Priyal Chitale FILM 237: Indian National Cinema

Fall 2012 Research Paper

Pyr ky to darn ky?

(Re)Imag(in)ing (hetero-)romantic love in Dil Chahta Hai
Te amo sin saber cmo, ni cundo, ni de dnde, te amo directamente sin problemas ni orgullo: as te amo porque no s amar de otra manera [] Pablo Neruda, Cien sonetos de amor, Maana XVII

Ever since the first Indian sound film, Alam Ara (Ardeshir Irani, 1931), romantic love has prevailed as an essential element of the iconography of mainstream Hindi-Urdu cinema. In the semiotics of Bollywood narratives, it has conventionally been used as a narrative device to articulate, negotiate, and manage prevalent socio-political tensions and anxieties, and examine dominant cultural paradigms of sexuality and gender identity. In the introduction to her book on Bollywood as social history, Jyotika Virdi (2003: 13-14) notes that Bollywood film plots conceive [romantic love] strictly in heterosexual terms, and that [romantic love] confronts and transcends class hierarchies, patriarchal authority, [and religious and communal differences]. In the allegory-heavy Bollywood mode of melodrama, the community simultaneously subsumes and sublates the individual, thereby essentialising certain paradigms of social behaviour and affective experience. In keeping with the politics of this aesthetic, conventional Bollywood representations of romantic love are underlain by the assumption that everyone defines, experiences, and is impacted by true love the same way, and are limited by and concomitantly perpetuate socially prescribed categories and boundaries of expression. Shyam Benegal, Govind Nihalani, and Mani Kaul amongst the group of directors who spearheaded the efforts towards an Indian neo-realist cinema in the 1970s and 80s have portrayed subjective experiences of romantic love in several of their films; My Brother Nikhil (Onir, 2005), Pyaar Mein Twist (Hriday Shetty, 2005), and Cheeni Kum (R. Balki, 2007) are the most notable amongst the handful of Hindi-Urdu films that have portrayed nonnormative romantic and sexual orientations and relationships in the past few decades.
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Priyal Chitale FILM 237: Indian National Cinema

Fall 2012 Research Paper

However, almost all of these films are situated within the discourse of alternative cinema, traditionally a spectral presence in the Hindi-Urdu film industry that has been the domain of the intellectual elite and international film festival circuits. Several others like Fire (Deepa Mehta, 1996) and Gulabi Aaina (Sridhar Rangayan, 2003) never managed to reach the Indian audiences because censorship restrictions and dogmatic opposition from the authorities prevented their exhibition. Farhan Akhtars directorial debut, Dil Chahta Hai (2001) was the first mainstream Hindi-Urdu film focusing on subjectivity and individuality to become a critical and commercial success. In this essay, I examine how Akhtar (re)imag(in)es love as a complex, multifaceted, and deeply personal cognitive-affective experience, and engages with the Indian social imaginary by subverting traditional constructs of interpersonal relationships and gender identity. Brinda Bose (2011: 44), in her essay on the filmic representation of contemporary Indian urbanities, described the Indian metropolis as a critical site (both imagined and real) for the mapping of a convergence of anxieties about urbanity, modernity and non-normative sexualities []. Dil Chahta Hai departed from the generic conventions of mainstream Bollywood, and emerged as a cult film, setting the precedent for a new wave of mainstream Hindi-Urdu films that adopt a naturalistic aesthetic and address the cultural and socio-political tensions defining the multifarious ideoscapes1 of the Indian metropolis. Set against the backdrop of a contemporary economically liberalised Mumbai, the plot of DCH revolves around three urban upper-middle class twenty-something best friends Siddharth or Sid (Akshaye Khanna), Akash (Aamir Khan), and Sameer (Saif Ali Khan) and presents a period of time in their lives. The film is constructed as a series of extended flashback sequences articulated variably from the subjective viewpoints of all three friends, and sutured together by the neutral and impersonal hospital setting grounded in the present, in which their eventual
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Appadurai, Arjun. Disjuncture and Difference in the Global Cultural Economy.

Priyal Chitale FILM 237: Indian National Cinema

Fall 2012 Research Paper

reunion takes place. Stylistically, the film is structured using the principles of continuity editing in the form of a Classical Hollywood narrative, with a clear beginning, middle and end, creating three distinctly individual protagonists and privileging the viewer as an intimate witness to their respective character arcs. The musical sequences in the film are seamlessly integrated into the narrative, and function to embody the characters states of mind; ShankarEhsaan-Loys melodies are internationally syncretic with a youthful feel, and Javed Akhtars lyrics are situation-appropriate, ranging from casual and conversational to poetic and deeply evocative, and resonate strongly with the urban Indian viewer. Everyone in this diegetic imaginary lives in large yet understated houses, speaks casual Hindi-Urdu liberally peppered with English, and leads comfortable lives devoid of the numerous coincidences and melodramatic misfortunes seemingly ubiquitous in conventional Bollywood narratives. The attitudes of the three protagonists towards romantic love are firmly grounded in their individual personalities, and prepare the viewer for their respective encounters with love. Akash is a lazy and cocky cynic seemingly incapable of taking anything seriously and with no professional direction in life, who regularly has short meaningless flings with random girls and thinks of love as a bekr k musbat (useless misfortune). He finds himself immediately attracted (physically) to a beautiful young woman called Shalini (Preity Zinta) at their college graduation party, who turns out to be the fiance of a very possessive and physically aggressive fellow graduate. He forgets about her soon after propositioning her and being thrashed by the aforementioned fianc; however, circumstances bring them together later in the story, and they eventually fall in love with each other. Sameer is a gullible and flirtatious serial monogamist whose notion of romantic love is conflated with physical/sexual attraction, and is unable to distinguish between infatuation and love. He is a terrible judge of character, and usually finds himself with self-centred women who unabashedly take advantage of him. After vehemently opposing his mothers suggestion of an arranged marriage, he falls in true

Priyal Chitale FILM 237: Indian National Cinema

Fall 2012 Research Paper

love at first sight with Pooja (Sonali Kulkarni), the daughter of his parents friends with whom his parents set him up; however, she reveals to him that she is in a relationship with another man (but doesnt yet love him enough to marry him). Sid is a sensitive, understanding, and open-minded painter who is very close to his mother, and has no preconceived notions about romantic love. A chance encounter with Tara Jaiswal (Dimple Kapadia), an interior designer and older divorced mother with a drinking problem who has recently moved into his neighbourhood, results in a profound friendship, and he slowly falls in love with her. While Akash and Sameer gradually mature and take responsibility for their lives and marry their love interests at the end of the film, Tara dies of liver cirrhosis with Sid at her hospital bedside. The main conflict of the narrative of the film surfaces in a scene halfway through the narrative that depicts an interaction between the three protagonists. It is an exterior scene set at night that shows Sid confessing his love for Tara for the first time to his best friends and their reactions to this revelation. Initially, Sameer and Akash laugh it off as a joke, but when Sid says he thought they would understand, they realise he is serious and the following exchange takes place:
Akash: Ky samjhe ham? T kaih rh hai ki tujhe ek ais aurat se pyr hu hai jo tujhse das pandr sl bad hai, jisk ek be hai, jisk ek pat th, t khud hamse kaih chuk hai k shes got a drinking problem, ky samjhe ham? (What are we supposed to understand? Youre saying that have fallen in love with a women who is tenfifteen years older than you, who has a daughter, who had a husband, you have told us yourself that shes got a drinking problem what are we supposed to understand?) Sid: Yah k ye sab jnte he bh ma usse pyr kart h. (That I love her despite knowing all this.) Sameer: Lekin Sid zar soc, ye pyr nah pgalpan hai (But Sid, just think, this is madness, not love) Sid: Nah ye pyr h hai. Ma nah cht k vo mer ban jye y mujhse d kare, ma ais ko ummd nah rakht aur agar vo mujhse pyr n bh kare to hk hai (No, this is love. I dont want her to be mine or to marry me, I have no such expectations, and its okay even if she doesnt love me ) Akash: Acch samajh gay samajh gay. Yd hai Sameer, mer bh urvt aise h hu th hk hai Sid, agar ais bt hai, to mujhe ko aitrz nah. Vaise bh tere liye bilkul perfect raheg experienced hai, akel raiht hai, ter roz k n-jn hai[] mn gaye Sid ter choice to bilkul (Okay I understood I understood. Remember Sameer,

Priyal Chitale FILM 237: Indian National Cinema

Fall 2012 Research Paper

I started out the same way? Okay Sid, if this is how it is, then I have no objection. Anyway, shes really perfect for you shes experienced, she lives alone, you visit her all the time Im impressed, Sid ) Sid slaps Akash across the face Sid: Ter soc itn ghaiy hai. Ma kaih rah h ke ma is aurat se pyr kart h aur tne is bt ko ek gand mazq ban dy. Grow up Akash, ye zarr nah hai ki hame ek dsre k har bt sah lage lekin har dost m ek had hot hai jise pr nah karn chye, aur j tne vo had pr kar d hai. Zindag m ek ais vakt t hai jab hame sacca pyr ho jta hai aur ye sab jo t kaih rah hai [] ye ko myne nah rakht sab chot lagne lagt hai [] t j nah samjheg lekin ek din tujhe aihss hog k pyr soc samajh ke nah ky jt hai bas ho jt hai. (The way you think really disgusts me. Im saying that I love this woman, and you turned the matter into a dirty joke. Grow up Akash, we dont have to like everything about each other, but theres a limit in each friendship and you crossed that limit today. A time comes in life when true love happens to a person, and these things you are saying dont mean anything, they begin to seem trivial you cant understand it now but one day you will realise that love isnt rational, it just happens.)

While this can and has been interpreted as a generic conflict between the homosocial bond and heterosexual desire (Bose, 2011), I suggest an alternate reading based on this compelling and profound exchange. The conflict is caused by Akashs and Sameers immaturity, which manifests itself both in their decision to invalidate Sids feelings, and the offensive manner in which they do so. Akash and Sameer are the first people to whom Sid reveals his feelings for Tara, and the only people in his life who he thinks would understand; he has no intentions of even telling Tara how he feels about her. Sid imagines his friendship with them as a bond of mutual understanding and respect, and at the very least expects acceptance if not endorsement. Akashs and Sameers response to Sids revelation is both a reflection and indictment of societal impositions on romantic love; never having been in love themselves, their conception of romantic love is entirely shaped by sociocultural norms governing it. They consider marriage with its neatly packaged familial connotations as the only possibly desirable outcome of romantic love; so when Sid expresses his lack of need to lay claim on the woman he loves, Akash interprets what Sid thinks is true love as mere lust-driven infatuation, and encourages him to lose his virginity to Tara, characterising her as easy or sexually promiscuous. Akashs and Sameers assessment of Tara as an unsuitable romantic partner for Sid seems to based more upon the fact that she is a divorced mother, than the large

Priyal Chitale FILM 237: Indian National Cinema

Fall 2012 Research Paper

age gap between her and Sid; this throws into sharp relief the extent to which the identity and ethical code of a woman is read in the context of her personal relationships (rather than say, her professional achievements) in Indian society. Sid is hurt by what he perceives to be thinly veiled contempt for his feelings and the woman he loves; Akash crosses the limit of judgment in their friendship, and Sid performs a retaliatory transgression by slapping him, and thereby hurting Akashs ego. Rather than setting up the homosocial bond/heterosexual desire binary, Akhtar implodes this binary and reframes platonic friendship and romantic love as different yet equally important forms of love-based interpersonal relationships that must co-exist under conditions of mutual respect and acceptance for personal happiness and social order to be maintained. Each of the three protagonists realisations of true love is imaged and imagined in a unique musical sequence that embodies the individuals worldview and personality. Sameers song, Woh Ladki Hai Kahan (Where is that Girl?) is a playful ditty composed in the tradition of Celtic fusion music and incorporates the flute and traditional bluegrass string elements. It plays in the context of a scene where Sameer and Pooja are watching a film in a theatre, and mutually imagine themselves singing and dancing with each other on the big screen in a humorous sequence that pays homage to the generic conventions of the Bollywood of the 1960s through the 80s. As the title of the song suggests, the hero questions the universe in the refrain about the whereabouts of the girl of his dreams whom he has yet to meet, realises in the process that the heroine has all the khby (virtues) which he associates with the girl of his dreams, and ends the song with the line: vo lak hai yh (that girl is here). The quirkiness of the song appropriately captures Sameers goofy, easy-going and even-tempered personality. Sids song, Kaisi Hai Yeh Ruth (What Kind of Season is This?) is a slow and soothing number with the feel of a lullaby; while the focus of the song is on the vocals, the minimalist musical arrangement incorporates synthpop elements, and tries

Priyal Chitale FILM 237: Indian National Cinema

Fall 2012 Research Paper

to evoke the aural atmosphere of a natural setting. The picturisation of the song is a sequence of scenes of him painting Tara intercut with scenes of him alone in a utopian colour-saturated landscape of sparkling streams, lush meadows, extra-large butterflies and moons, and soaring porpoises. Earlier in the narrative, when Tara first sees his paintings, she remarks:
Kaihne ko tum log se milte ho, haste ho, bolte ho, lekin tumhre andar jo ek duniy hai tumhre khvb tumhre sapne vo tum kis se bte nah. Mujhe to lagt hai ke jo log tumhe jnte hai vo bh tumhe nah jnte. (On the surface, you seem to be a friendly and outgoing person, but there is a world inside you, your real thoughts and dreams, which you dont share with anyone. In fact, I think that even the people who know you dont really know you.)

This utopian landscape can be interpreted as an expression of this world inside him, which has been released by the first person to really understand him and his art, an essential prerequisite for his experience of romantic love. While the lyrics of Sameers song describe the girl of his dreams and his efforts to find her, the lyrics of Sids song express his efforts to describe the feeling of being in love, for example: Kaise kis ko baty, kaise ye samjhy ky pyr hai, is m bandhan nah hai aur n ko bh dwr hai (How is one to describe, how is one to express what love is? Love knows no bounds, and is a stranger to walls). The picturisation of Sameers song skilfully satirises the norms defining love and sexuality in a Bollywood of days gone by, while concurrently using the same images to imply his sexual desire for Pooja, which is also so integral to his definition of romantic love. For him, love is a goal-oriented experience in which the goal is a physically attractive woman who will love him more than anyone else in the world. On the other hand, there is a conspicuous absence of sexual tension and existential angst in the picturisation of Sids song; his conception of love is a lot freer and entails no expectations. He revels in the joy of his love, which is a very private experience for him, without concerning himself with its consequences, and has no desire to make the object of his affections aware of how he feels. Akashs song is a short operatic instrumental piece, and is played when he and Shalini are watching an opera, and she tells him to close his eyes and ask himself if he would die a thousand deaths to spend a moment

Priyal Chitale FILM 237: Indian National Cinema

Fall 2012 Research Paper

with anyone in his life. His memory is visualised as a network of turquoise-hued corridors through which a catatonic hand-held camera races to finally settle and focus on an image of a haloed Shalini in a white gown standing alone on-stage. This scene is shortly followed by Tanhayee (Loneliness), an elegiac ballad that distils the essence of traditional Urdu love poems, and expresses the pain and loneliness of Akashs love for Shalini, which he thinks is destined to be unrequited. The song indicates that Akashs conception of love as a cause of great grief and suffering, which he expresses in an earlier song, Jaane Kyon (Who Knows?) has functioned as a self-fulfilling prophecy of sorts. Unlike Sameer, he has spent his entire life making every effort to avoid love, and feels helpless when faced with the reality of love; his love, like Sameers, is goal-oriented, and the thought of being unable to be with the woman he loves tortures him. Although the songs are particularised by distinction in melodic tone, visual imagery, and lyrical focus, they are all simultaneously signified as different perspectives of unquestionably the same emotion: romantic love. Woh Ladki Hai Kahan, Kaisi Hai Yeh Ruth, and Akashs Love Theme are all surreally visualised in the context of an artistic medium a film, a painting, and a musical play respectively thus suggesting that romantic love is a transcendental experience. Thus, Akash meets the right woman who manages to transform his sexual desire into romantic love, Sameer meets the right woman who makes him realise the difference between the intense fleeting passion of infatuation and the patient enduring compassion of love, and Sid discovers that profound spiritual kinship is the meaning of love for him. While the romantic pursuits of Akash and Sameer are informed by a facet of the traditional construct of masculinity, in accordance with which they grow and prove themselves worthy of the women they love, converting them from the unattainable to the attained, Sids approach to his relationship with Tara is informed by an alternative construct of self-assured masculinity that is sensitive, kind, and non-judgmental. However, in marking the conventional male ego as

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Fall 2012 Research Paper

inimical to healthy interpersonal relationships, and the behavioural tropes of physical aggressiveness, stoic indifference and judgmentality as dysfunctional, Akhtar rejects the cultural hegemony of behaviours universally coded as the masculine ideal. He establishes sensitivity and open-minded willingness to accept difference as universally desirable traits essential to healthy interpersonal relationships, and reconfigures masculinity as a complex and heterogeneous site of identity formation and contestation. While acknowledging and embracing individual differences in its definition and experience, Akhtar images and imagines romantic love as possessing certain universal attributes that distinguish it from other forms of love. Lack of agency and reasoning are intrinsic to its meaning, and are attributes linked to its potential transformative power. For Sameer and Akash, their experiences of romantic love alter the trajectories of their lives, and set them on their individual paths of personal growth and self-discovery. By learning patience and sacrifice, and having to prioritise the interests and feelings of another person in addition to their own, they develop a greater sense of empathy and become more sensitive and mature individuals. For Sid, his experience of romantic love does not have as radical an impact on the trajectory of his life as for Sameer and Akash; however, it does make him re-evaluate his priorities and his approach to his personal relationships, and helps him open up more as a person, and share more of the world inside him with the people he loves, including his mother, Sameer and Akash. Rather than imagining the Indian metropolis as an embodiment of the clash between tradition and modernity, and coloniality and post-coloniality, Akhtar re-inscribes it as the site of a syncretic and dynamic culture that is increasingly governed by notions of respect and non-judgmental acceptance rather than theoretical and unyielding norms, and in which pyr ke sab rp hai sacce (all forms of love are honourable). However, despite being a pathbreaking and exceptionally well-made film, DCH is not without its flaws; although Akhtar

Priyal Chitale FILM 237: Indian National Cinema

Fall 2012 Research Paper

interrogates and unsettles boundaries of love and interpersonal relationships, and (re)imag(in)es masculinity as a fluid and variable construct, his diegetic imaginary is categorically heteronormative, and fails to account for the participation of alternative sexual orientations in the construction of romantic love. The film also foregrounds the primacy of the homosocial bond, and disregards the validity of heterosocial bonds unless they culminate in romantic love and/or sexual consummation.

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Priyal Chitale FILM 237: Indian National Cinema

Fall 2012 Research Paper

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