Had you ever felt that you are watching a timeless creation, which makes you look at with awe, when you see the movie that you had run down initially? I felt it when I was seeing Maniratnam's "Dil Se…." this Thursday night on a cable network here. I still remember the way I saw it on the release date filled with loads of excitement and expectations, when I was doing my Engineering in Salem. I was really disappointed and I 'advised' lots of my friends not to go for it. A couple of years later, I watched it from halfway in Zee Cinema, but found it still better this time.
Performances
But when I saw it last Thursday on E-Vision's Thursday night Hindi movie, I was bowled by its narrative and visual structure from the minute one. It was fabulous and mind blowing. Maniratnam made it well ahead of its times, as by Shah Rukh Khan said in an interview.The movie treaded an offbeat path even within the commercial format. It had all the commercial ingredients like an "item" number, a glamorous second heroine and breath taking visuals. It was surely a benchmarking performance by everyone associated with it. Either it is Manisha or Shah Rukh Khan or even Preity Zinta, no wonder they rate their performances as one of their career's best.
But more than anyone, it was Manisha Koirala who stole the thunder right under everyone's nose. There was a tremendous enigmatic quality in her character. As a suicide bomber, she gave her career's best performance along with Bombay & Khamoshi. Yet the performance didn't go well with the masses because they were not given ample time to go through the hidden meanings of her behaviors. When you watch it for the second time, you could identify why she speaks certain dialogues, like she says to "I can die in snap of a finger" and "There is no time for me to love and live"She looked stunning without any make up in "Dil Se…" and Santhosh Sivan had captured the nuances of her performances effectively without missing even a small gasp and winks. She displayed those oscillation between love and duty, guilty that she is going to erode the happiness of Shah Rukh Khan's family, her inability to see Preity cozying up with Shah Rukh Khan and pushing her love for SRK to back burner in a very convincing manner. Her reaction to Shah rukh Khan's passionate smooch was simply astonishing. She cries without tears and in due process she gets fits and the way she portrayed is mindblowing.
Another scene where Manisha is over the phone while Shah Rukh Khan is being shot down by her colleague at the other end, when she hears the bullet fired, her expressions was terrific. Manisha being the phenominal actress accomplishes the emotional journey effortlessly. Surprisingly at the fourth viewing, I was in the verge of tears when finding her helpless being torn between love and duty in the climax. It is just impossible to visualise anyone else except Manisha Koirala doing this role. Manisha is the only actress other than Revathy, Maniratnam had worked with more than once. It is really sad to see this talented actress in B-grade skin flicks like "Market", "Chahat", who had given memorable performances like in "Khamoshi, Bombay, 1942 A Love Story".
Next comes the performance that matches the intensity of Manisha Koirala by Shah Rukh Khan. Shah rukh Khan oozes exuberence like a volcano of energy erupting on the screen. I could sense the passion Shah Rukh Khan has for Manisha in his eyes. The way he makes up his mind when Manisha leaves his life and Preity enters, his dilemma when he sees Manisha on his steps on the day of betrothal, his struggle to know what is in her mind and his obsession due to which he tries Manisha to see his love, Shah Rukh Khan has definitely proved that he is a better actor than just being a star. All through the movie Shah rukh Khan talks and talks about his love for Manisha, and surprisingly this doesn't tire you, instead you feel his passion. He gives a dignity to this otherwise inane role that is more of infatuation than love because ehy he feels so strong for Manisha is not clearly depicted. Many found his character as inconsistent and non-heroic when seen for the first time. I think this is the bane of commercial movies. The lead character must be either completely right or wrong, no fluctuations. Even if hero has a premarital sex it must be under inebriated condition, not on sense. 
The first half, on contrast was shot mostly at wide-angle shots showcasing the stunning beauty of Ladakh, Darjeeling and Ooty. The vast dry barren lands of Ladakh were shot postcard picturesque through the lens of ace cameraman Santhosh Sivan. The dry land complements the dry feelings in the lives of the protagonists thus complementing the movie rather than being mere prop. the movie is really a national movie, in the sense shot all over India from snow capped Himalayas to dry barren vast Ladakh, to mesmerising backwaters of Kerala and magnificient Athirampally falls in Kerala to serene Thekkady in Tamilnadu and then crawls to dirty streets of Old Delhi and finally covers the royal Red Fort of New Delhi.
A.R Rahman's songs and background score are really timeless gems. If "Chaiyya Chaiyya" made you dance Udit Narayan's rendition of painful "Aye Ajnabee…" move you. Gulzar's lyrics were literary rich and you realise why he is the first choice by most of top directors. At that time of release everyone raved about Lata Mangeshkar singing for AR Rahman for the first time, but I felt more than that, it was the Tamil version with S.Janaki that sounded better. AR Rahman's passionate vocals about fanaticizing Manisha Koirala in the "Dil Se Re…" song gives a high of being in love. On the whole if the album still sounds fresh as any other Maniratnam - AR Rahman score, I will surely credit it to Maniratnam for extracting the best from AR Rahman.
Another possible reason could be the garangutan expectations that come as part and parcel of every Maniratnam's movie. With this being his first "honest to Hindi" effort with bigwigs like Shah Rukh Khan, Manisha who was a reigning queen of marquee then, AR Rahman, Santhosh Sivan, I think audience expected a feel good time pass stuff. Instead when offered a serious stuff like terrorism and psyche of a suicide bomber, most of them didn't understand what they had been offered. But by the changing time and intellect of audiences where intense movies like "Black" succeeds, "Dil Se…" would have fared better if released 10 years after it was originally released.
Dil se... is all about the love and psyche of a suicide bomber with terrorism as a mere backdrop, that touches the brutal realities then and there, not a preachy stuff in the pretext of giving a "solution" to terrorism. Don't get carried away by the absense of trivial details like where the story takes place, identity of the terrorist outfit and reason why they want to blow off the president. Instead look into the final days of a human bomb, who is deprived of love, you'll surely empathise with her. Watch it frame by frame, shot by shot, only in Hindi, you'll surely understand what I really mean. 
