Wow! Such a good movie.

One of the worst movies I've ever seen

Fantastic!

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

A hugely underrated cinematic gem from Mani Ratnam, Dil Se till date remains Shah Rukh Khan's most mature work. Khan's devastating portrayal of an All India Radio programme executive madly in love of a mystical beauty, who he knows can never be his, carries the hallmark of an actor working at the height of his powers. No wonder Khan became the nation's heartthrob in the '90s in spite of the odd choices he made during this phase. Although he has only grown in stature since then, his later performances pale in comparison. Post mid-2000s, he has been a spent force and his most recent performances have been abysmal to say the least.Speaking of Dil Se, it is Manisha Koirala's beguiling performance that gives the movie its soul. Austerely dressed and with minimal make-up and sparse dialogue, she sets the celluloid on fire. It's difficult to think of another Bollywood actress with such a striking combination of beauty and brains. As Meghna, she is both the hunter and the hunted: a quintessential femme fatale. There is poetry in the duo's on-screen romance and a sort of divine connect. The movie follows SRK's character through the seven stages of love: starting with infatuation and ending with obsession and ultimately death. Alas, all great tales of love are essentially tragedies! Dil Se is no different.Mani Ratnam masterfully weaves an unforgettable tale of love in the backdrop of terrorism. A. R. Rehman's music and Santosh Sivan's cinematography beautifully add to the movie's poignancy. The dance sequences and the exotic locations of the song 'Satrangi Re' transcends the viewer to a world of Sufi romanticism and Urdu poetry. One can't really ask for more!For more on the world of cinema, please visit my film blog "A Potpourri of Vestiges".

"Dil Se" (literally 'from the heart' or 'with all my heart') is a story about a very obnoxious and obsessed Indian radio personality who sees a woman at a train station and relentlessly pursues her. He knows nothing about her--and doesn't realize that she and her family are terrorists. Yet, somehow, the film eventually have them fall in love.Perhaps I saw this movie as being very offensive due to my culture. In the US, when a man relentlessly pursues a woman who CONSTANTLY tells him and demonstrates that she's NOT interested, it's pretty clear she is not interested. However, in "Dil Se", a man becomes infatuated with a woman he doesn't know and pursues her relentlessly. And, at about the 51 minute mark, attacks her and forces himself on her--and somehow this film is supposed to be a romance?! Such a film probably couldn't be made in the States today--and even in the old days, Amarkanth's behaviors would have been seen as creepy and potentially dangerous. Because of this, I really cannot recommend the film--especially since it seems to promote dangerous pro-rape myths as well as stalking. Additionally, compared to many Indian films, the song and dance numbers are not particularly good and sound very canned. I have seen about 100 Indian films, so I am certainly no expert--but you can certainly do better than this one.

Dil Se/Uyire (English: From The Heart) is a Hindi film directed by Mani Ratnam which stars Shahrukh Khan and Manisha Koirala in the lead roles while Preity Zinta, Raghuviv Yadav and Piyush Mishra play other supporting roles and Malaika Arora makes an item number. The film's score and soundtrack are composed by A.R Rahman and the lyrics were penned by Gulzar and Vairamuthu (Tamil version). The cinematography was handled by Santosh Sivan while it was edited by Suresh Urs. The film is produced by Mani Ratnam, Ram Gopal Varma, Bharat Shah and Shekhar Kapur. The film is considered to be the third installment in Ratnam's terrorism saga.The film revolves the story of two individuals from different societies. Amarkanth ''Amar'' Varma (Shahrukh Khan), a radio program executive and Moina ''Meghna'' (Manisha Koirala), a terrorist, meet randomly at a train station in a cold and rainy night, but later end up dying together as suicide bombers. How and why? forms the crux of the story.Shahrukh Khan who portrayed Amarkanth Varma, delivered an incredible piece of work. His acting and dance had a lot of energy and he was faithful to his role. Manisha Koirala who portrayed Moina, a beautiful cold hearted revolutionary woman, has given a mind-blowing performance that makes Dil Se to be the best film of her till date.A.R Rahman who composed the film's score and soundtrack has delivered a fabulous album. Dil Se is one of A.R Rahman's finest work. Santosh Sivan and Suresh Urs have filmed and edited the film beautifully. Santosh Sivan has done an amazing job, especially in the Chaiyya Chaiyya song. It is not easy to film the dancers in different angles when they are dancing on a moving train, so hats off to Santosh Sivan for that!Dil Se is actually the first Hindi movie I've ever seen. I'm Tamil so I saw the dubbed version first. I didn't recognize this movie before I heard the Chaiyya Chaiyya song which was a famous song around the world in the end of the 90's. But both the Hindi and Tamil versions are extraordinary. It is rare that both the original and the dubbed the version can stand on the same level, because the writers fail to write the dialogs which has to be similar to the original script, so hats off to Mani Ratnam for that! It is strange that this film did not do well at the box office in India, but did a great business in the US and United Kingdom.Overall this is a must watch film and strongly recommended to everyone. Especially Mani Ratnam and A.R Rahman fans.Verdict: Silence is the best way to show love!

This is an intriguing but passionate film despite some infuriating flaws. The performances are very good. Manisha Koirala has a complex role and is superb. Shahrukh Khan lapses into overacting towards the end, but is generally quite good. He brings an instant likability to his character. There are too many supporting characters and the production design overpowers the film at times. We are ahead of the male protagonist in the story arc and this leads to occasional viewer impatience. The songs are catchy but randomly inserted. This breaks the flow of the film. Still watchable at least once.Overall 6/10