the sense of the larger, more universalist, more humanist mixing of classes and castes and religious identities and so forth. And this seemingly frenetic canvas still makes room for those extraordinary moments of intimacy between Jai and the widow or the individual romanticism of Jai (a kind of ‘man with no name) with Gabbar as his contra-figural other. One could go on and on. The richness of the Sholay ‘text’ is not easily exhausted (even if it has never been an absolutely favorite film of mine). But I get into all this because it seems laughably absurd and criminally shallow to mention it in the context of ZNMD or a Yashraj film or what have you. One could talk about it in the context of Khakee (which is a kind of Sholay rewrite though still infinitely poorer.. and this is no knock on Khakee) or Dutta’s astonishing Ghulami or some other films that even if ‘lesser’ belong to that same space of a richer cinema. However it is just silly and ill-informed to mention it with a multiplex romance or whatever. There could be richer examples of those genres but these are not it! Raj Kapoor’s Bobby is enough to put all these Yashraj love stories and then these multiplex romance-comedies taken together in the shade. And even then the comparison is an insult to Bobby! Admittedly sometimes these films have a refined ‘grammar’ to them but this too is entirely derivative. These films in most cases cannot even rise up to the challenge of DCH let alone anything else. Yes there are very interesting films in the contemporary age but these are either Ratnam efforts (in Hindi) or something like Talaash or MP or DMD and a few others. Provided one can ‘see’ and ‘read’ things. So it’s not at all about putting anything on a pedestal. I am again not the greatest Guru Dutt fan but mentioning him in the same breath as Cocktail is just bad taste of the highest order (and I hate to be this candid about it).

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  7. Utkal Mohanty Says:

    I know some of us think the world ended with Pyaasa. And the last prophet of film making was Guru Dutt. Thankfully there others who think thee is life beyond the 50s, 60s, 70s..in fact life beyond 90s, 00s, 10s and 20s.

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  8. Utkal Mohanty Says:

    What do you mean if you can’t get Godfather? Who is looking for Godfather? That is done and gone. I want to watch Pulp Fiction. Or Shawshank Redemption. Or In The Mood For Love. Before Sunrise. Midnight In Paris. A Separation. Are they as good as Godfather? Who cares? I watch films for the pleasure they give me. Not for rating them.

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  9. Now Zoya knows what sells. She will make it a multiplex film and the starcast is somewhat weird, especially the pairing. Some hummable songs and we have a hit on the hands. The cost will be low as there are no big stars to speak of except Priyanka. Afterall filmmaking is a business and anything will be better than humshakals or ……..x y z. These types of films are feel good or timepass films which will harm no one in particular. If Kick with zero message is getting such a hype why not a film about some romance on a ship. Ahoy!

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  10. Utkal Mohanty Says:

    SAtyam: “Yes there are very interesting films in the contemporary age but these are either Ratnam efforts (in Hindi) or something like Talaash or MP or DMD and a few others.” Really? Rtanam has made some of the finest Indian films in the last 50 years, but they were made in Tamil. His pure Hindi efforts are mediocre at best. MP, Talaash are fine attempts but hove too glaring flaws to be considered. DMD is a forgettable trifle. The best of contemporary Hindi cinema is represented for me by five auteurs with fine bodies of work, who have broken new grounds in both form and content: Rajkumar Hirani ( Munnabhai MBBS, Lage Raho Munnabhia, 3 Idiots), Anurag Kashyp ( Paanch, Gulal, Black Friday, DevD, Gulal, Girl with Yelow Boots, and above all Gnags of Wasseypur.), Vislhal Bharadwaj ( Maqbool, Omkara, Saat Khoon Maaf, Kaminey, Matru ka Bijli Ka Man Dola), Imtiaz Ali ( Socha Na Tha, Jab We Met, Rockstar Higway), Ramgopal Varma ( Satya, Company, Rangeela. Sarkar) Then there are films like Lagaan, Dil Chahta Hai, Udaan, Peepli Live, Delhi Belly. Actually there is quite a lot to choose from.

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    • Of course there are some other films (though it’s not a long list), I just offered examples there. Most of your choices wouldn’t be mine but that’s another matter. Calling Imtiaz Ali an ‘auteur’ though ought to be a scandal But I’d take Dil Se (again one example) over most of the films on your list.

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  11. I guess, I’m different than majority here but I think this is awesome poster specific to the film. The film’s concept that none of the family members get along with each other but are forced to go on a cruise. Suits well where in spite everyone being on the Cruise, everyone is doing his or her own thing as one does when if alone!

    Really loved ZNMD, so looking forward to it. Would have preferred Ranbir-Kareena as siblings versus Ranveer-Priyanka though!

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  12. Bandra.NRI Says:

    I liked ZNMD. It was well layered. For once a Bollywood movie that justified an ensamble cast. The scene between Farhan and Naseeruddin was good on all fronts.

    I think Zoya Akhtar handles big cast, and family turmoil well.

    I also like how she incorporates good ambiemce/locations into the scenes.

    Today’s movie, in our SMS age, where even an email is too much effort (forget multi page hand written letters), may appear like fluff when compared to older movies, but they do represent our times and our feelings.

    I like the poster, and I look forward to this movie.

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    • I liked ZNMD a lot too. Much better than some of the other movies in its genre.

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    • I did not mind ZNMD but it stilled missed soul for me. It is a film that did not require the backdrop of a bachelor trip and travel adverts to achieve what it wanted to.
      The reality of the film would have been setting the film in London where they live and exploiting the problems in parallel with the “solutions”. Presenting Abhay his problems so he tackles them head on, Hrithik’s character battling his current problems with his GF and work life and presenting Katrina as an attractive solution…maybe she could have been a co-worker, a confidant at first who turns into something more. Merging the two worlds against each other head on would have been a better setting whereas here it seems a holiday alleviates everything and certain things are added to make it like a sightseeing holiday . The worlds are separated and the problems exist only in the mind but not physically.
      It’s the constant need to find a “foreign attraction” as the ground base for these film that spoils the film because the film then consumes a lot of its time parading the country and locations when it should be developing the story. Also I do think the essence of Hrithik’s transformation is too sudden. You have to remember, his character lost his father, his mother was under debt and he vowed to never be in debt. So his character is one that worked hard for so many years and was quite a stubborn single minded individual. Such a person does not make a 360 turn in the matter of days especially when the past has such heartache attached to parents. He’s liberated too quickly and it makes no sense considering his past. Think of the trauma Aamir’s character goes through the whole film in Talaash or SRK’s in CDI and you can identify much more with the “pay-off” at the end. Here the slogan could have been, go on holiday and all your problems are solved. That is not the reality for most people. Problems persist, demons exists for longer and the longer the film exploited these issues head on the better it would have been.

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      • Yes, Zoya could have set the movie in London. She could have had them wear different colored clothes. She could have made them drink tea instead of coffee. But she left that movie for others to make. She made the movie that she wanted to make. Now within the confines of what is presented to us, it makes sense and that is what got the footfalls ringing inside the theatre.

        I do believe that a sudden & simple experience can trigger a profound change. Even economists understand that a butterfly flapping its wings in Tokya can cause a storm in New York.

        Also ZNMD was perhaps Hritikh’s best acting to date. I bought his transformation.

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  13. BO wise – it will be a monster and Zoya can buy that cruise-liner and go to faraway sea-shores and live happily ever after 🙂

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  14. Imtiaz Ali makes some fascinating and original films on man-woman relationship and his Highway, coming in the wake of Rockstar marks a new high for him. . There are quite a few others: Maneesh Sharma ( Band Baaja Baarat, Shuddh Desi Romance), Gauri Shinde ( English Vinglish), Vikash Bahl ( Queen), Anand Rai ( Tanu Weds Manu, Raanjhana), Ritesh Batra ( The Lunch Box). Rituparno Ghosh ( Chokher bali, Raincoat). In this world of real emotions and honest peeks into the gender relations, something like Dil Se or raavan stand out as total fakes, taken up with surface gloss without an ounce of truth or real insight.

    I have mentioned earlier how the process of corruption for Mani Ratnam started with Dil Se and reached its peak in Raavan. Instead of delving into real human relationships he got seduced into making catchy music videos and pretty picture postcard visuals. His song picturizations became clichéd caricatures, standing out like sore thumb in films like Dil se, Yuva and Raavan. Take the subtle and sensitive capture of stirring of romantic feelings in the scenes between Sridevi and Mehdi Nebbou in English Vinglish or between Irrfan Khan and Nimrat kaur in The Lunch Box and compare them with Manisha Koirala and Sharukh wrapped in a designer red sheath, cavorting on the mountain top, or Prieta Zinta in a loin cloth in back waters of Kerala or Vivek Oberoi and Kareena surfing the waves in Yuva. Sensitivity and innervision ( so evident in films like Roja and Bombay) has been replaced by glitz and video calendar art. Mani is a great craftsman. But he needs good writers to provide him stories that he can film. After all, Satyajit Ray’s best films were written by writers like Bibhutibhushan, Tagore, Shankar, Premchand and Sunil Gangopadhyay.

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    • Bandra.NRI Says:

      Sometimes it appears that Mani would be happy showing an average Indian vegetarian family munch down a burger just because the image looks appealing. True it does not make sense at multiple levels, but to Mani’s credit, he looks at the forest not the leaves. Mani is more concerned about the big picture and expressing his views at that higher intellectual level.

      I find Mani’s point of view fascinating while his narrative very distracting. Overall I would rather converse with Mani than see his movies.

      Zoya is just the opposite of Mani. The scenes flow smoothly. The visual fit the arc of the narrative. Everything makes sense, but this may not be “food for deeper thoughts”. Zoya’s movies are very satisfying but on the other hand, I have no doubt that any attempt to have a straight up conversation with her might be difficult.

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    • You would have fit well into the audiences that booed Godard’s Contempt in the initial run (and similar films elsewhere) or you might have been one of the critics dissing some of the same films. In any case the juxtaposition you’ve set up is fairly appalling. Not to mention that you betray an elementary inability to understand what a film like Dil Se is about or how it represents the best of later Ratnam (say over the last twenty years or more) in very many ways. Which doesn’t mean one cannot debate many of these films but not in the uninformed ways you bring to the table. Again hate to be brutally candid about it but I’ve never thought that every opinion deserved the most civil response possible. At the end of the day one has to ‘know’ certain things, be ‘literate’ in certain things. One is free to like or dislike anything one wishes. That’s not the point. But if one is going to characterize things in a more ‘objective’ sense one should know what one is talking about. If you just say ‘I don’t like Dil Se, I didn’t find it engaging’ that’s absolutely fine. Many audiences felt this way about L’Avventura when it released. However if you then say ‘Ratnam doesn’t know how to make a film’ (which is more or less what the claim amounts to.. or this is what you seem to be saying about his later phase.. it’s surely a parody of sorts that one discovers Guru Dutt-like meaningful cinema in Cocktail while one finds just music videos in late Ratnam!) that becomes a very different sort of claim.

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      • I agree with bandra NRI here. I do have a problem with the narrative flow in Mani’s movies. I think Yuva was his best effort in Hindi by a mile. Post that I liked parts of Guru after that everything was too unstructured for me to like it. Visually there has never been an issue with Mani’s movies. He is an ace craftsman but maybe not the best of story teller. I am also in agreement with Utkal with atleast the directors he has mentioned he likes. I love to read Satyams reflections and point of views , they are quite profound but as an average movie goer I do not put so much mind in seeing movies and analyzing it and maybe thats why not able to relate with what Satyams sees in mani. To me I will take an Imtiaz over Mani today but not across their whole career.

        BTW whats MP?

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        • Mangal Pandey.

          On the rest (and this is partly a response to Utkal too) that’s absolutely fine Krrish. I have NEVER had a problem with people having personal choices. It is only when certain kinds of claims are advanced for certain films that the debate begins. So for instance you prefer watching Imtiaz Ali over Ratnam, that’s absolutely fine. That doesn’t make you an ‘average’ viewer. I don’t even like these sorts of terms in the first place. I am as average a viewer as you are. I might just be interested in reading films a certain way. That doesn’t make me any different from any other viewer. I have my choices just like anyone else. But the problem I have with the Utkal kind of approach is that everything he ‘theorizes’ about reflects his personal taste. So for instance it’s one thing to like Cocktail and quite another to start comparing it to a Guru Dutt film in any respect. It’s perfectly fine to be tremendously entertained by any number of 20/20 hitters but quite another to start comparing this with Laxman’s exquisite stroke play or his technique even on a bad day. Even the errors of finer talents are interesting. So yes Sachin could play a bad shot (to use Utkal’s example) and get out but there’s a difference between his bad shots and those of the average player. At least most days. And Utkal himself would subscribe to this in different contexts. Presumably he does not think that Kashyap having a bad day suddenly brings him down to Sajid Khan’s level?! Or does this happen for Imtiaz Ali? One has to be sane about these things. ANy number of important talents have poor days but those poor days or moments are so in a relative sense not in an absolute one. When you watch Scorsese on a poor day you still find ‘signs’ of the director he is on a good day. The misfires still tell you something about his way of approaching cinema, his concerns and so forth. But if you watch something like Die Hard and it doesn’t deliver on the basics it’s supposed to it’s just a terrible film (as with the most recent installment). If I then turn around and say that this Die Hard failure is exactly like a Scorsese failure that would be absurd and no critic worth anything would every subscribe to such a view. Similarly when a Die Hard film is well made we don’t start comparing it to the Godfather using the excuse that these are ‘different’ films! Or that they’re attempting to do different things and succeeding in their own right, at different levels. Because using that argument Sajid Khan might be succeeding at what he’s setting out to do!

          And this brings me back to Mangal Pandey. Whether it’s this or Dil Se I’ve never argued that these are perfect films. I’ve said these are very interesting films that have certain flaws. But they still operate at a level Johar can only dream about. If one says that KKHH is a more fully realized film than Dil Se one has only said something like Rambo is a more successfully realized film than Apocalypse Now. Both statements are true but meaningless. Much like Utkal’s statement that not every film is for everyone. Because that has no logical connection with a larger debate on the value of a film. When Messi has an off day we still see some of his legendary dribbling prowess, we still see moments that give us a sense of why he is so highly regarded. When Sachin gets out on 20 we might still see hints of why he became who he is. when Federer lost at Wimbledon recently one could clearly see he was off peak but even this revealed why he has been such a historic player in certain ways. The idea that if one ‘fails’ in any sense one is no more than that failure or that all failures are the same is a rather strange one. Leaving aside the fact that in cinema we know (or we ought to know) that there is an encyclopedic list of films that were initially dismissed by audiences or critics or both and have since been called important or great or even greatest. And this when those films were operating in a proper critical atmosphere unlike the Indian one where most critics are just paid hacks.

          Utkal finds it impossible (it’s an old problem with him) to separate his personal liking from more objective claims. I love many films that I don’t think highly of or that I even find to be junk entertainment. Utkal finds it impossible to make this leap. So if I enjoy Houseful and if the next guy likes Talaash I just turn around and say ‘Talaash had script problems, it failed’ and Houseful is pretty good as it did what it promised and not every film is for everyone. These are meaningless statements and logically disconnected as well.

          So again not liking Dil Se is not a problem. Saying there’s nothing of value in it might be one. There are any number of even important filmmakers worldwide I don’t like very much. But I don’t have a problem when others do. Any number of views are acceptable but there has to be an essential sanity to the discussion. If you make the former claim about Dil Se I won’t think anything of it. If you say some of the things Utkal says about it I might direct you to a good film studies course. I’m not joking. Again this is not an argument against anyone’s personal taste. If someone just likes watching Akshay Kumar comedies that’s fine. I don’t have an opinion on it. But if they start making ‘value’ claims about those films that’s another matter.

          and when I use the word ‘literacy’ I don’t mean it in any arrogant or condescending way. We all respond to films in personal ways, we have certain tastes, we relate to certain things or not. But just this isn’t enough if we are going to make certain claims. To use an example I’ve indulged in before I have every right to judge as a passenger where a new Boeing aircraft is comfortable or not or whether I like its new features or not or how it compares to the latest airbus model and so on. But I cannot start debating the design of each plane at a more technical level! For that I would have to know something more on the subject. I would have to be more ‘literate’ in it. And this doesn’t mean one just has to be academically trained in something. The ‘understanding’ if you will can come about a variety of ways. usually I defer to Jay (for instance) when it comes to soccer. Why? because it’s obvious to me he’s followed the game closely, has an understanding far superior to mine, and so on. I might defer to you on the same too (since you too have said you’ve followed it closely and so forth). In each case the comments might tell me how deep your (or his) understanding is. I won’t ask to see if you actually played the game or went to school studying the game or something! It’s not about such absolute standards.

          Many years ago when I first started watching Antonioni I found him hard to get through. Today he’s one of my favorite filmmakers. What changed? I became more ‘literate’ in the matter. Now this alone doesn’t make me like every filmmaker, it is still about personal taste but at least I know I’m not accepting or dismissing a filmmaker for purely impressionistic reasons. No one is obliged to do this. If I had never watched another Antonioni after that first experience there would be nothing wrong with it. But if I then got into debates with people trying to prove that his films weren’t much to talk about someone more literate in the matter would have a right to disagree.

          This whole way of thinking is completely lost on Utkal. He has not once been able to give me a list of films that he does not like or cannot relate to and nonetheless considers important. Not once! That tells you everything. And by the way if someone told me that liked everything that was deemed to be of value by some critic or the other, every book or film or piece of music, that would be another definition of the Philistine for me! You can’t like everything even if it’s important. It’s just not possible. But you have to make room and space in your mind for alternate possibilities and different ways of thinking. There are many many times when I think of films differently or re-evaluate them or think more of them after I’ve come across a certain piece on them or someone’s opinion on them or whatever. The whole joy is about discovering and rediscovering things. Not deciding on something once and for all. Again within reason. One doesn’t keep giving Houseful chances!

          And now back to MP again. I’ve always thought highly of the film for certain reasons and in fact have liked it more at a personal level than I did on its initial release. There have been reasons for this. Most recently though I read an extraordinary novel called the Mirror of Beauty which is a translation of an epic Urdu novel (written in the past decade) and that has already been called the ultimate such work in its language. It’s a period piece and an extraordinary tribute to a bygone culture. Reading it I developed in some ways an even greater appreciation for some of the things depicted in MP. Along the same lines I found myself appreciating aspects of Ratnam’s cinema more (and perhaps Iruvar more specifically or even KM) when I read an equally extraordinary work by Sundara Ramaswamy (Children Women Men) that’s again a period piece set in the princely state of Travancore and which is about (among other things) a Tamil-Malayalam hybridity. Both works are ‘about’ language in certain crucial ways. So one always discovers new things but one can only do so with a film (or text) that is interesting enough to reward such a reading.

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    • Utkal: Did you happen to see Imtiaz’s first movie Socha Na Tha? It is one of my fav love stories, seen it innumerable times on re-runs on TV. It just looks like just another love story on the outside but the sequences, the screenplay and perfect capturing of love feelings how complications arise and then the perfect climax… never seen in any other love story. If you haven’t you should see it and let me know your thoughts..

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  15. Utkal Mohanty Says:

    “At the end of the day one has to ‘know’ certain things, be ‘literate’ in certain things. One is free to like or dislike anything one wishes. That’s not the point. But if one is going to characterize things in a more ‘objective’ sense one should know what one is talking about.’ Precisely my point. One has to ‘know’ the whole tradition of film songs and their usage and be ‘literate’ about them to realize what a travesty Mani has made of that tradition in Dil Se. Chhaiyan Chiyan is worst kind of an item number, plain and simple. Whwn you see Malaika Arora giggling her bum it is Malaiika Arora jiggling her bum, that’s it. Sorry to point out, but the emperor has no clothes. And the danger one must guard against is not to be swayed by reputation. It does not mean Mani does not know film making. It is just that he had a bad day and made a shitty film. Even Sachin Tendulkar can play a rank bad shot, it does not mean he does not mean he does not know how to play cricket. And as to Cocktail, just because it is not a blockbuster or does not have rave reviews tpoday does not mean that it does not have some of finest sequences of erotic passion and the vagaries of the human heart essayed in Hindi cinema. Imtiaz has some fine insights into man-woman relationship and Homi has a flair for visual staging, and depika has come out with some straight-from-the-heart moments in the films which will be cerebrated years hence. Now I do not expect everyone to get it all today. As I said every film is not for everyone.

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    • Re: “And as to Cocktail, just because it is not a blockbuster or does not have rave reviews tpoday does not mean that it does not have some of finest sequences of erotic passion and the vagaries of the human heart essayed in Hindi cinema. Imtiaz has some fine insights into man-woman relationship and Homi has a flair for visual staging, and depika has come out with some straight-from-the-heart moments in the films which will be cerebrated years hence. Now I do not expect everyone to get it all today. As I said every film is not for everyone.”

      My problem with films like Cocktail and directors like Zoya Akhtar is precisely that it is none of these things: in fact, it is simply the same old bourgeois free-spirited-chick-will-lose-out-to-woman-content-with-subordinate-status (unless she learns to transform herself as well) yarn. We’ve seen this in Kuch Kuch Hota Hai as well, and simply changing the locale or upping the consumption of alcohol doesn’t change much. Basically, these films pander to a rather conservative bourgeois ethos, and while that is perfectly legitimate, you don’t get brownie points just because the aesthetics of that bourgeoisie have changed from the 1960s to now: the fashions, the acceptability of certain kinds of behavior (e.g. drinking/partying) has changed, but that is no more progress than was Shammi Kapoor’s 1960s shimmy over 1950s cinema. Great films of the past and present don’t just pander; these films do, and may be enjoyable, but not meaningful in my book.

      I have written elsewhere about the sort of scene that clues the viewer in to the fact that the women here are more about male fantasies than any kind of psychologically acute explorations of female character, so won’t repeat that. [This is true of a rather large number of films featuring Deepika, but is obviously true of a film like ZNMD and its representations of Katrina; Kalki; and the Spanish woman as well. “Mein Zinda Hoon,” Farhan’s character drones, but these privileges — of finding oneself, of being fully and completely alive, are, it seems, only vouchsafed to men of a certain social class — and, of course, the women exist to get them there.]

      It isn’t that I feel none of the films or directors cited by Utkal are worthy: but rather — and this is directly relevant to Zoya Akhtar — far too many of them confuse the representation of a particular social class’s aspirations, the MERE representation of them; with meaningful cinema — “and what?” I am compelled to ask, because the films don’t go any further than that (heck ZNMD won’t even go where Queen went!). I wouldn’t have as much of an objection if the likes of Zoya Akhtar showed up saying “hey it’s just a story”, but from the filmmaker’s interviews, from the self-importance that suffuses every scene of ZNMD, it’s clear that ISN’T what is being said. Rather, the message is that this is a Big and Important Film with Something to Say About _______. That is the very essence of creative dishonesty: and nothing with such hollow foundations can sustain the weight of an honest portrayal of anything (except that which these films inadvertently testify to: the narcissism of their directors, and perhaps that of the target audience as well).

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      • commercially – these guys (akhtars and johars and chopras) have got the pulse of Indian sudience and they know that to make 50 cr profit is the easiest thing for them at the moment – make such a movie and well…..

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  16. Master: Of course I have seen Socha Na Tha . I was right away impressed. Here is someone who knew the intricacies of the affairs of the heart rather than the broad-stroke ‘romance’ that Bollywood specialized in. I marked him out as an auteur right then. He has come kind of full circle with Highway, a film that starts on a deceptively listless manner and slowly takes you in its grip.

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  17. Looks like the folks did about turn , including the dog..

    [added to post]

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  18. Qalandar: A film like Queen is any day superior to a film like ZNMD, no quibbles about that. But I don’t agree film like ZNMD really takes itself too seriously. It’s life lessons are meant to be taken with a pinch of salt. It’s meant to be enjoyed as a charming little tale made rich by loving observations from everyday life served with a dash of stylistic flourish. A bit like Hrishikesh Mukherjee films like Khoobsoorat …nobody would mistake a film like that for a serious study of authority and power in middle-class homes. Of course someone like Hirani brings his genius onto the table with the scale of his stylistic excesses, turning the material into genuine art. No one is saying ZNMD achieves anythiung close to that. A film like DCH of course does much better on that score.

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  19. Bob Cristo Says:

    Indian Express guys Pls inlarge the photo of Anil Kapoor. I think ANIL JHAKAS KAPOOR is written on Suits Pin strip.

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  20. bawlachintu Says:

    अनिल कपूर की फोटो से लगता है लम्हे के किरदार का भाग दो आने वाला है फिल्म में. पोस्टर का कुत्ता आगे से पग और पीछे से अकाल का मारा लेबरेडोर दिख रहा है. फिल्म आने पर ही पता चलेगा.

    Like

  21. tonymontana Says:

    hehe.. looks dashing though.

    This look suits him well

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  22. sanjana Says:

    Anil Kapoor’s first look from the film Dil Dhadakne Do is out, and has got many of them dil-s going all dhadak-dhadak for him…for so good does the actor look in his salt-n-pepper avatar.

    In pinstripes and with the blue ocean as the backdrop, Kapoor looks dashing in this George Clooney avatar of his, and indeed, Twitter is all aflutter discussing the actor’s new look.

    Read more at: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/dil-dhadakne-do-first-look-anil-kapoor-george-clooney-film-zoya-akhtar-ranveer-singh-anushka-sharma/1/422742.html

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  23. sanjana Says:

    There is the latest still with Priyanka Chopra with her baggage.

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  24. Dhurandhar.B Says:

    While I use this ONLY as an example, but I really wonder how someone like Zoya Akhtar with her background/upbringing(not denying her place in the sun at all) can EVER hope to write anything that IS NOT about cruises and lifestyles in exotic places. The only real life experience that she penned wonderfully was LUCK BY CHANCE and that was because she truly went through all that and it was an insider look, a poignant one at that, at the struggles of a newcomer. I respect her filmmaking talent but writing stories takes research and I dont know how much of that is done by Hindi writers.

    One should see the kind of research that the writer-director of the National Award winning COURT did! I have yet to see the film but going by some of the feedback I have seen from people that have, it is a mind blowing piece of cinema.

    True stories come from those people that stay connected with the real people around them no? No wonder RANJHANA was written by a guy who still cant drive a car in Mumbai and has to rely on his friends to cart him around. HUNTERRR and HASEE TOH PHASEE were both written by a guy that is far removed from the Bandra-Juhu-Pali Hill-South Mumbai upbringing. Heck RANG DE BASANTI was written by a guy that grew up in Delhi. THe only guy that wrote something truly substantial and imaginative was Gowariker with LAGAAN despite a Santacruz-Khar (upper middle-class locality in Mumbai) background.

    This Zoya film is a yawner and will likely be a cropper. If it works, then I am willing to eat humble shrimp from the same ocean it has been shot on !!!!!!

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  25. Utkal Mohanty Says:

    Dhurandhar B.: I don’t get it. What’s your gripe about? You say people should tell stories about backgrounds they are familiar with and people they feel connected to. You say Zoya is familiar with the world of cruises and lifestyles in exotic places. So where is the problem? In fact ZNMD connected with audiences for precisely the same reason – she was talking about a world and the people she was familiar with, the world and people she felt for. It’s the same reason I ma looking forward to this one.

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    • Dhurandhar.B Says:

      sorry, no gripe and apologies if that was what it came across as. I was perhaps reacting to some comment somewhere that Zoya, Farhan, Karan make the kind of movies they make. i was making an observation as to why people will write about what they write about. to stay honest to things they are most familiar with. If they try and attempt anything outside of it without the appropriate research thats when it begins to sound dishonest and hollow.

      However for growth purposes (as with any profession I am thinking) one has to get out of that immediate comfort zone and at least attempt something different. So far Zoya has stuck to her strengths alone and as a demanding and paying viewer I am losing interest in those kind of stories.

      Apologies again i am not as articulate as some others here, but thanks for keeping me honest!

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      • When people say ‘x makes the kinds of movies x wants to make’ this is one of the worst platitudes. What has one really said?! No one ever thought anyone had held a gun to Akshay’s head to do Singh is King or Zoya Akhtar to do designer angst (otherwise known as her films). Actually I wish many of these folks did not make the films they really wanted to make! We would be spared so much of the bland and the bad!

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        • Dhurandhar.B Says:

          one is free not to watch the movie one is not interested in watching…i will not watch this Zoya movie in all likelihood for i think i have seen all of her ‘designer angst’ to borrow the phrase!

          btw is all of the above diatribe(including mine) also some kind of angst 😉 ?

          Like

  26. The posters with blue colors are cool and a welcome relief from the hot summer we are experiencing! Would like to watch a film without the usual quota of bloodshed, corpses, cuss words for a change.

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  27. Here Anushka Sharma in ” Dil Dha Dakne Do ” [added to post]

    Thanks 🙂

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  28. Utkal Mohanty Says:

    What I am looking forward to most is the music. Even now the music of Dil Chahta Hai, Rock On and Zindagi Na Milega Dobara thrill like very few other soundtracks. The tuning between S-E-L and the Akhtars is pitch perfect.

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    • I somehow don’t like any of these soundtracks. I’d take DCH over the rest quite easily, can’t stand Rock On, ZNMD is somewhere in between. I actually think SEL’s best soundtrack this past decade or so is probably JBJ. Have always liked it more than BNB. In any case I’d easily take SEL-Shaad Ali on those two over anything they’ve done with the Akhtars.

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      • I agree, JBJ has a great soundtrack. I enjoyed the film quite a bit and I think it’s extremely underrated. It had an eccentric sense of humour running through it and the songs were all fabulously picturised (Bol Na Halke in particular).

        I think DCH has a fun soundtrack but Rock On! was abysmal (to put it kindly) and ZNMD hasn’t aged well at all, although it worked nicely enough within the context of the film.

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        • JBJ was supposed to be a small town subject, they made it a big production and diluted things quite a bit. Haven’t seen it since its original release.

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        • JBJ was a movie I thoroughly enjoyed.Should revisit it. A bit zany and certainly not everyone’s cuppa but IMO , a very very enjoyable fare inspite of Bobby.

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      • Love JBJ’s score. DCH was fine but I dislike ZNMD. One of my favourites from them though is Johnny Gaddaar, thought it was SEL at their edgiest. Recently they gave a fine soundtrack in Kill Dill as well.

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        • Don’t remember the JG soundtrack though love the film. Will check it out when I get the chance. Haven’t seen Kill Dill nor heard the songs.

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        • Halke

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        • Bol NA Halle is one of the best songs to come out of BW in last 20’years

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        • I’d recommend Kill Dil’s soundtrack as well because it was pretty edgy. Also Kal Ho Na Ho (especially the title song) is an all time favorite of mine from them. BMB and ZNMD were soundtracks that went perfectly with the film and ZNMD I like as a standalone album as well.

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  29. Utkal Mohanty Says:

    DCH vs BnB and JBJ? No comparison. DCH is timeless classic. No dance party of ours is complete without playing Koi Kahe Kehte Rahe. And I dont think there has been a more catchy, more evocative, more pleasure-inducing title track. Listening to it on a car stereo…sheer bliss! And the same goes for songs of ZNMD: Dil Dhadakne Do” , “Ik Junoon (Paint It Red)” “Khwabon Ke Parindey” “Der Lagi Lekin” Sand “Sooraj Ki Baahon Mein’ . The soundscape and phrasing that SEL have created here are so unique , so modern , and they atre such wonderful mood elevators.

    Like

    • I find SEL mostly bland on those soundtracks. I could probably say this about most of contemporary Bollywood music. The single most ignored SEL song relative to its merits might be this one from Kyun Pyar Ho gaya na:

      Like

  30. Utkal Mohanty Says:

    I feel Shankar-Ehsan-Loy in the films of Akhtar siblings have a unique sound, quite un-Bollywood. It has the happy sun-n-surf happy sound of the Beach Boys. Youthful. Upbeat. Pleasure-inducingThe mischief and humour in songs like “ Jaane Kyun Log’ or ‘ Who Ladka Hai Kahna’ add another flavor to the tracks of DCH. And the more quiet and reflective songs like ‘ Kaisa Hai Ye Rut’ or ‘ Der Lagi Lekin’ or ‘Yeh Tiunhario Meri Baatein’ ( from Rock On) have moody, liquid feel that wash over you in a melodic gush.

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  31. What I am looking forward is Anil Kapoor .. and I am serious.

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  32. Utkal Mohanty Says:

    Yakuza: I think both Anil Kapoor and Shefali Chhaya will sizzle.

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  33. Introducing Pluto 🙂 Here’s the new poster of Zoya Akhtar’s Dil Dhadakne Do [added to post]

    Like

  34. Doesn’t this latest poster confirm everything some of us have said about Zoya Akhtar? Not just the dog but even the name.. even here one hasn’t progressed from childhood. But audiences deserve the films they get (much like the politicians they vote for)!

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    • Perhaps there is symbolism here: at the end of the sort of journey towards self-realization we saw in Zindagi Milegi Na Dobara, one can count on at least as much insight as a mutt would own up to.

      Like

    • Their film making sense had gone to the dogs! Actually I never had any great hopes from them. ZNMD and YJHD are the type of films whch cater to certain audience. They have got a formula just like Sajid Khan.

      Like

  35. Utkal Mohanty Says:

    I stayed back a few minutes after work to listen to all the tracks in one go once again after quite a while , and I realized, after 14 years of its release, Dil Chahta Hai remains a shining example of a perfect Bollywod soundtrack. Every song is a gem, and together they capture a whole spectrum of human emotions , and a whole gamut of musical styles. Javed Akhtar’s crystal clear lyrics and meaningful picturization of all the songs aided by pitch-perfect performances and delightful camera work add to the impact of the songs. Let’s take a quick look at each of these beauties.

    Dil Chahta Hai: Perhaps one of the best title song as well as the best road song ever. The musical arrangement is totally original and flows so well with the spirit of the song. The three friends – Aamir, SAif and Akshay- adda lot of zing to the proceedings with their pranks and cool acts. The voices led by Shankar Nhadevan are so youthful and zingy too. ‘Kaisa Ajab Yeh Safar Hai, Socho To Har Ik Hi Bekhabar Hai I Usko Jaana Kidhar Hai, Jo Waqt Aaye, Jaane Kya Dikhaaye I Oh Oh Oh …” Oho Oh Oh indeed!

    Koi Kahe Kehta Rahe: The song hits the ground running as it starts with its synthesized beats. Aamir gets into the groove of the song with his trampoline leaps that have become the signature dance move for the song at all parties. The musical interlude within the stanzas are also equally funky, sporting some of the most youthful hooks ever heard since the famous guitar riffs of Dum Maro Dum, Mit Jaaye Hum. Javed does a great job of defining youthful cool and derring-do: Aankhon mein hain bijliyaan, saanson mein toofaan hai I Darr kya hai aur haar kya, hum isse anjaan hai I Hamaare liye hi to hai aasmaan aur zameen I Sitaarein bhi hum tod lenge, hamein hai yakeen I Ambar se hai aage hamaara thikaana I Hum hain naye, andaaz kyoon ho puraana. A disco song has not ben picturized better, though many have tried.

    Jaane Kyoon Log Pyaar Karte Hain: This one is classic conversation song the likes of which has all but disappeared from the Bollywood soundtrack. Like every other song in the album this one to strats with a unique hook and has a unique musical feature. The Australian didgeridoo adds so much drama to the song here and the African chant in between the stanzas weave in the atmosphere. And the king and queen of spoken word singing, Udit Narayan and Alka Yagnik, provide a great platform for Aamir and Priety to test the strength of their cynicism and romanticism through this oh-so-charming verbal duel. Aamir: Pyaar bekaar ki musibat hai I Priety: Pyaar har tarah khoobsurat hai I Aamir : Oh, pyaar se hum door hi achchhe I Priety : Arre pyaar ke sab roop hai sachche I Aamir: Ho, pyaar ke ghaat jo utarte hai I Doobte hai na voh ubharte hai I Jaane kyoon, jaane kyoon I Priety : Pyaar to khair sabhi karte hain I Jaane kyoon aap hi mukarte hain I Jaane kyoon, jaane kyoon. Wah, Javed saab, Wah!

    Tanhai, Tanhai: This is perhaps the most traditionally formatted song of the album. But even here the synth sound at the start followed by some frenzied beats is quite a departure from a standard ‘ sad’ song which is more likely to start with a few bars of piano or the plaintive wail of a violin. The lyrics too do not throw up any new imagery or a contemporary way of expressing heartbreak. Sonu’s singing is top class here, but again in the traditional mould. The song gets considerable lift from its excellent shot taking and Aamir and Priety’s heart-felt performance.

    Woh Ladki Hai Kahan: A song that parodies the romantic ideal as portrayed in Hindi films is a lot of fun as it should be. It sports a goofy instrumental hook using the violin in the style of folk rock groups like The Corrs. The mock-flying movement of actors in the film accompanied this part of the orchestration and married the visual to the sound very well.

    Kaisi Hai Yeh Rut : The song captures the more sedate and somber love of Akshaye Khanna for Dimple in a tune that has a trance beat and a syncopated flute going on in the background. The lyrics are romantic as befits the mental palette of an artist. The picturization is very imaginative with controlled use of computer graphics. I love the cut from the crescent moon to that canvas as Akshaye scrapes some violent arcs in the tradition of physical painting that reflects his intense passion cloaked under a calm exterior. There has not been a more convincing picturization of a painter executing modern painting…not in Taare Zamen Par …not in Dhobi Ghat. Javed does well to capture the positive drift of Akshaye’s passion even though his expressions of it is sedate and underplayed. He feels blessed for the love he has been allowed to feel regardless of its ultimate outcome. ‘Chaandni, jharne, ghataayein, geet, baarish, titliyaan I Hum pe ho gaye hai sab maherbaan’, he says.

    Like

  36. Here another poster [added to post] Beautiful

    Like

  37. Zoya Akhtar is Bollywood’s Kathryn Bigelow! Except that Bigelow makes those epic, breathtaking war thrillers based in the middle-east while Zoya makes those average to crap stuffs based in some Mediterranean setting featuring filthy rich guys, filthy rich women and filthy rich dogs.

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    • For filthy rich audience!

      Like

      • The trailer is very underwhelming.
        Ranveer Singh doesn’t work at all and the movie seems quirky and doubt if it will find favor at BO
        Utkal will have to look very hard to find merit here but believe me, he will.

        Like

        • didn’t realize the trailer was out.. put it up after reading your comment. agree with your comment.. this trailer has suddenly made me appreciate the virtues of ZNMD much as LBC now seems like an all-time classic!

          Like

  38. Hope anushka is lucky this time.

    Like

  39. The ‘Mehras’ seem to be a dysfunctional family. Is there anything in the film that echoes from your own life?

    Do you know any family that is not dysfunctional? So actually, it’s a normal family in India. They are not dysfunctional in an American sense. It’s what Indians consider being totally normal. I don’t really know a normal family. In fact, I don’t know a perfect person. So, how can a family be perfect and frankly if there are any, they will be very boring like I won’t want them over for dinner. The Mehras are really different than the Akhtars. If I put the Akhtars on screen, I don’t think anyone would believe it. It would not be film friendly. The Mehras are much more rooted in tradition, whereas we, the Akhtars, are a bit too left of centre for the Indian mainstream. The only thing similar to my real life is a good sibling bond. Though our problems, conflicts and fights are all different.

    http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/hindi/bollywood/news/The-Mehras-are-very-different-than-the-Akhtars-Zoya-Akhtar/articleshow/47386105.cms

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  40. Like

  41. It was reported that Zoya Akhtar has approached Hrithik Roshan and Aamir Khan to make special appearances in ‘Dil Dhadakne Do’.

    Yes! Aamir Khan’s role from the film has been finally revealed! Aamir Khan will be doing voice over for Pluto Mehra’s character!

    Pluto Mehra, the only sane member of Mehra family!

    The makers always considered Pluto as pivotal characters in the film. He will be doing commentary and with Aamir’s voice, it’ll be at whole new level!

    Hope the movie will be as colorful and interesting as its cast and their colorful dresses!

    http://www.india-forums.com/bollywood/hot-n-happening/52899-aamir-khan-in-dil-dhadakne-do.htm

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  42. Aamir on Dil Dhadakne Do

    Like

  43. Ranveer and Anushka reprise their Band Baja Baarat charm.

    [added to post]

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