Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam

''Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam'', released internationally as ''Straight From the Heart'', is a 1999 Indian Hindi-language romantic drama musical film directed, co-written, and produced by Sanjay Leela Bhansali. The film stars Salman Khan, Ajay Devgn, and Aishwarya Rai. Based on Jhaverchand Meghani's play ''Shetal ne Kathe'', the film narrates the story of a newlywed man who discovers that his wife is in love with another man and decides to unite them. The film has also been described as a loose adaptation of Maitreyi Devi's Bengali novel '' Na Hanyate'', although the film itself does not credit it as a source.

It was filmed throughout the Gujarat-Rajasthan border region, in addition to Budapest, Hungary, which was used to represent Italy. The film premiered in the Indian Panorama section at the 1999 International Film Festival of India. The Bengali film ''Neel Akasher Chandni'' was inspired by this movie.

The film was a commercial success and emerged as one of the highest-grossing Indian films of the year, earning . It received predominantly positive reviews from critics. ''Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam'' received 17 nominations at the 45th Filmfare Awards, including Best Actor (Khan and Devgn), and won 7 awards, including Best Film, Best Director (Bhansali), Best Actress (Rai), and Best Male Playback Singer (Udit Narayan).

Plot

Nandini (Aishwarya Rai) is the daughter of Pundit Darbar (Vikram Gokhale), a renowned proponent of Indian classical music. It is announced that a young man named Sameer (Salman Khan) will be arriving to stay with the Darbar family, as he wants to grasp the intricacies of Indian classical music under the guidance of the Pundit. He is accommodated in Nandini's room, causing her to shift elsewhere and, hence, take a dislike to Sameer. At first, the two tease and prank one another, but soon enough, they fall deeply in love. The two share romantic moments during several family events, including weddings and festivals.

One day, the couple is caught rehearsing their wedding vows by the Pundit. The old man is enraged since he has already planned Nandini's wedding with the young lawyer Vanraj (Ajay Devgn), who had fallen in love with her during her cousin Anu's wedding. Sameer is banished from the household, and the Pundit quits singing since he believes Nandini has brought shame to the family. Sameer is made to vow that he'll never meet Nandini again. Although he initially acquiesces and leaves for Italy, he soon starts writing letters to Nandini, asking her to join him, but his letters do not reach her. After a futile suicide attempt, Nandini reluctantly weds Vanraj. He tries to consummate their marriage on their wedding night, but Nandini is disgusted by his approach and acts coldly toward him. He asks her for an explanation, but she chooses to remain silent.

Nandini finally receives Sameer's letters, and Vanraj walks in on her reading them. He is enraged and initially decides to return her to her parents, but soon realizes that since she is in love with another man, the right thing to do would be to unite the pair. Vanraj seeks his parents' consent, which they give after disagreeing at first. Nandini and Vanraj arrive in Italy but come up against dead ends searching for Sameer. During their search, they are mugged and Nandini is shot in the arm. Moved by Vanraj's gentleness and affection towards her, Nandini begins to warm up to him. Eventually, they are able to locate Sameer through his mother, and Vanraj dutifully arranges for their meeting on the night of Sameer's debut concert. He then bids farewell to Nandini and walks away, heartbroken.

Upon meeting Sameer, she apologizes to him and tells him that she has come to love Vanraj. She reflects upon the unwavering love and devotion that Vanraj has showered upon her throughout their relationship, and realizes that Vanraj is her true soul mate. Sameer realizes she no longer has the love for him that he once saw in her. Heartbroken, Sameer lets her go back to Vanraj, which she readily accepts, and Sameer breaks down after she leaves, and his mother consoles him. She runs back to Vanraj and tells him that she cannot live without him. Vanraj adorns a mangala sutra around her neck, and they embrace each other.

Cast

Manisha Koirala was considered for nandini role but later Aishwarya Rai roped in.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack had lyrics by Mehboob Kotwal and music by Ismail Darbar. Voices on the soundtrack include those of Kavita Krishnamurthy, Alka Yagnik, Kumar Sanu, Udit Narayan, Hariharan, Vinod Rathod, Sultan Khan, Shankar Mahadevan, KK, and others. It received nine Filmfare Award nominations in the music and singing categories and produced some winners as well. According to the Indian trade website, box office India the film's soundtrack sold 3.5 million units sold, this films soundtrack was the third highest selling album of the year. The song "Albela Sajan" was reinterpreted in the movie Bajirao Mastani (2015), which was also directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali. Bhansali composed the soundtrack of Bajirao Mastani as well. An unlisted track "Pritam Gaye Pardes" sung by Karsan Sagathia frequently features in the movie.

Track listing

Reception

''Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam'' was well received by most critics — especially for its emotional content, cinematography and soundtrack — as well as the performances of the lead actors and a surprising performance by guest star Helen.

Ken Eisner said "this three-hour spectacular is stuffed with songs, romance, comedy, devotional material, and color-soaked dance numbers that are huge even by Hindi standards." Michael Dequina writing for ''TheMovieReport.com'' said of the three leads "Rai, in a luminous, award-winning performance (largely considered her big dramatic breakthrough—and justifiably so), fills in the conflicted emotional shades that Khan fails to bring with his one-dimensional presence; and Devgn's soulful subtlety does its job in suggesting Sameer to be a more formidable romantic adversary than viewers would see him as being." The reviewer for ''Filmfare'' felt it was a "once-in-a-decade type of extravaganza" and wrote, "Cinematographically, the movie is flawless and by virtue of this fact alone, a must-see. It aims at capturing poetry on screen without becoming pretentious. The music by Ismail Darbar is simply enchanting. The film juxtaposes Indian thematic content with exotic foreign locales."

A huge hit at the Indian box office, Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam became the third highest-grossing Bollywood film of 1999 with over $20 million. It also did well at the foreign box office, with 85 million.

Accolades

Notes

References

External links

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''Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam''
at Bollywood Hungama

{{Sanjay Leela Bhansali

1999 films
1990s Hindi-language films
Films directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali
Films shot in Hungary
Films shot in India
Films set in Gujarat
Films set in Italy
Indian romantic drama films
Indian romantic musical films
1999 romantic drama films
1990s romantic musical films
Films based on Indian novels
Films based on romance novels
Films whose cinematographer won the Best Cinematography National Film Award
Films shot in Gujarat
Films about composers
Films whose production designer won the Best Production Design National Film Award
Films featuring a Best Choreography National Film Award–winning choreography
Hindi films remade in other languages
1999 musical films
Indian films based on plays