Haal-e-Dil Movie Review: Refreshing Debut Performances

It has been a while since we have seen a young college romance which is kept simple with minimalistic characters and in that way, Haal E Dil is a refreshing watch. It is not path breaking cinema, and there are flaws, yet the film has certain endearing qualities to it the biggest being Amita Pathak, the debutant female lead.

The film starts with Rohit and Sanjana, two kids in college who fall in love. This relationship is established in the opening credits of the film itself, so as to avoid wasting any time and getting straight into the story. What is interesting is the way the narrative unfolds; it is not linear, and yet flashbacks are used innovatively, rather than one stretch, unfolding the past. Sanjana has come to Mumbai for some work, and on her way back to Shimla, she meets Shekhar at the train station. Shekhar is a born flirt but his charms fail to impress or even amuse Sanjana, who makes it clear to him that she already has someone in her life. However this doesn't stop Shekhar from trying, which leads to several incidents between the two. It is during this journey that in brief snapshot flashbacks, we come to know more about Rohit and Sanjana and as the journey of Shekhar and Sanjana continues from Mumbai to Shimla, the story between Rohit and Sanjana is opened up through parallel incidents happening in the journey, until we reach a stage where we learn something shocking about Sanjana and Rohit's love story. How Shekhar deals with this, forms the rest of the film.

The first thing that works for the films is the interesting narrative format as it ensures the film is not a regular run of the mill love triangle and so you never really know what to expect next. We are not saying the film is full of surprises; in fact it has many clich?s, but the narrative style gives it a fresh feel. However the film could have easily been reduced in length by about 20 minutes by editing out at least one song and also removing the entire silly jungle episode to reduce the drag in places. Also, certain key scenes are run through too quickly without any real explanation, justification or even adequate reactions from the characters; for example the events that lead to the hospital scene between Rohit and Sanjana and Sanjana's lack of reaction in that scene. The songs although occurring at regular intervals, have been beautifully shot with some breath taking scenery. Also, Anil Devgan has kept the number of characters and subplots to a minimum which allows the story between the three protagonists to be more engrossing although better dialogues would have made the film overall more engaging. One fails to understand the excessive use of chromo shots throughout the film especially in scenes which could have easily been shot on a set like the train station song and the final scene of the film.

All three actors make a commendable debut; in fact they have performed with such confidence that they do not seem like debutants at all. Adhyayan is the weakest of the three, but more so maybe because of the way the character has been developed, and the fact that he somehow lacks a strong screen presence. Nakuul Mehta is quite impressive although one cannot understand why he seems to be aping Hrithik Roshan in many of his gestures as well as dialogue delivery and at times his overacting begins to irritate. But there is no mistaking the fact that there is something about him that makes you enjoy seeing him on screen. However the film belongs completely to Amita Pathak. Being the producer Kumar Mangat's daughter, many may have thought that it is only because of her father that she has even been able to make a debut and surely many were not expecting much from here especially as she is not conventionally beautiful and even slightly needs to reduce her weight. Yet, she performs with tremendous confidence and ?lan without going over the top, without excessive melodrama; in fact she gives a very restraint performance which normally we see only from seasoned actors. Reactions, dialogue delivery and even the small nuisances of the character's body language have been handled by her with ease. She almost reminds you of Kajol, in that Kajol was never bothered about her looks and was throughout her career on the heavier side, yet she was always endearing on screen and was a brilliant performer. Amita seems to be heading in the same direction and is set to take Bollywood by storm. Tanuja makes a special appearance and Ajay and Kajol are there only in a blink and you miss part of a song.

All in all, a decent film which shows a marked improvement post Raju Chacha in terms of director Anil Devgan's storytelling and a film with refreshing performances by three newcomers who look destined for a strong future in Bollywood.