After The Interval (Interval Ke Baad)
Two friends rewatch the Indian movie classics we grew up on — one film at a time, one argument at a time. New episodes every week. Because the best part of any movie isn't the movie — it's always the conversation after.
After The Interval (Interval Ke Baad)
Dil Chahta Hai (2001) — 25th Anniversary — Kabhi Na Beete Yeh Pal
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After The Interval (Interval Ke Baad) — Episode 9 — 25th Anniversary Special
August 10th, 2001. A film released in India that changed what Hindi cinema thought it could look like, sound like, feel like. No villain. No grand tragedy. No sermon about family values. Just three friends. A road trip to Goa. It is the most honest depiction of male friendship in urban India that Hindi cinema has ever put on screen.
Dil Chahta Hai is not a film about what happens. It is a film about who you are when you are with the people who know you best. Before life gets complicated. Before the world decides who you are supposed to be. When the only thing that matters is the next conversation, the next laugh, the next argument about nothing that somehow means everything.
Bharath and Neelima rewatch Farhan Akhtar's masterpiece on its 25th anniversary — and ask the questions that only time can answer. What does this film look like now that we have actually lived the lives it was describing? Who were you at 25, watching Akash deflect with charm because he did not know how to be honest about what he felt? And who are you at 50 — understanding for the first time what Sid felt for Tara, and what it costs to love someone you cannot keep?
The friendship that never gets old. The soundtrack you still hum in the car twenty-five years later.
Dil chahta hai. Kabhi na beete yeh pal.
Because the best part of any movie isn't the movie — it's always the conversation after.
New episodes every week.
Interval ke baad, the real conversation starts.
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25 years. 2001 was Nilma, one of those years in Hindi cinema that just keeps on giving. We had Kabikushi Gabi Gam that turns 25 this year. Lagan turns 25 this year. Gadar turns 25 this year. And of course, one of our favorite sillims, Dil Chatahe, turns 25 this year. That's the movie we are going to re-watch today. Hello friends. I am Parat. This is Neilima. And welcome to After the Interval.
SPEAKER_01Interval Kibad.
SPEAKER_07Because the best part of any movie is not the movie.
SPEAKER_01It's the conversation after.
SPEAKER_07We are here talk about what it got right that nobody else had until then. And what does it look like to the generation, our generation that grew up with it? Our second Amir Khan film. We did Joji Tawaisik and there where Amir wasanju, the boy that was becoming a man over a bicycle race. And in Dil Chatahe, he plays Akash, the man who has all the tools to become something and doing everything in his power to avoid it. And this is our first Farhan Akhtar film. Farhan was what, Nilima, 27 years old when he made this. And when this film came out in 2001, we looked at the screen and we saw a little bit. Or maybe a lot of ourselves. And the cast for Dil Chata Neilima?
SPEAKER_01Amir Khan, Saif Ali Khan, Akshay Khanna, Pritizinta, Sonali Kulkarni, Dimpur Kaparya, Ayub Khan, Rajat Kapoor, Sojitra Pillai.
SPEAKER_07Well said. Our first segment is Zamana Kakhae, where Neilma and I talk about a little bit about the context in which the movie was made. And Neilima, for me, one of the reasons why I love this movie so much is in many ways it was the end of an era. The movie came out in August 2001, and a month later, nothing has remained the same ever since. So there is a lot of nostalgia, a lot of melancholy, a lot of the coming of age that we experienced as we were watching this movie during that time. Plus, the world was also globalizing at a speed that was both thrilling and felt terrifying at the same time. That context does not change the movie. It adds something to it, a specific, a special kind of poignancy that we feel more acutely now than the audiences did when the movie first came out.
SPEAKER_01And in India, the mood was electric in a very specific way. Liberalization, like you said, was a decade old and you could feel it everywhere. A generation of young Indians whose cultural references were simultaneously local as well as global. The IT boom was creating a new urban professional class in Bangalore, Hyderabad, Mumbai. Young people with disposable income, with passports, with the confidence that came from knowing the world wanted and what they had to offer. And that was the India Dil Chaatai was made for. Hindi Sinma landscape that year was extraordinary. Number one was Kabikushi Kabigam, diametrically opposite to Dil Chahatae, biggest family drama of the decade. At number two, Gadar, nowhere close to Dil Chathae. Number three, Lagan, Amir Khan again, Ashutosh Govarikar, India's Oscar Submission. Dil Chathae came fifth. And yet, ask anyone from urban India what film defined 2001 for them. In fact, you know, I would say the entire 2000s for them. The answer is almost always the same. Kitriji gave you family, the other gave you patriotism, Lagan gave you a cause, but Dil Chatahe gave you a mirror. And the Urban India, it was made for, looked at that mirror and said, This is us. This movie is us.
SPEAKER_07That movie was truly us, and uh agree with everything you said. So when did you first see it? And what were your first impressions?
SPEAKER_01At that time, my first impression, I completely identified with Amil's character, like Akash and uh Shalani's uh story and their story arc. But on rewatch, I I my heart goes out for Sid and uh Sid and uh Dimple's character. For me, Akash's character seems so superficial now. I can't even imagine how I identified with him back then. How about you?
SPEAKER_07Isn't that the beauty of Dil Chatahe that the we have grown with that movie, we have re-watched it multiple times. A thousand percent. There was almost no Sid and a lot of Akash and Samir in me when the movie first came out. I had just got married, mid to late 20s, and I could I could get the vibe. I may have had many of my Akash and Shalini moments, but now I watch it, and for me, the big difference was I was just amazed at how much Seth grew as an actor, even during the course of the movie. Yeah. For me, he was the surprise package, but I'm with you. The Sid Tara love story hits so differently now than when we first saw it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, when I first saw it, I didn't even understand what the big deal was. And now, you know, it makes complete sense to me.
SPEAKER_07Absolutely. The other thing that I love, Neilima, the background score. If you listen to the background score, it is absolutely amazing. And I was thinking back to movies that had background score that felt the essence of the movie, and two movies came to mind for me. One was Rojas. And then Swades.
SPEAKER_01Some of the fast facts about the movie. It was released in August 29th, 2001, directed by Faran Attar, his directorial debut, produced by Ritesh Siddwani, his production debut, music was by Shankar Esan Loy, lyrics by Javed Akhtar, cinematography by Ravi K. Chandran. Runtime was 185 minutes, a little over three hours.
SPEAKER_07It's a long movie, it's a three-hour movie.
SPEAKER_01It doesn't feel it doesn't feel long.
SPEAKER_07It does not. Because if there is a movie that is symbolic of the name of this podcast after the interval, it is Dilchata.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_07Because it's such a distinct movie before and after.
SPEAKER_01After the interval. Yeah. And one more small detail Kiran Rao, who would later become Ahmed Khan's wife, appears in a small role as Deepa's friend in Goa. She was on the set before she was in his life.
SPEAKER_07Maybe it all started there. Who knows?
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_07And uh Dil Chata is very much an Akhar family affair, Neilima. I'll just share a few more details with you. So the movie is about friendship, we get it, but the film itself was a family production in every sense of the word. Faran wrote and directed it. So story, screenplay, dialogues, and direction by Farhan Akhtar. So even though I have to believe that his dad, Javit Saab, helped them here and there with some of those dialogues.
SPEAKER_01And his sister too, Bharat.
SPEAKER_07Yes, I'm coming, I'm getting to her. So a lot of the story was from his personal diaries, uh, a trip to Goa, and then uh he had spent several weeks in New York in the summer of 96. So the raw material was a lot of his experiences, his story. His dad, of course, Javed Akhtar wrote all the lyrics. Uh, of course, one half of Salim Javed. We just paid tribute to them last week with Trushul. So I'm sure he sat down with his son and uh gave the movie all the words it needed. Hani Irani, Farhan's mom, she had a role to play too. Apparently, when Farhan first envisioned the movie, it was largely a love story between Akash and Shalini. But Hani Irani said, Hey, make it a movie about friendship. Why don't you think about three friends?
SPEAKER_01Yay!
SPEAKER_07And uh yes, thank you, Hani Irani.
SPEAKER_01Thank you, Hani Iraniji.
SPEAKER_07Absolutely. What a movie with those three friends. And then, of course, like you said, his sister Zoya Akhtar oversaw the entire casting process. And one of the nice things about this being such a family affair is that in the opening credits, it says, presented by Java Aktar and Chendan Siddwani. So the two dads were the presenters. So tell us a little bit about the behind the scenes, Nilima.
SPEAKER_01Farhan originally cast uh Akshay Khanna as Akash, the charming, commitment phobic, fast talking center of the trio. Then Amir Khan expressed uh interest in Akash. Farhan went back to Akshay and asked him to consider playing Sid instead. And Akshay accepted without drama, with no ego. So kudos to Akshay for that because he suited the role of Sid to a T. And uh Retik Roshan was offered Amir's role as well. He refused. Amishek Bhachan was offered, he refused, surprising. And Syafali Khan initially refused as well, but he agreed at the behest of Amir. So kudos to Amir for convincing, you know, everyone to come together for identifying, you know, uh how good the script is, saying yes to it and you know getting all the team together. Dimple Kapadia said yes on one condition that Farhan call her by her name on the set, not Auntie. Just Dimple.
SPEAKER_07Just Dimple.
SPEAKER_01And Preeti Sinta, she was not part of the uh original Koi Kahe Kaitarahe song, but she loved the song so much that she begged Farhan to be in it. That joy you see on her face is completely real.
SPEAKER_07Absolutely, absolutely. And we gave Amir kudos in our last episode when we did Jojita Voi Sikandar as well. Mr. Khan, if you ever watch this podcast, you have two of your greatest fans, and uh just the range you exhibited during those times. I mean, Lagan and Dilchata in the same year, and just the conviction. So Amir always has this vision about how a movie will come together, who the right roles are. And Akshay, if you're feeling any bit of remorse about not taking Akash's role, let us tell you, as we have aged, you are by far our favorite character in the movie.
SPEAKER_01Yes, thank you, Akshay, for agreeing to do this movie because yeah, you're such a pookie, you're such a sweetheart, Akshay.
SPEAKER_07Such a sweetheart, and your your scenes were the ones Neelema and I were going back and forth, back and forth, because some of the acting range, the the quiet dignity that in which you did this role. So it's perfect.
SPEAKER_01Let's move on to our next segment, Bakisab First Class. Before Vil Chatahe, Hindi cinema did not know how to show male friendship. You know, the traditional male loyalty shown in Sholai, Deva, Randa Zapna Akna. What it did not know how to show was this three men sitting around doing nothing in particular, talking about nothing in particular, and being themselves. This specific texture of a friendship that has lasted long enough that it has its own language. Dil Chatahe was the first Hindi movie that showed male friends the way it actually feels, not how it looks in the climax, how it feels on a lazy Tuesday afternoon when nothing is happening. That is why DCH hit the cities the way it did, but underperformed in rural India. Not because rural audiences did not understand friendship, but because this specific version of friendship, three upper class urban men with disposable income and passports and existential crisis about what to do with their lives was not the experience of somebody coming from a rural background. The film was honest about who it was for and the people it was for, responded and how.
SPEAKER_07Without a doubt, I want to share a couple of scenes when I re-watched the movie that told me exactly how honestly the movie was made. There is a scene where Amir Khan goes to Saeev's house to wake him up and uh he's jumping on the bed and he has his sneakers on. You know how we would rush to our friends' houses into their rooms and we'd forget to remove our sneakers and our chapel outside. So it's that just raw joy of going to a friend's house and feeling at home. The other scene is after the pivotal scene, right before the interval happens, when the conflict between Sid and Akash emerges. The next morning, when Samir goes to Akash's house, they are still wearing the same clothes. When we fought with our friends, it was so painful. It was so important for us to get it right that we would be churning all night thinking about what to say, how to say it, would can't wait for the morning to happen so we can go over and apologize. And no change in clothing. They're literally wearing the same thing that they did the night before because they're all working through what happened the night before. So, just again, all those little details that only a debut director with a certain vision can have. Amazing work for Han. So, for me, the most radical creative choice. I know you and I talked about it earlier. It's not the goa trip, it's not Sydney, there's no villain, it's not Rohit, but it is the Sid and Tara love story. Sid's in a 20-something, the quite introspective one, falls genuinely deeply in love with Tara Jeswal, Dimple's character. A woman that, as they say, 10, 15 years older to him, she's a divorcee, she has a child, she's also has an alcohol problem. So the nice thing about the way they handled this is they didn't feel like this needed to be a problem that should be solved. They treat it as a real, one of the more truer things that Sid has felt. They give it one of the more devastating, but also honest and raw endings. Tara dies of liver cirrhosis, Sid by her side, and having never fully accepted his love, but she has been shaped by it because he's the one who's at her bedside. So for me in 2001, in a mainstream Hindi film, for one of the main lead characters to be in love with a much older woman, almost unheard of. To Farhan's credit, he didn't make this older woman like back in the day, widow Sati Savitri wearing the red dress. She's confident, she's urban, she's herself, and she's a genuine romantic figure. One of the great songs in the movie is short on those two. So just like you and me, a human being with a complicated life who inspires a profound love in someone younger. And so for Farhan at 27, to be able to write, envision, and direct that amazing how well he shaped those two characters and especially Dimples. Who I think he got completely right.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. And I would like to think, you know, his mom also influenced him. He he must have had, you know, been surrounded by strong women like uh his mom. And uh, you know, they somehow inspired him to write a character like Dimple.
SPEAKER_07Absolutely, absolutely.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, Bharat, when you recently watched the movie, what holds up and what does not?
SPEAKER_07So a couple of things have aged perfectly. I think the three friendship archetypes. We all have friends in our group or used to before we got older: an Akash, a Sid, and a Samir. The charming one who deflects, the quiet one who feels everything, and the good-natured one who just wants everyone to be happy. So 25 years later, you look at those friendships, they're still there. We talked about the Sittara love story. Now in 2026, it doesn't feel that radical. But again, just when I think about it, feels like, yes, that's something that can happen now. An older woman has a genuine romantic leap. So I think that has aged very well. The third thing for me is the urban India it depicts. Perhaps it's it was a little bit ahead of its time, but the coffee shops, the road trips, everybody's going to go these days. Language mix, the casual confidence they have of a generation that's growing up through globalization. So all of that feels pretty real to me and has aged really well. In terms of what's aged poorly, just a couple of things, Neilma. One is Akash's treatment of a woman, right? The casual dismissiveness. Yes, a lot of that happens in jest to me. Maybe I've aged, it lands a little bit differently. And the women themselves, amazing characters, Shalini, Puja, and Tara, beautifully written. But they exist almost entirely in relation to what the men are feeling. So I think the women's inner lives I could have been explored more, but it's already a three-hour movie. Neilma, as you rewatched it, what were some of the surprise elements?
SPEAKER_01Uh when I rewatched it, uh, I don't know, yeah, like I mentioned, the easy camaraderie between them, how you can be yourself with your friends regardless of how old you are. Just the healthy way in which most of the relationships are depicted in the movie, these are some of the things that uh stood out for me. How about you?
SPEAKER_07Yeah, for me, Saif was really the surprise package on the rewatch. The comic timing, the complete ease. And in many ways, he's the emotional anchor of the trio without ever trying really hard. The songs, the jokes, all around Saif. So I think that for me, Sayev's role was a big part. And the second part was for all the great songs. And background music. For Hans maturity as a first-time director, there is this, of course, famous scene that we all want to recreate in Shapura Ford, the three of them sitting looking into the horizon. It's one of the sea. Absolutely, right? But the beauty of that scene is there is no sound, no music, no background music. Farhan just lets that scene sit. And just to have the confidence to be able to do that, and some of the things that I mentioned, the friendliness, you go into a friend's room, you're jumping on his bed. They're going to go over in a car. And even during the song, they all rotate driving responsibilities, right? Just all those little nuances. And Akar slowly falling in love with Preeti Zinta, where he gets on that train, she's not able to get in, the train leaves. And you can see for the first time in his expression thinking that I want to be with her. Right? So just the maturity in which Farahan handled his debut movie, just those scenes just stand out for me.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, while you were mentioning, I remembered one scene when Sayev doesn't want to come back from uh Goa because he met this girl there, he asked his friends to cover for him. Saying, you know, we are still in Goa. Okay, don't call my mom. That was like a great touch and so natural.
SPEAKER_07So natural. And then when uh the girl that is pursuing Amir Khan Deepa, she comes to the hotel and uh she sees these two guys, right? And she says, Where is Akash? And without hesitating for a second, they're like, Ma karai, Deepah.
SPEAKER_13Oh, hi Deepa. Akash guy! Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_07Like you said, we all we all had friends like that, and then life happens. Very similar to the lines Sid says when they are sitting at that scene, right? That who knows we'll be whether we'll be able to meet again in 10 years. But we all had friends like that who could complete our sentences, who just we could spend hours and days just hanging out with them, and and it would feel so natural, so well made.
SPEAKER_01And next we'll move to our Gana Bhajawa section. I want to go over uh Shankar Hai San Loy and Jawed Akta's contribution to Dil Chatae. In 2001, Hindi film music sounded a very specific way. Big orchestral arrangements, melodic structures, the same sonic palette that had worked for decades and continued to work, and then Shankar Hesan Loy walked in. Three musicians who came not from the film music, Shankar Mahadevan, a trained classical vocalist, Asan Nurani, a guitarist whose instincts were entirely Western, Lloy Mendonza, a programmer and arranger who understood how to layer sounds in ways Hindi film music had never attempted. And the lyrics, Javed Akter. I mean, kudos to Javid Sap for sounding so contemporary, like in every generation. Greatest soundtracks in the history of modern cinema written in just a long weekend.
SPEAKER_07And every song has not aged one bit.
SPEAKER_01Not one bit.
SPEAKER_07Even today.
SPEAKER_01Even today. Yeah.
SPEAKER_07Amazing song. Doesn't even need a remix.
SPEAKER_01In the beginning, when Amir gives the speech, it kind of reminded me of Papa Kete. But it's the complete opposite of Papa Keteh. Who cares where where we end up?
SPEAKER_07And then he goes on to the And I have to believe Farhan set that up perfectly. He made us all think that Amir was going to deliver lines like QSQT, and then he delivers this punchline that says, relax, guys.
SPEAKER_10Who cares where the hell we'll end up?
SPEAKER_01The dance steps, they're so easy at the same time, you know, so so good. Then Dilchahe, the title track, Shankar Mahadevin, a song that opens the film and tells you immediately that something different is happening. Then came Janikyu Lok Pyar Kartehe, Udit Narayan and Al Kahnik, romantic centerpiece. Amir Khan himself suggested Udit Narayan's voice for the song, and Udit won the national award for it.
SPEAKER_07I just want to say one thing about that song. Udit Narayan is probably the best male duet singer of his generation. Because when you hear this song, even Janikyo from DCH or Radha Kaysenajale from Lagan, if you hear the two songs, he sings for Amir in a very steady pace. He's letting the music do its thing. He's letting Asha Bosle and in this case Alka Yagnik do their thing. If you listen to the female version of this song, when Alka Yagnik starts singing the song, she has so many variations in the song. And just kudos to Udit for saying that, hey, this song, I'm going to let my female co-singer handle the challenging or the varying parts of the song. But just the confidence he has in his own ability to let the song play itself out, hats off to Udit.
SPEAKER_01And I think it kind of reflects the uh nature of uh Amit's like Akash and Shalini Barat, because uh, you know, Akash is trying to be dismissive, and Shalini is trying hard to convince him, you know, to believe in love, right? So I kind of understand, you know, why probably they they sang like that.
SPEAKER_07And the lyrics of this song are so amazing. So amazing. The back and forth they have. Only Java Daktar could have written a song like this.
SPEAKER_01Yes, yes, yes. And then comes Shan and Kavita Krishnamutti, the song that began as a Cheltics tune playing on the car stereo, while Shankarah's son, Loy, and Farhan were driving to Lunavla. They heard it, looked at each other, and built an entire song around it. Pure joy from the first note to the last. And the choreography, who can forget the choreography? Love going through the ages.
SPEAKER_07And Farhan has played homage to every generation's love as the song is seen on screen.
SPEAKER_01And then came Kasi Hey Yaruth Shinywas, dreamy atmospheric, the quietest song in the album, and the one that sneaks up on you very beautifully choreographed. The sound of two people who belong together, separated, missing each other without knowing how to say it.
SPEAKER_07For my money, that song is one of the best placements of a song ever in the history of Indian cinema. The time it comes, the way it comes, the lyrics it comes with, Amir's angst that it shows.
SPEAKER_01Top 10, certainly, certainly.
SPEAKER_07I want to quickly cover a couple of things. The instruments and the background score. So there's a couple of things. So Janeky Logpya Karate starts with a did Jerry Doo. So this is an Australian aboriginal wind instrument that is at least 1500 years old. It's the first time it's ever been used in a Hindi film. And then even the interlude then brings in an African chorus. And not necessarily in Hindi movies. The sawtooth synth melody that captures the entire emotional world. Just so beautifully done. Dilchata's soundtrack was in BBC Asian Network's top 40 soundtracks of all time. Shankar Resanloy won the RD Berman Award for New Music Talent at Film Fair. And so everything that came after Kalhonaho rock on Zindagina Milagi Dubara flows in some ways from what SEL did with DCH. Alright, the next segment is Kismatka Khale, but this time we are going to do something different. Usually we're talking about casting what ifs, but Neilma, I want to talk about the three personas of Amir Khan. This is our second Amir film on After the Interval. And I feel like nobody comes of age better. Nobody has such massive reckonings in movies than Amir. JJWS, boy becoming a man over the course of a bicycle race. DCH, the man who refuses to grow up until Sydney and Shalini happened to him. Same actor, he portrays these with such complete conviction. I was just thinking when I re-watched DCH about what I would want from Mr. Khan before he's done. At least for the last few years since he made PK, we feel like this self-conscious perfectionism. It's starting to percolate in his movies. So, Mr. Khan, we have a request for you, sir. We want you to be the unguarded, slightly lost, finding yourself version of yourself again. We want to see you vulnerable. We want to see you with intensity, with sincerity, like Sarfarosh. So give us a different version of you, please, before you're all said and done.
SPEAKER_01Totally agree about the intense Amir part. The focused, controlled, morally driven Amir, like you know, in Talash, in Sarfarosh, who made you completely believe in every scene. No vanity, no performance. Just a man who believed in what he was doing so completely that Amir still exists somewhere. We want him back.
SPEAKER_07We want him back. And Ilma, I have one more type of Amir we would like. The slightly older romantic Amir. We don't want the teenage love of QSQT and JJWS. That version was perfect for that age. I want to see Amir in an older romance, a man who has lived a little, who has made mistakes, and who loves differently because of it.
SPEAKER_01Also, please consider comedy like Anta Zapnapna. You're so natural there.
SPEAKER_07Yes. Make these movies, retire your PK. We want the OG Amir back. And Neilma, I want to talk a little bit about Farhan's debut. I was thinking about this. We should constitute this as the Mohammed Azaruddin Award for some of the outstanding debuts. Farhan's debut, A.R. Raman with Roger, Ram Gopalvarma in one of my favorite films, which we'll rewatch from Siva. Amir, of course, from Cures QT. And then, of course, for my money, the greatest debut of all time is Ritikroshan with Kahona Pyar hai, because the art made an entire country just the dancing, the presence, the sheer physical electricity, we could barely breathe. So I think Farhan definitely had one of the great debuts in Hindi cinema. What do you think, Neilima?
SPEAKER_01Yeah. For me, Farhan's debut is right after Amir and A. Rahman. Even though Farhan is a jack of all trades and has dabbled in multiple departments, for me, Farhan, the director, is far superior to Farhan the actor and musician. And I'm always interested in what he has to say about modern friendships and relationships. His debut remains one of the most impactful till date.
SPEAKER_07Alright. Our last, our favorite segment is the CTMR segment. So, Nilma, uh I'll share with you some of my favorite scenes. My first one is when Tara comes home to see Sid's paintings. She looks at Sid's work and tells him exactly who he is. Not what he's presenting to the world, but who he actually is. Because she sees those paintings and then she says, She's the first person who has ever truly seen him, and Akshay Kana's face in that moment, the combination of surprise, elation, exposure, relief. I feel like it's one of the great small acting moments in Hindi cinema.
SPEAKER_01Finally, somebody understands him. So yeah, that that realization. Yeah. Wonderful pick. Wonderful pick, Barit. My first pick is actually a collage of scenes, the path that they make to visit Goa every year. And Sid's analogy between the ship's journey and their individual journey through life.
SPEAKER_07Love it. My second one is uh what I call the repeat dialogue. So right after the Kohi Kahe Ketare song, Akash playfully falls on his knees and says to Shalini Metom seosurf tom separ.
SPEAKER_10Tom Sir Fisli cake then meribanjo. Tom Maryho Salini.
SPEAKER_07He says that with so casually, just deflecting so much charm. And then at the very end of the movie, he says the same exact lines to the same person, except this time he means every word. So just for Farhan to write that structural echo into the screenplay, same words, completely transformed by everything that has happened between the first time he said it and the last time he said it.
SPEAKER_01And the variation that Amir brings brings in the dialogue delivery, right? Yeah, wonderful.
SPEAKER_07The vulnerability, beautiful.
SPEAKER_01My second favorite is Samir convincing his friends that he loves Poja as soon as he meets her, and it's its response to Samir.
SPEAKER_13Samir.
SPEAKER_07And uh Akash turns around and says, Why do you have to tell me? And then she says, She's not angry, not hurt, just very clear.
SPEAKER_01She knows, yes, yes.
SPEAKER_07So that the grace with which she lets him go, the way she says that line, without making him feel worse, it's handled with so much maturity. I feel like Preeti Zinta doesn't get enough credit for the restrained performance she delivered in uh DCH.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, just the quiet acknowledgement that I know. I know what you what you meant. Wonderful. Uh, my third uh favorite is uh the scene where Sid slaps Akash. That's a powerful scene that gives us a rare glimpse into the otherwise introverted Sid. His disappointment with Akash, who doesn't know at that point, who doesn't know the difference between love and lust. Sid is a sweetheart, and he's almost too good to be true. Any girl would love to have someone like him in their lives.
SPEAKER_07Isn't it amazing how uh your romantic uh choices have changed over the decades? Beautiful all scenes that you just captured, Neilima. I just I just love them all. And the beauty of that friendship is by the time Akash boards that plane to Sydney, he's already realized that he's done something he shouldn't have done. Because he goes to Samir and says, Just the maturity of the friendship, when you truly care and love for a friend, it's always bigger than your ego. So great choices again. Nilba, what's uh again amazing movie, but what's your closing take?
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Dil Chatahe gave Urban India permission to see itself on the big screen. Before this film, Hindi cinema knew Urban India existed, but it did not quite know what to do with it. That India did not have a cinema that reflected it back accurately. Dil Chatahe was the first movie that did it. And the urban audience responded the way audiences respond when they finally see themselves on the screen, completely emotionally, with a loyalty that has lasted 25 years and who knows how many more years. And that is why this movie is still being discussed, still being rewatched, still being quoted at dinner tables by people who were 20 when it released and who are now 45. Not because it is perfect, but because it is true. And true films do not age. They just keep finding new people who recognize themselves in them.
SPEAKER_07Beautifully said Neilma. Mind closing take. It's a perfect movie, like I mentioned earlier, for after the interval, because it's clearly a tale of two halves. The first half of DCH makes you laugh so completely. The Govert trip, the Jadi Kepiche, all the friendships that are built over time, and then the slap happens. And the second half, the Sydney, the hospital, and towards the end, uh Tara's death, their reunion. For Farahan Akhtar to have at that age understood the complexities of friendships, of love, is truly outstanding. And uh it's one of the great comedies, movies, it's one of the great friendship movies, it's one of the great movies around love. So it's a film that ages with you, that gives you something different every time you return to it. Because we are different every time we return to it. All right, Neilma, give us a flavor for uh next week.
SPEAKER_01Next week, should we do a Telugu movie? Or something?
SPEAKER_07Yes, why let's why don't we do uh something special next week? Our uh Telugu fans are asking for another Telugu movie. So this one very personal to you and me because, and for everyone that calls America home, a Telugu film made in 1987, shot not just in Hyderabad or Chennai, but in Missouri. A movie that was way ahead of its time in terms of it understanding the Indian diaspora experience. So we are dropping this on a very specific date. You will know why when you when you see it. Neilima and I will see you there. In the meantime, Neilma, thank you so much. Thank you so much. We had a lot of fun doing Dil Chata hai. What a great movie. And folks, please keep the requests coming. Alvida, we will see you all. And if you have any suggestions, please reach us at after the interval podcast at gmail.com. Thank you so much. See you all next week.
SPEAKER_08Bye bye.