''Dil Jo Bhi Kahey...'' () is a 2005 Indian

romantic drama film Romance films involve romantic love stories recorded in visual media for broadcast in theatres or on television that focus on passion (emotion), passion, emotion, and the affectionate romantic involvement of the main characters. Typically their ...

directed by

Romesh Sharma Romesh Brij Sharma is an Indian film producer, actor and director. Under his banner Romesh Films, he has been actively involved in the production of films and television shows for over 30 years. Personal life His son Karan Sharma is also an ...

Amitabh Bachchan Amitabh Bachchan (; 11 October 1942) is an Indian actor who works in Hindi cinema. He is often considered one of the greatest, most accomplished and commercially successful actors in the history of Indian cinema.* * * * * With a cinemati ...

, Revathi Nair, Karan Sharma,

Bhumika Chawla Bhumika Chawla (born Rachna Chawla; 21 August 1978) is an Indian actress known primarily for her work in Telugu cinema, along with a few Hindi and Tamil films. She made her acting debut with the film '' Yuvakudu'' (2000) and subsequently became ...

Annabelle Wallis Annabelle Frances Wallis (born 5 September 1984) is an English actress. She is known for her roles as Jane Seymour in Showtime (TV network), Showtime's period drama ''The Tudors'' (2009–2010), Grace Burgess in the BBC drama ''Peaky Blinders (T ...

Malcolm Stoddard Malcolm Stoddard (born 20 July 1948) is a British actor who has appeared in films and television. Early life He attended the all-male grammar school Chichester High School For Boys. Career His TV credits include ''The Voyage of Charles Darwin'', ...

and

Claire Oberman Claire Oberman (born 1956) is a Dutch-born New Zealand actress, known for her role as Australian nurse Kate Norris in the television drama '' Tenko''. Her other TV appearances include '' Fortunes of War'' as Mortimer, ''Paradise Postponed'' as ...

star in the film. The film is adapted from Romesh Sharma's

Mauritian Mauritians (singular Mauritian; ; Creole: ''Morisien'') are nationals or natives of the Republic of Mauritius and their descendants. Mauritius is a melting pot of multi-ethnic, multi-cultural and multi-religious peoples. Mauritian is made up ...

serial titled C'est La Vie, also featuring Karan Sharma and was broadcast on

Mauritius Broadcasting Corporation The Mauritius Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) is the national state broadcaster of the Republic of Mauritius, that is the islands of Mauritius, Rodrigues, and Agaléga. The historical headquarters in Curepipe were relocated in Réduit, Moka. It ...

Mauritius Mauritius, officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island country in the Indian Ocean, about off the southeastern coast of East Africa, east of Madagascar. It includes the main island (also called Mauritius), as well as Rodrigues, Ag ...

in 2003.

Plot

Shekhar Sinha, his wife Sandhya, and their son Jai are one of the many

Hindu Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...

Indo-Mauritian Indo-Mauritians are Mauritians who trace their ethnic ancestry to the Republic of India or other parts of the Indian subcontinent in South Asia now known as Nepal and Pakistan. History During the administration of the French East India Compa ...

families living in

. Jai ventures out to

Stockholm, Sweden Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

, to obtain an education in

culinary Culinary arts are the cuisine arts of food preparation, cooking, and presentation of food, usually in the form of meals. People working in this field – especially in establishments such as restaurants – are commonly called chefs or ...

studies and incidentally meets Sophie Besson, a

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

Franco-Mauritian Franco-Mauritians () form an ethnic group of white people in Mauritius who trace their ethnic ancestry to France and ethnic French people. Franco-Mauritians make up approximately 2% of the country's population. Other than documented European ance ...

. They start meeting regularly and soon fall in love. Jai is introduced to Sophie's parents, Norman and Claire Besson. Norman (a large landowner in Mauritius) instantly disapproves of him (because of his ethnicity). Jai feels his father and mother would approve of Sophie. Unfortunately, Sandhya disapproves of her (because of her Catholic faith) and tells Jai to end his relationship with her. The lovers plan to

elope Elopement is a marriage which is conducted in a sudden and secretive fashion, sometimes involving a hurried flight away from one's place of residence together with one's beloved with the intention of getting married without parental approval. A ...

, but Jai fails to turn up on the stipulated wedding time in church. Sophie reluctantly returns to her parents to marry the boy of their choice (Gordon). By this time Jai is

engaged An engagement or betrothal is the period of time between the declaration of acceptance of a marriage proposal and the marriage itself (which is typically but not always commenced with a wedding). During this period, a couple is said to be ''fi ...

to Gayatri Pandey to fulfill his mother's wish (who has

asthma Asthma is a common long-term inflammatory disease of the airways of the lungs. It is characterized by variable and recurring symptoms, reversible airflow obstruction, and easily triggered bronchospasms. Symptoms include episodes of wh ...

). Sophie wants to know why Jai did not turn up. Meanwhile, Gayatri learns of Jai and Sophie's love and comes up with a ruse of Sophie's

false pregnancy False pregnancy (or pseudocyesis, ) is the appearance of clinical or subclinical signs and symptoms associated with pregnancy although the individual is not physically carrying a fetus. The mistaken impression that one is pregnant includes sign ...

that forces Sophie and Jai's family to accept them as a couple. The film ends with Gayatri leaving Mauritius.

Cast

as Shekhar Sinha * Revathi Nair as Sandhya Sinha * Karan Sharma as Jai Sinha *

as Gayatri Pandey *

as Sophie Besson *

as Norman Besson *

as Claire Besson * Manuj Tilakraj Gulati as Gaurav Gulati

Music

Reception

Critical response

Namrata Joshi Namrata Joshi is an Indian film critic based in New Delhi. Originally working for ''Outlook'', she remained there from 1999 till 2015, when she joined ''The Hindu''. She won the National Film Award for Best Film Critic in 2004. Career Joshi i ...

from

Outlook Outlook or The Outlook may refer to: Computing * Microsoft Outlook, also referred to as ''the classic Outlook'' an e-mail client and personal information management software product from Microsoft * Outlook for Windows, also referred to as ''the ...

wrote, "Dil Jo... has been made for the young but not by the young. Though it comes smartly packaged, it's dull, without any spirit or spunk of youth".

Anupama Chopra Anupama Vinod Chopra () is an Indian author, journalist and film critic who served as the festival director of the Mumbai Academy of the Moving Image, MAMI Mumbai Film Festival from 2015 to 2023. She is also the founder and editor of the now-de ...

from

India Today ''India Today'' is a weekly Indian English-language news magazine published by Living Media, 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'' laun ...

wrote "At a time when the

family values Family values, sometimes referred to as familial values, are traditional or cultural values that pertain to the family's structure, function, roles, beliefs, attitudes, and ideals. Additionally, the concept of family values may be understood ...

factory, Yashraj Films, makes romantic comedies out of premarital sex, this is old-fashioned".

Taran Adarsh Taran Adarsh (born 13 June 1965) is an Indian film critic and trade analyst. He is best known for giving trade figures and box office updates on social media, as well as his reviews for Bollywood Hungama. Career Taran Adarsh started his journ ...

Bollywood Hungama Bollywood Hungama (lit. "Bollywood Madness" in Hindi), previously known as IndiaFM (or IndiaFM.com), is an Indian entertainment website, owned by Hungama Digital Media Entertainment, which acquired the website in 2000. The website provides n ...

gave the film 1.5 out of 5, writing, "On the whole, DIL JO BHI KAHEY lacks the power to cast a web on youth or those who prefer mushy love stories. At the box-office, the hype surrounding the film is clearly missing and in view of the fact that the film rests on a routine plot, the chances of survival seem remote".

References

External links

* * {{rotten-tomatoes, dil_jo_bhi_kahey
Details
at

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movies 2005 films 2000s Hindi-language films Indian romantic musical films Films scored by Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy Films set in Mauritius Films set in Sweden Films shot in Sweden Films shot in Mauritius