Dil To Pagal Hai (transl. The heart is crazy; Hindi pronunciation:[dɪltoːpaːgəlɦɛː]), is a 1997 Indian Hindi-language musical romance film directed by Yash Chopra. The film follows the love lives of the members of a musical troupe, in which two dancers played by Madhuri Dixit and Karisma Kapoor get entangled in a love triangle with their choreographer played by Shah Rukh Khan, with Akshay Kumar playing the childhood friend of Dixit's character. The film marked Khan's second film with Chopra after Darr (1993), and the third film to feature Khan opposite Dixit, after Anjaam (1994) and Koyla (1997), and Kapoor for the first time. This is also the only film to star Khan and Kumar, and Dixit and Kapoor. The soundtrack was composed by Uttam Singh, while the lyrics were penned by Anand Bakshi.
Made on a budget of ₹90 million (US$2.48 million), which includes print and advertising costs, Dil To Pagal Hai grossed over ₹598 million (US$16.46 million) worldwide, becoming the highest-grossing film of the year. The film received widespread critical acclaim, with high praise for its direction, story, screenplay, soundtrack, cinematography and performances of Khan, Dixit, Kapoor and Kumar.[2][3]
Rahul and Nisha are members of a dance troupe that perform dance-based musical plays in Mumbai. Nisha is secretly in love with Rahul, but outwardly, they are just friends. Rahul announces his desire to direct a new musical named Maya. The members of the troupe, including Nisha, have their doubts about the title character, "Maya," who Rahul describes as a girl who believes in true love, and who is waiting for her prince charming, who she believes will surely turn up and take her away. Nisha is cast to play the role of Maya.
The troupe welcomes a new entrant, Pooja, who is an amazing and classically trained dancer who is passionate about dancing. Having been orphaned at a young age, Pooja was raised by close friends of her parents. Pooja and Rahul have a string of near-misses as they run into each other time and again. Each of these instances is marked by a tune playing in the background, that registers with Pooja. Pooja is soon taken to Germany by her foster parent's son Ajay, her childhood best friend who has been working in London . Just as Ajay leaves to fly back to London, he proposes to Pooja. In a dilemma, Pooja ends up accepting his marriage proposal.
Meanwhile, Nisha injures her leg during rehearsals for the upcoming play, and the doctor advises her to take bed rest and not dance for a few months. In search of a new dancer to replace Nisha in the play, he comes across Pooja dancing one day, and believes she is perfect for the role. He begs her to come to their rehearsals and after much hesitation, she agrees. Eventually, Rahul and Pooja become close friends. Nisha soon returns from the hospital and is upset that she has been replaced, and becomes very jealous upon learning that Rahul likes Pooja. Knowing that Rahul does not reciprocate her love, she decides to leave for London to visit her parents. Throughout rehearsals, Rahul and Pooja find themselves falling for one another. When Rahul drops Pooja home one day, he starts whistling his tune, making Pooja realize that she has fallen for the man with the tune she so often heard. The next day, the two go to meet Pooja's old dance tutor, who Pooja addresses as Tai, who figures that the two are ardently in love. At the wedding of two members of the dance troupe, Rahul and Pooja share an intimate moment, but are unsure how to express their love for each other.
A few days before the premiere of the play, Ajay arrives at the rehearsal hall to surprise Pooja. He tells everyone that he is her fiancé. Rahul is heartbroken, but tries not to show it. Nisha, who has returned from London, notices Rahul's devastation and explains how she too was devastated when he did not love her in return. Rahul edits the end of the play to reflect his heartbreak, in contrast to his usual style of always giving a happy ending. On the night of the premiere, as Rahul and Pooja's characters are about to break up on stage, Ajay plays a recorded tape Pooja was going to send him before his proposal, where she described how she felt about Rahul. Ajay is indirectly telling Pooja that she and Rahul are meant to be together. Pooja now realizes she truly loves Rahul and the two confess their love on stage as the audience applauds them, giving the play a happy ending once again. Backstage, Ajay ends up asking Nisha whether she is already married or not, implying his interest in her.
Balvinder Singh Suri as Ballu: Rahul and Nisha's friend and Soni's brother
Murad Ali as Jimmy: Rahul and Nisha's friend and Soni's husband
Priya Varma as Soni: Rahul and Nisha's friend; Ballu's sister; and Jimmy's wife
Tanya Mukherjee as Tania: Rahul and Nisha's friend
Shivani Wazir as Anjali: Pooja's friend
Production
Kapoor played Nisha, a role several actresses rejected
Dil To Pagal Hai was the second of Yash Chopra's 4 consecutive films to star Shah Rukh Khan in a leading role. It was the third film to feature Khan opposite Madhuri Dixit, after Anjaam (1994) and Koyla (1997). The film was originally titled Maine To Mohabbat Kar Li and Tevar before Chopra finally settled on Dil To Pagal Hai as the title.
Sridevi was initially offered to play the role of Pooja, but she declined.[5] The role then went to Dixit. After casting Dixit in the lead role of Pooja, Chopra found it hard to cast the role of the second female lead, Nisha. Manisha Koirala was first approached for the role, but declined. The role was then offered to Juhi Chawla, as Chopra wanted two leading actresses of that time to star alongside each other, however Chawla did not want to play second fiddle to Dixit, after playing the leading lady in Chopra's previous film Darr (1993). Kajol and Raveena Tandon were also offered the role; however Kajol declined as she felt that the role was insubstantial while Tandon was considering quitting her career at the time. Urmila Matondkar, who worked with Khan in Chamatkar (1992), accepted the role, but opted out after a day of shooting. No leading lady was willing to take the risk of playing a second lead to Dixit. Chopra finally approached Karisma Kapoor who agreed to take up the challenge and was signed.[6] She felt that despite the short screen-time, a lot could be achieved with the role.[7][8]
Jackie Shroff was the initial choice to play the role of Ajay, however Chopra felt that a much younger actor was required, promoting Chopra to sign Akshay Kumar.
In addition to writing the story, Chopra co-produced the film along with M. Vakil under the banner Yash Raj Films. The script was written by Chopra, his son Aditya and wife Pamela. The film's costumes were designed by Manish Malhotra and Karan Johar. Manmohan Singh was the film's cinematographer, while the choreography was handled by Farah Khan and Shiamak Davar.[9]Shahid Kapoor made an uncredited appearance as a dancer in the song ''Le Gayi''.[10]
Chopra rejected 54 dresses created by Malhotra for Dixit's character, choosing a salwar kameez over others.[11] Filming began in June 1996. It was the first Bollywood film to be shot in Baden-Baden and Europa Park, both popular German tourist attractions. It was made on a budget of ₹90 million.[1]
The soundtrack of Dil To Pagal Hai includes 10 songs. The songs for the film were composed by Uttam Singh. Lyrics were written by Anand Bakshi.[12] The music was a major hit among the audience, with the album becoming the best-selling Bollywood soundtrack of the year and second-most of the 1990s decade, with 12.5million soundtrack album sales.[13] Chopra earned an advance of ₹45 million for the music rights.[14] In 2008, Chopra launched an unreleased song from the Dil To Pagal Hai soundtrack, titled "Chanda Ki Chandni (Kitni Hai Bekarar Yeh)" sung by Lata Mangeshkar & Kumar Sanu.[15]
Approximately 300 prints of the film were released worldwide, with 250–260 across India, including approximately 60 in the Mumbai circuit. 60 prints were released overseas.[16]
Reception
Critical reception
Omar Ahmed of Empire gave the film 4 out of 5 stars, noting, "It's great eye-candy, painting a portrait of a newly prosperous India in rainbow colours. Good performances too make this a cut above the Bollywood average."[2]
Box office
Screen reported that Dil To Pagal Hai opened to a "record business with 100 per cent collections in the first week all over India". The report added that prints were sold as ₹2 crore per territory.[17] 100 per cent collections were report also in the second week, and 97 per cent in the third.[18]
It grossed ₹59.82 crore (US$16.47 million) in India and $3.3 million (₹12.04 crore) in other countries, for a worldwide total of ₹71.86 crore (US$19.79 million), against its ₹9 crore (US$2.48 million) budget, which also included print and advertising costs. It had a worldwide opening weekend of ₹4.71 crore (US$1.3 million), and grossed ₹8.97 crore (US$2.47 million) in its first week.[19] It opened on Friday, 31 October 1997, across 245 screens, and earned ₹98 lakh (US$120,000) nett on its opening day. It became the third highest opener of the year behind Border (₹1.12 crore (US$308,373.44) nett) and Koyla (₹1.06 crore (US$291,853.43) nett).[20] It grossed ₹2.75 crore (US$757,166.93) nett in its opening weekend, and had a first week of ₹5.24 crore (US$1.44 million) nett. The film earned a total of ₹34.97 crore (US$9.63 million) nett. It is the 2nd-highest-grossing film of 1997 in India after Border which grossed ₹39.45 crore (US$10.86 million) nett.[21]
Dil To Pagal Hai earned $3.3 million (₹12.04 crore) outside India.[19] Overseas, It is the highest-grossing film of 1997.[22] It ranked as the highest-grossing Indian film of 1997 worldwide.[23]
