''Dil Se..'' () is a 1998 Indian

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been ...

-language romantic thriller film written and directed by

Mani Ratnam Gopala Ratnam Subramaniam (born 2 June 1956), known professionally as Mani Ratnam, is an Indian film director, screenwriter, and producer who predominantly works in Tamil cinema and few Hindi, Telugu and Kannada films. Ratnam has won six ...

, and produced by Ratnam, Ram Gopal Varma, and

Shekhar Kapur Shekhar Kulbhushan Kapur (born 6 December 1945) is an Indian filmmaker and actor. Born into the Anand-Sahni family, Kapur is the recipient of several accolades, including a BAFTA Award, a National Film Award, a National Board of Review Award a ...

. Set in the backdrop of Insurgency in Assam, the film stars

Shah Rukh Khan Shah Rukh Khan (; born 2 November 1965), also known by the initialism SRK, is an Indian actor, film producer, and television personality who works in Hindi films. Referred to in the media as the " Baadshah of Bollywood", "King of Bollywood ...

and

Manisha Koirala Manisha Koirala (; born 16 August 1970) is a Nepalese actress who works in Indian films, predominantly in Hindi and Tamil films and has also worked in few Telugu, Bengali, Malayalam, Nepali and English films. Known for her work in both commer ...

, while

Preity Zinta Preity G Zinta (pronounced ; born 31 January 1975) is an Indian actress and entrepreneur primarily known for her work in Hindi films. After graduating with degrees in English honours and criminal psychology, Zinta made her acting debut in '' ...

makes her film debut in a supporting role. Written by Ratnam and

Tigmanshu Dhulia Tigmanshu Dhulia (born 3 July 1967) is an Indian film dialogue writer, director, actor, screenwriter, producer and casting director known for his works in Hindi cinema and Television. He wrote the dialogue for the 1998 film '' Dil Se..'', the fi ...

, the film is an example of

parallel cinema Parallel cinema, or New Indian Cinema, is a film movement in Indian cinema that originated in the state of West Bengal in the 1950s as an alternative to the mainstream commercial Indian cinema. Inspired by Italian Neorealism, Parallel Cinema ...

and is noted as the final installment in Mani Ratnam's trilogy that consists of '' Roja'' (1992) and ''

Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' fin ...

'' (1995). The film's soundtrack album, composed by

A. R. Rahman Allah Rakha Rahman (; born A. S. Dileep Kumar; 6 January 1967) is an Indian music composer, record producer, singer and songwriter, popular for his works in Indian cinema; predominantly in Tamil and Hindi films, with occasional forays in int ...

, sold six million units in India. ''Dil Se..'' was screened at the

Era New Horizons Film Festival New Horizons Film Festival (previously: Era New Horizons; pl: Nowe Horyzonty) is an international film festival held annually in July in Wrocław, Poland. It has been organised since 2001. It is one of the biggest and most popular film festival ...

and the

Helsinki International Film Festival The Helsinki International Film Festival – Love & Anarchy ( fi, Rakkautta & Anarkiaa) is a non-competitive film festival held since 1988 in Helsinki, Finland, yearly in September. The festival promotes the artistry of filmmaking, the inventive, ...

. Noted for its aspects

nonlinear storytelling Nonlinear narrative, disjointed narrative, or disrupted narrative is a narrative technique, sometimes used in literature, film, video games, and other narratives, where events are portrayed, for example, out of chronological order or in other w ...

, the film was moderate success at the domestic box office; however it was a major success overseas earning $975,000 in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

and £537,930 in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

, becoming the first Indian film to enter the top 10 in the United Kingdom box office charts, and it was also a hit in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

. At the 44th Filmfare Awards, ''Dil Se..'' received 10 nominations, including

Best Actress Best Actress is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organisations, festivals, and people's awards to leading actresses in a film, television series, television film or play. The first Best Actress aw ...

(Koirala) and Best Supporting Actress (Zinta), and won 6 awards, including Best Female Debut (Zinta) and Best Music Director (Rahman). At the

46th National Film Awards The 46th National Film Awards, presented by Directorate of Film Festivals, the organisation set up by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, India to felicitate the best of Indian Cinema released in the year 1998. Ceremony took place on 15 ...

, the film won 2 awards – Best Cinematography and Best Audiography, while also receiving a

Netpac Award The Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema (NETPAC) is a worldwide organization of 29 member countries. It was created as the result of a conference on Asian cinema organized by Cinemaya, the Asian Film Quarterly, in New Delhi in 1990 at the inst ...

at the

Berlin International Film Festival The Berlin International Film Festival (german: Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin), usually called the Berlinale (), is a major international film festival held annually in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the fest ...

Plot

Amarkant Varma (

) is a program executive for

All India Radio All or ALL may refer to: Language * All, an indefinite pronoun in English * All, one of the English determiners * Allar language (ISO 639-3 code) * Allative case (abbreviated ALL) Music * All (band), an American punk rock band * ''All'' (All ...

, dispatched from

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament Hous ...

to cover festivities in

Assam Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur ...

. On his way there, during a rainy night, Amar is stranded for hours at

Haflong Haflong is a town and headquarters of Dima Hasao district (formerly North Cachar Hills district) in the state of Assam in India. It is the only hill station in Assam. Etymology Haflong is a Dimasa word meaning '' ant hill''. Climate Haflo ...

railway station to catch the Barak Valley Express. As he waits, he tries to have a smoke and asks a mysterious person for either a match or a lighter. Suddenly a strong gust of wind blows off the person's shawl, revealing a beautiful woman (

). Amar approaches, tells her she's beautiful, and tries to strike up a conversation. She ignores him. He persists and she eventually asks him for a cup of tea. When he returns with the tea, he watches as she boards the next train with three male passengers and rides off into the distance. Amar's infatuation with the woman is depicted with a lengthy dance scene, with dozens of dancers dancing on top of a moving train through the beautiful Indian countryside. Amar reaches his destination and spots the same woman in Silchar. He attempts to talk to her, but she says she cannot recall meeting him before. As part of his news reporting assignment, for the occasion of fifty years of Indian Independence, Amar interviews many Assamese citizens, and an

extremist Extremism is "the quality or state of being extreme" or "the advocacy of extreme measures or views". The term is primarily used in a political or religious sense to refer to an ideology that is considered (by the speaker or by some implied share ...

chief, who blames the

Indian Government The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, ...

for

human rights violations Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hum ...

and poverty in the region. The chief states the Liberationists do not wish to enter into any dialogue with the government, and justifies their resistance in

Northeast India , native_name_lang = mni , settlement_type = , image_skyline = , image_alt = , image_caption = , motto = , image_map = Northeast india.png , ...

. Some time later, Amar describes his encounter with the woman, over the radio, which she hears. He again spots her at a

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional se ...

. At this juncture, she tells him to leave her alone; but he follows her and tells her that he is in love with her. She resists and tells Amar that she is married. Amar decides to apologize to her, but she arrives with two men who beat him unconscious. During the beating, Amar learns that the men are presumably her brothers and that she had lied about her being married. He rejoices in this discovery, despite being badly bruised and bloody. He reaches her home and learns from the locals that she has left. Amar then goes to the post office where he initially spotted her and bribes the PCO owner into giving him her contact details and learns that she is telephoning to

Ladakh Ladakh () is a region administered by India as a union territory which constitutes a part of the larger Kashmir region and has been the subject of dispute between India, Pakistan, and China since 1947. (subscription required) Quote: "Jammu a ...

. Subsequently, Amar travels to

Leh Leh () ( lbj, ) is the joint capital and largest city of Ladakh, a union territory of India. Leh, located in the Leh district, was also the historical capital of the Kingdom of Ladakh, the seat of which was in the Leh Palace, the former ...

, and while recording the Sindhu Darshan Festival, a suicide bomber is chased and shot dead by the Indian military. Amar spots the woman again. As the woman and Amar board a bus, military officers question each passenger before the bus is allowed to leave. Amar tells the officers that he is reporting on the festival, and the woman falsely tells the officers that she is travelling with Amar. After some travel, the bus breaks down and the passengers are required to walk to a nearby village. En route, the woman reveals her name: Meghna. Amar continues to pursue Meghna, despite her protestations. Megha tells Amar that her destiny prevents her from being with him. She reveals a traumatic personal history and lets slip that if they were to be together, she would want eight children. Her ambivalence and their mutual attraction is depicted by a daydream dance scene in the desert. The two end up travelling together and recuperate near one another in the desert, over night. In the morning, Amar wakes to find Meghna gone. Heartbroken, Amar returns to his home in Delhi, where his family introduces him to Preeti Nair (

) from

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South Ca ...

as a potential bride for him. Preeti confides that she was recently rejected in love and gets Amar to reveal that he was also just dumped. On their date, Amar spots one of Meghna's associates, Kim, who banished him earlier. Amar chases him down to Connaught Place, where he loses track of the man. Unbeknownst to Amar, the man kills himself with a cyanide pill after being stopped by local police. Because of the extremist nature of the situation, the police relinquish the incident to the CBI. Back at home, Amar agrees to marry Preeti and wedding preparations promptly begin. Much to Amar's surprise, Meghna shows up at his engagement party and asks Amar for a place to stay and help getting a job at Amar's All India Radio office, which he does. Amar continues to pine for Meghna, not knowing she arrived in Delhi as part of a Liberationists group which has planned multiple

suicide attack A suicide attack is any violent attack, usually entailing the attacker detonating an explosive, where the attacker has accepted their own death as a direct result of the attacking method used. Suicide attacks have occurred throughout histor ...

s in

at the upcoming

Delhi Republic Day parade The Delhi Republic Day parade is the largest and most important of the parades marking the Republic Day celebrations in India. The parade takes place every year on 26 January at Rajpath, New Delhi. It is the main attraction of India's Republic ...

& celebrations. She stays in Amar's residence to escape from the CBI inquiry operation. At one point, Meghna expresses misgivings about her plans to kill innocent civilians. She is scolded by a member of her group and reminded of her duty to their cause. Based on an eyewitness identification of the Connaught Place incident, Amar is now a prime suspect of the CBI. He is questioned by police and pieces together that Meghna is involved in something dangerous. Amar finds Meghna and questions her motives. She finally reveals to Amar that her name is actually Moina, and as a child, she had been a rape victim of the army. She describes villages being burned to the ground, and family members being raped and murdered. She accuses Amar of having no understanding of her history. She says she seeks justice and liberation through her activities. Amar infers she is planning a

on the

Indian army The Indian Army is the Land warfare, land-based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Commander-in-Chief, Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head is the Chief of Arm ...

and the

President of India The president of India ( IAST: ) is the head of state of the Republic of India. The president is the nominal head of the executive, the first citizen of the country, as well as the commander-in-chief of the Indian Armed Forces. Droupadi Murm ...

during Republic Day. While trying to grab at a cyanide necklace hanging from her neck, Amar gets arrested for harassing the woman. In a separate scene, the CBI convinces the

Army general Army general is the highest ranked general officer in many countries that use the French Revolutionary System.　 In countries that adopt the general officer four rank system, it is rank of general commanding an army in the field, but in coun ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

to grant permission to conduct security checks of all the Army

convoy A convoy is a group of vehicles, typically motor vehicles or ships, traveling together for mutual support and protection. Often, a convoy is organized with armed defensive support and can help maintain cohesion within a unit. It may also be used ...

s and tankers participating in the parade. An associate of Moina's is privy to the government's secret security plans. Moina's associates bribe the police officers holding Amar to release him. They follow him out of the police station and assault him again. Amar fights back and renders his attacker unconscious. He then answers a call from Moina, which she had placed to his attacker's mobile phone. Amar pleads with Moina to stop all this and marry him. Moina tearfully says that it is too late and that her fate is sealed. The scene ends with the sounds of bullets, which imply Amar has been shot and killed. But Amar returns home, beaten and bloody, only to find out from Preeti that Amar's mother is also being questioned and that Moina's location is at Sunder Nagar. Preeti asks if he has any intention of marrying her, and Amar says he's the only one who can stop Moina. Amar is arrested again and unable to convince the CBI that he is not working with the terrorists. He says he is in love with Moina and that he met her while interviewing an extremist leader. He says he wants to prevent them from perpetrating an attack. The CBI is not convinced. They sedate him for further interrogation later. Through sheer will, Amar is able to resist the sedative effects of the injection he received. He escapes from the CBI and continues his relentless pursuit of Moina. The next day Moina is prepared for her role in a suicide attack, as an explosive device is concealed under her dress. Amar finds her. He expresses his undying love for her and his desire to be with her. He pleads with her to leave with him, so the two of them can start fresh in a new place. He asks her to say that she loves him. When she does not answer, he persists. Desperate, he asks her to at least let him die with her. He pulls her towards him, and continues to plead with her to say she loves him. She embraces him. As the two embrace one another, they cry, and the bomb carried by Moina explodes, killing them both.

Cast

as Amarkant "Amar" Varma *

as Meghna/Moina *

as Preeti Nair *

Mita Vasisht Mita Vashisht (born 2 November 1967) is an Indian actress. Known for her work on screen, stage and television, she has played a wide range of roles. Her most prominent appearances includes; sci-fi television series '' Space City Sigma'' (1989-1 ...

as Mita * Arundhati Rao as Kanval Dev Burman – AIR station director * Raghubir Yadav as Shukla ji – AIR manager *

Zohra Sehgal Zohra Mumtaz Sehgal (born Sahibzadi Zohra Mumtazullah Khan Begum; 27 April 1912 – 10 July 2014) was an Indian actress, dancer, and choreographer. Having begun her career as a member of a contemporary dance troupe, she transitioned into acting ...

as Amar's Grandmother *

Janagaraj Janagaraj is an Indian actor who has appeared in over 200 films predominantly in Tamil cinema as a comedian or in supporting roles. He also starred in few Malayalam, Telugu and Hindi films. Early life Janagaraj was born to Vadivelu and Muthu ...

as Taxi Driver * Gautam Bora as terrorist Leader *

Sabyasachi Chakrabarty Sabyasachi Chakrabarty is an Indian actor of theatre, films and television. He is best known for portraying iconic Bengali detective characters, Feluda, and Kakababu. Personal life His parents, Jagadish Chandra Chakrabarty and Monica Chakrabar ...

as a terrorist *

Aditya Srivastava Aditya Srivastava (born 21 July 1968) is an Indian actor who works in Hindi films, television and theatre. He is best known for his role as Senior Inspector Abhijeet in India's longest-running television police procedural '' C.I.D.''. He has ...

as Terrorist * Sanjay Mishra as a terrorist *

Anupam Shyam Anupam Shyam Ojha (20 September 1957 – 8 August 2021) was an Indian film and television actor, who usually played villainous roles. He appeared as ''Thakur Sajjan Singh'' in the STAR Plus TV series ''Mann Kee Awaaz Pratigya'' (2009 and 2021). ...

as a terrorist *

Shabbir Masani Sabir Masani is an Indian actor who played the role of ''Yeda'' in ''Satya'' and similar small and significant roles in ''Asoka'', ''Company'' and '' Bhoot''. Filmography *''Satya'' (1998) as Yedaa *'' Dil Se..'' (1998) as terrorist *''Company ...

as a terrorist * Krisn Kant as Kim terrorist * Manjit Bawa as a terrorist *

Vineeta Malik ''Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai'' (), popularly known as ''YRKKH'' is an Indian Hindi-language romantic family drama television series that airs on StarPlus and streams on Disney+ Hotstar. It premiered on 12 January 2009 and is the longest run ...

as Amar's mother *

Piyush Mishra Piyush Mishra (born as Priyakant Sharma; 13 January 1963) is an Indian actor, lyricist, playwright, musician and screenwriter. Mishra grew up in Gwalior, and graduated from National School of Drama, Delhi in 1986. Thereafter, he started his ca ...

as Arun Kashyap (CBI investigation officer) *

Gajraj Rao Gajraj Rao is an Indian actor who appears predominantly in Hindi films. He is widely known for his performance in the comedy drama film '' Badhaai Ho'' for which he also won a Filmfare Award. He debuted in 1994 with a minor role in Shekhar Kapu ...

as CBI investigation officer * Priya Parulekar as Young Moina * Malaika Arora in a special appearance in the song "

Chaiyya Chaiyya "Chaiyya Chaiyya" (" alkin shade") is an Indian pop-folk song, featured in the soundtrack of the Bollywood film '' Dil Se..'', released in 1998. Based on Sufi music and Urdu poetry, the single was composed by A.R. Rahman, written by Gulzar, a ...

" * Vanitha Malik as a school teacher *

as a cameo appearance as man at the post office *

Sameer Chanda Samir Chanda (1957 – 18 August 2011) was an Indian art director and production designer across Indian cinema, including Hindi, Bengali, Malayalam and Tamil, most known for his work in films like '' Yodha'' (1992), '' Dil Se..'' (1998), ''Guru ...

as cameo appearance

Tuba The tuba (; ) is the lowest-pitched musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, the sound is produced by lip vibrationa buzzinto a mouthpiece. It first appeared in the mid-19th century, making it one of the ne ...

music shop dealer * Shaad Ali as a cameo as a citizen of Silchar * Wasiq Khan as a cameo * Pia Benegal as a cameo * Chintu Mohapatra as a cameo *

Karan Nath Karan Nath is an Indian actor. He is best known for his role as the romantic hero in '' Yeh Dil Aashiqanaa'' in 2002. Career Karan worked as a child artist in ''Mr India'' (1987). He made his debut as a leading actor in the 2001 film '' Paaga ...

as a cameo * Hemant Mishra as cameo *

B. M. Shah Brij Mohan Shah (1933–1998), better known as B M Shah, was an Indian theatre director and playwright. Shah along with Mohan Upreti, are together credited for the revival of the theatre in the Uttarakhand. He was awarded the Sangeet Natak Akad ...

as a cameo * R. K. Nair as Preeti's father * Alka as Preeti's Mother * Rajiv Gupta as Sub-inspector * Avtar Sahani as Army general * Lakshmi Rattan as Hazarika army official *

Sheeba Chaddha Sheeba Chaddha is an Indian film, stage and television actress. Early life and career Chaddha grew up in Delhi, where she developed interest in theatre and started taking theatre workshops. She majored in English literature from Hans Raj Colle ...

as Moina's sister *

Suhail Nayyar Suhail Nayyar is an Indian actor. Born in New Delhi, he studied film and acting at the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII, Pune) before moving to Mumbai to start his career in acting. After doing Theatre and several advertisements, he ...

as a child artist * Jessica as a child artist * Ishitha as a child artist * Subhadeep Sanyal as a child artist

Production

Filming began in November 1997, while Shah Rukh Khan was also simultaneously shooting for

Karan Johar Karan Johar (born Rahul Kumar Johar; 25 May 1972), often informally referred to as KJo in the Hindi Film Industry, is an Indian filmmaker and television personality, who primarily works in Hindi cinema. He has launched the careers of several su ...

's ''

Kuch Kuch Hota Hai ''Kuch Kuch Hota Hai'' () also known as ''KKHH'' or ''K2H2'', is a 1998 Indian Hindi-language musical romance film written and directed by Karan Johar and produced under Dharma Productions. It stars the popular on-screen pair of Shah Rukh Kha ...

''.

had initially cast

Jyothika Jyothika Saravanan (; born 18 October 1978) is an Indian actress, model and film producer who predominantly appears in Tamil films.

in the lead female role, though

later replaced her. Likewise, Simran was cast in a secondary lead role and opted out of other projects to accommodate the film. She later turned down the film citing that the role was too small and would affect her work in the Tamil and Telugu cinema industries.

was later brought in to replace her.

, and Wasiq Khan were the production and art designers for ''Dil Se''. The principal photography took place in

Himachal Pradesh Himachal Pradesh (; ; "Snow-laden Mountain Province") is a state in the northern part of India. Situated in the Western Himalayas, it is one of the thirteen mountain states and is characterized by an extreme landscape featuring several pea ...

, and Ladakh over a period of 55 days.

was the casting director. Pia Benegal and

Manish Malhotra Manish Malhotra (born December 5 1966) is an Indian fashion designer, couturier, costume stylist, entrepreneur, filmmaker, revivalist based in Mumbai, India. The founder of the eponymous label, Manish Malhotra, he has been deeply entrenched in ...

were the costume designers. The song "Chaiyya Chaiyya" was shot between Malaika Arora and

on top of the

Nilgiri Express The ''Nilgiri Express'' (Also known as the Blue Mountain Express, or Nilagiri Express) is a night express train service operating between Chennai Central and Mettupalayam, Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu, India. It is operated by Indian Railways. I ...

, en route

Ooty Ooty (), officially known as Udhagamandalam (also known as Ootacamund (); abbreviated as Udhagai), is a city and a municipality in the Nilgiris district of the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is located north west of Coimbatore and ...

Coonoor Coonoor, natively spelt as Kunnur (), is a Taluk and a municipality of the Nilgiris district in the Indian State of Tamil Nadu. As of 2011, the town had a population of 45,494. Demographics According to 2011 census, Coonoor had a populatio ...

and

Kotagiri Kotagiri or Kothagiri is a taluk and a Panchayat town in The Nilgiris District in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the third largest hill station in the Nilgiri hills. Kotagiri is located at . It has an average elevation of . Demographi ...

, the train is particularly painted in brown for the song sequence. The travelling scenes, other crucial scenes were shot between

and Shah Rukh Khan near

Alchi Monastery Alchi Monastery or Alchi Gompa (also Alci) is a Tibetan Buddhist monastery, known more as a monastic complex (chos-'khor) of temples in Alchi village in the Leh District, under the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council of the Ladakh Uni ...

, during the Sindhu Darshan Festival in

. The longest song of the film "Satrangi Re" with the lead pair was shot near

Thikse Monastery Thikse Gompa or Thikse Monastery (also transliterated from Ladakhi as Tiksey, Thiksey or Thiksay) is a gompa (Tibetan-style monastery) affiliated with the Gelug sect of Tibetan Buddhism. It is located on top of a hill in Thiksey approximately e ...

, the mystical Basgo Monastery ruins, and Pangong lake near Pangong Tso in

. The song "Jiya Jale" was shot between Preity Zinta and Shah Rukh Khan near Athirappilly Falls, Alappuzha backwaters,

Periyar National Park Periyar National Park and Wildlife Sanctuary (PNP) is a protected area located in the districts of Idukki and Pathanamthitta in Kerala, India. It is notable as an elephant reserve and a tiger reserve. The protected area encompasses , of which ...

, Villangan Hills and

Periyar Lake Periyar, , (meaning: ''big river'') is the longest river and the river with the largest discharge potential in the Indian state of Kerala. It is one of the few perennial rivers in the region and provides drinking water for several major towns ...

. Several action sequences in the film choreographed by

Allan Amin Allan Amin is an action director in India's Bollywood, Tollywood and Mollywood film industries. He received the Filmfare Award for Best Action in 2001, 2004 and 2006 for '' Mission Kashmir'' (2000), '' Qayamat: City Under Threat'' (2003) and ' ...

were shot near

Connaught Place, New Delhi Connaught Place, officially known as Rajiv Chowk, is one of the main financial, commercial and business centres in New Delhi, Delhi, India. It houses the headquarters of several noted Indian firms and is a major shopping, nightlife and tourist ...

, Rajpath and

Old Delhi Old Delhi or Purani Dilli is an area in the Central Delhi district of Delhi, India. It was founded as a walled city named Shahjahanabad in 1648, when Shah Jahan (the Mughal emperor at the time) decided to shift the Mughal capital from Agra. T ...

Themes

''Dil Se'' is said to be a journey through the seven shades of love that are defined in ancient Arabic literature. Those shades are defined as attraction, infatuation, love, reverence, worship, obsession, and death. The character played by Shahrukh Khan passes through each shade during the course of the film. Authors Sangita Gopal and Sujata Moorti of ''Global Bollywood: Travels of Hindi Song and Dance'' also compared Khan's romance in the film to the trajectory of love in ancient Arabic literature, believing the lyrics in two of the songs to have delivered an "apocalyptic fatalism". The film is a dramatization of the attraction between a character from the heart of India and another from a peripheral state and a representation of opposites in the eyes of the law and society. ''Dil Se'' is described as a film "structured through deferment and unfulfilled teasing promises". '' Rediff.com'' said about the film, "The entire feel of the film is appropriately poetic, with a few romantic exchanges standing out quite memorable. Tigmanshu Dhulia has handled the film's dialogues adroitly. Amid moonlit desert dunes, there is a particularly stirring conversation between the leading pair. Amar reveals his hate for Meghna's eyes – because he can't see the world is hidden behind them and his love for the same, stunning eyes – because he can't see the world hidden behind them." Elleke Boehmer and Stephen Morton in their book ''Terror and the Postcolonial'' (2009) believe that the songs and their exotic locations in the film were very important in masking the impossible reconciliation between a terrorist and an uptight government agent by evoking pure fantasy. They argue that this is a phenomenon called the "liminal space of dreaming" in that the terrorist woman cannot fulfill her sexual desire so the songs fill the void of this desire by "their sumptuousness and exotic locales" in the

region. The theme of the movie was reported to be paying homage to the 1981 British film ''

The French Lieutenant's Woman ''The French Lieutenant's Woman'' is a 1969 postmodern historical fiction novel by John Fowles. The plot explores the fraught relationship of gentleman and amateur naturalist Charles Smithson and Sarah Woodruff, the former governess and indep ...

''.

Release

''Dil Se'' released on 21 August 1998. Though the film was shot mainly in Hindi-language, director

also dubbed and released the film in Tamil and Malayalam in the title ''Uyire..'' () which became very popular among Tamil-audience with its songs and in Telugu with the title ''Prematho'' (). Shah Rukh Khan's Tamil dialogues were dubbed by

Arvind Swamy Arvind Swamy (born 18 June 1970) is an Indian actor, model, entrepreneur and television presenter known for his work in Tamil cinema and a few Hindi, Telugu and Malayalam films. He was introduced as an actor by Mani Ratnam with the blockbuster ...

in the film.

Reception

Critical reception and box office

Though ''Dil Se'' received an average box office response in

, it found success overseas. It was screened at the

and the

. The film went on to win the

at the

, two

National Film Awards The National Film Awards is the most prominent film award ceremony in India. Established in 1954, it has been administered, along with the International Film Festival of India and the Indian Panorama, by the Indian government's Directorat ...

, and six

Filmfare Awards The Filmfare Awards are annual awards that honour artistic and technical excellence in the Hindi-language film industry of India.Al The Filmfare ceremony is one of the most famous film events in India. The awards were first introduced by th ...

. The intense political agenda of the film with the trials of the Assamese on the

India-China border The Line of Actual Control (LAC), in the context of the Sino-Indian border dispute, is a notional demarcation lineAnanth KrishnanLine of Actual Control , India-China: the line of actual contest, 13 June 2020: "In contrast, the alignment o ...

, the love story and the fact that it coincided with the 50th Independence Anniversary celebrations became a major factor for its success overseas, particularly amongst the South Asian diaspora in the west. The film became the first Indian film to enter the top 10 in the United Kingdom box office charts. Even months after its release in September 1998, the film was still screened on five screens, five times per day with an average of 3,000 spectators across all screens in the Cineworld complex in

Feltham Feltham () is a town in West London, England, from Charing Cross. Historically part of Middlesex, it became part of the London Borough of Hounslow in 1965. The parliamentary constituency of Feltham and Heston has been held by Labour Party ...

, West London. Deepa Deosthalee wrote a positive review to the film, calling it "a picture-perfect ode to love" and praising the direction, writing and performances. Khalid Mohamed found the film disappointing, noting it "fine performances, technique and music" but panning its lack "of that crucial element called a story".

Anupama Chopra Anupama Chopra () is an Indian author, journalist, film critic and director of the MAMI Mumbai Film Festival. She is also the founder and editor of the digital platform Film Companion, which offers a curated look at cinema. She has written sev ...

of ''

India Today ''India Today'' is a weekly Indian English-language news magazine published by Living Media India Limited. It is the most widely circulated magazine in India, with a readership of close to 8 million. In 2014, ''India Today'' launched a new on ...

'' wrote, "Amid the reels of tripe churned out by Bollywood every week, ''Dil Se...'' is a noble attempt. But coming from Mani, that's simply not good enough." The film was included in ''Time'''s "Best of Bollywood" list in 2010. ''Dil Se'' was also a hit in

Awards and nominations

Soundtrack

The soundtrack features six songs composed by

. Raja Sen of ''

Rediff Rediff.com (stylized as ''rediff.com'') is an Indian news, information, entertainment and shopping web portal. It was founded in 1996. It is headquartered in Mumbai, with offices in Bangalore, New Delhi and New York City. , it had more than 300 e ...

'' called it, "Rahman's finest soundtrack, by far." The soundtrack album sold six million units in India. The song "

", based on Sufi music (lyrics based on the Sufi folk song, "Thaiyya Thaiyya" by

Bulleh Shah Syed Abdullah Shah Qadri ( pa, ; ; 1680–1757), known popularly as Bulleh Shah ( pa, ; ) and Bulleya, was a Punjabi philosopher and Sufi poet during 17th-century Punjab. His ancestors had migrated from Bukhara (modern-day Uzbekistan) ...

) and

Urdu poetry Urdu poetry ( ur, ) is a tradition of poetry and has many different forms. Today, it is an important part of the cultures of South Asia. According to Naseer Turabi there are five major poets of Urdu which are Mir Taqi Mir (d.1810), Mirza Ghal ...

, became especially popular and the song has been featured in the film ''

Inside Man ''Inside Man'' is a 2006 American heist thriller film directed by Spike Lee and written by Russell Gewirtz. It centers on an elaborate bank heist on Wall Street over a 24-hour period. The film stars Denzel Washington as Detective Keith ...

'' (2006), in the musical ''

Bombay Dreams ''Bombay Dreams'' is a Bollywood-themed musical, with music by A. R. Rahman, lyrics by Don Black and the book by Meera Syal and Thomas Meehan, originally produced by Andrew Lloyd Webber. The London production opened in 2002 and ran for two ...

'', and in the television shows '' Smith'' and ''

CSI: Miami ''CSI: Miami'' (''Crime Scene Investigation: Miami'') is an American police procedural drama television series that ran from September 23, 2002 until April 8, 2012 on CBS. Featuring David Caruso as Lieutenant Horatio Caine, Emily Procter as Detec ...

''. The soundtrack was recorded in several other languages. Malayalam lines for the song "Jiya Jale" was written by Malayalam lyricist

Gireesh Puthenchery Girish Puthenchery (1961–2010) was a noted Malayalam Lyricist, Poet, Scriptwriter and Screenwriter. He was always referred to as the aristocratic lyricist of Malayalam who had a distinctive writing style of his own. He also served as the dire ...

Pink Floyd Pink Floyd are an English rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experimentation, philosophical lyrics an ...

bass guitarist

Guy Pratt Guy Adam Pratt (born 3 January 1962) is a British musician. He is best known for his prolific work as a session bass player, working with artists including Pink Floyd (also David Gilmour and Nick Mason), Roxy Music (also Bryan Ferry), Gary Moo ...

for post-

Roger Waters George Roger Waters (born 6 September 1943) is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. In 1965, he co-founded the progressive rock band Pink Floyd. Waters initially served as the bassist, but following the departure of singer-s ...

albums ''

Delicate Sound of Thunder ''Delicate Sound of Thunder'' is a live album by English progressive rock band Pink Floyd. It was recorded over five nights at the Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, New York, in August 1988 and mixed at Abbey Road Studios in September 1988. It was ...

'', ''

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'' and ''

Pulse In medicine, a pulse represents the tactile arterial palpation of the cardiac cycle (heartbeat) by trained fingertips. The pulse may be palpated in any place that allows an artery to be compressed near the surface of the body, such as at the n ...

'' played bass on title song "

Dil Se Re "Dil Se Re" (translation: From the Heart) is a song from the movie '' Dil Se..'', composed by A. R. Rahman, lyrics penned by Gulzar and sung by A. R. Rahman, Anuradha Sriram and Anupama in chorus. It was a chart topper of the year 1998 and ...

Original Version

Hindi (''Dil Se..'')

Dubbed Versions

Tamil (''Uyire'')

Telugu (''Premato'')

Background Score

Hindi (''Dil Se..'')

Track List :

Tamil (Uyire)

Track List :

Malayalam (Uyire)

Track List :

Telugu (Premato)

Track List :

References

Bibliography

External links

* {{Authority control 1998 films Indian war drama films Films about terrorism in India Films directed by Mani Ratnam Indian films about revenge Indian Army in films Films scored by A. R. Rahman Films set in Delhi Films shot in Assam Films shot in Bhutan Films shot in Delhi Films shot in Jammu and Kashmir Films shot in Ooty Films shot in Thrissur Films shot in Chalakudy Films shot in Alappuzha Films shot in Munnar Insurgency in Northeast India Films whose cinematographer won the Best Cinematography National Film Award 1990s Hindi-language films 1990s romantic thriller films War romance films Indian romantic thriller films Journalism adapted into films Indian nonlinear narrative films Films that won the Best Audiography National Film Award Films about insurgency in Northeast India 1990s war drama films