# Dhadkan (2000 film)

Dhadkan (transl. Heartbeat) is a 2000 Indian Hindi-language musical romantic drama directed by Dharmesh Darshan and produced by Ratan Jain. It stars Akshay Kumar, Shilpa Shetty, Suniel Shetty and Mahima Chaudhry in lead roles. It also features Sharmila Tagore, Parmeet Sethi, Kiran Kumar, Sushma Seth and Manjeet Kullar in supporting roles.
A loose adaptation of Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë, the story follows Anjali and Dev are in love with each other and plan to marry, but her family gets her married to Ram. Years later, Dev shows up to reunite with Anjali, however, she has fallen for Ram. The music was composed by Nadeem–Shravan.
Delayed for almost four years for various reasons, Dhadkan finally released on August 11, 2000, coinciding with the Independence Day weekend. It received positive reviews from critics upon release, and emerged as a major commercial success at the box-office, grossing ₹26 crore worldwide. The soundtrack album emerged as the second best-selling album of the year after Mohabbatein. this film is now achieved cult status, having gained a significant and passionate fanbase.
At the 46th Filmfare Awards, Dhadkan received 8 nominations, including Best Film, Best Director (Darshan), Best Supporting Actress (Chaudhry) and Best Music Director (Nadeem–Shravan), and won 2 awards – Best Villain (Suniel Shetty) and Best Female Playback Singer (Alka Yagnik for "Dil Ne Yeh Kaha Hai Dil Se").

## Plot

Anjali (Shilpa Shetty) is a young woman. Her rich and influential father Narendra (Kiran Kumar) is a renowned businessman. Anjali is dating the poor Dev (Suniel Shetty) who cannot even afford to clothe himself properly. He loves Anjali too. Dev's mom Jhanvi dotes on Dev and is ecstatic to meet Anjali. Dev is an illegitimate son of his unwed mother, so he has no father. Jhanvi trusts Anjali to take care of Dev, and never hurt him as society has. When Anjali puts forward the proposal of marrying Dev to Narendra (when Narendra informs Anjali that he has fixed her wedding, she begs him to meet Dev once), he decides to meet Dev. After meeting him, Narendra doesn't like his attitude (Dev is unshaven, in ordinary clothes and sandals. Dev says if Narendra doesn't give his consent to the wedding, he will take away Anjali forcefully) and rejects him. Dev wants Anjali to leave with him, but Anjali refuses and promises to meet him later.
Anjali leaves Dev to not upset Narendra and her mother, Veena (Anjana Mumtaz). Anjali wanted to leave her house, but her dad threatens to commit suicide if she takes this step. Narendra agrees to let Anjali keep her promise to meet Dev, where she tells him that she has come to leave him. Dev is shocked and promises to destroy everything he holds dear, if he can't get Anjali. Heartbroken, Dev tells this to his mother, Jhanvi (Sharmila Tagore) who dies in shock as she liked Anjali a lot. Anjali marries Ram (Akshay Kumar), whom Narendra believes will be the perfect match for her. Ram is a man of great ideals, who believes in giving a rightful place to Anjali and respects her sensibilities. He won't touch Anjali as she is not ready for a physical relationship with Ram.
Ram lives in Delhi with his step mom Vibha (Sushma Seth), step brother Bobby (Parmeet Sethi) and Step sister Nikki (Manjeet Kullar). Ram is 75% owner of the business and the rest of the family owns 25%. Bobby and Nikki resent him for this. Vibha wants to turn Ram against Anjali, and thus needles Anjali to hand over her jewels to her. Anjali refuses. Ram advises her to listen to Vibha. Anjali prepares to leave the house when her maid shows her how Vibha and Nikki are plotting against Ram and Anjali. Ram tells Anjali that he knows everything and wants to win everyone over with unconditional love. When Ram is away on work, Bobby tries to seduce Anjali, but he refutes his advances. Ram catches them live and the matter escalates to Vibha. Vibha blames Anjali, but Ram defends her saying Vibha and Bobby are lying. Vibha decides to leave the house with Bobby, and Nikki and Ram don't stop them.
After seeing the magnanimity of Ram's heart in accepting her, Anjali realizes she has fallen in love with him. Ram too falls in love with her. They confess their love, and consummate their marriage. Often the two go on holidays and spend romantic moments.
3 years later Ram and Anjali celebrate their 3rd wedding anniversary. Dev returns and is now a wealthy businessman (wealth of ₹500 crores). Anjali is stuck at a crossroad on where she would stand - for Ram or Dev. Dev makes it clear that he wants to get back together with Anjali and pursues her through all available means (invites her to parties, befriends Ram etc.). Sheetal (Mahima Chaudhry) is Dev's business partner and adores him. Anjali stands for Ram (whom she deeply loves) and refuses to return to Dev (who still wants to unite with her), even though it pains her to know how hurt Dev is and will be in his future.
Dev cannot stand rejection for the second time and sets out to ruin Ram's life. Dev partners with Vibha, Nikki and Bobby. Dev finds out that Ram had taken heavy loans from the market for his new project. Dev buys all the debt from the market. Dev also buys Ram's house in auction. Ram is pushed out of his own company by Bobby. They are forced to live with their servants, who are happy to provide them shelter. Meanwhile, Nikki and Bobby start withdrawing money from the company, without telling Vibha. Sheetal finds out and objects. Bobby and Nikki yell at Vibha when she also scolds them. Vibha now remembers Ram. Narendra finds out and confronts Dev. He tells Dev that his attitude sucked 3 years ago and it sucks now too, and he is glad that he chose Ram for his daughter.
Anjali gets pregnant. Anjali meets Dev and begs Dev to leave her alone. Ram also meets Dev (as he found out about the affair between Dev and Anjali). Ram explains to Dev that he has not lost, and Ram has not won, they both love Anjali. He shows unconditional love to Dev. Dev turns good and decides to marry his business partner Sheetal, his new companion who secretly loved him for a long time. He departs with her to London as Anjali and Ram look on.

## Cast

* Suniel Shetty as Dev Chopra
* Akshay Kumar as Ram Verma
* Shilpa Shetty as Anjali Chauhan Verma, Ram's wife.
* Mahima Chaudhry as Sheetal Verma
* Sushma Seth as Vibha Verma
* Parmeet Sethi as Bobby "Bob" Verma
* Manjeet Kullar as Nikki
* Naseem Mukri as Mrs. Malhotra
* Kiran Kumar as Anjali's father
* Anjana Mumtaz as Anjali's mother
* Neeraj Vora as Babban Miyan
* Sharmila Tagore as Dev's mother
* Anupam Kher as Digvijay Verma
* Kader Khan as Pandit Hariharan in the song "Dulhe Ka Sehra"

## Music

The music of the album has been composed by duo Nadeem–Shravan in the span of three years. Dulhe Ka Sehra sung by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan was composed in 1997, while other songs were recorded in 1997-1998, with the exception of Tum Dil Ki Dhadkan Mein, which was recorded in 2000 at London.
The song Dil Ne Yeh Kaha Hai Dil Se was copied from Saudi Arabian singer Abdul Majeed Abdullah's song Ahabak Leh, which was sung in 1995; while the song Aksar is Duniya Mein was copied from Lebanese song Atshana, which was sung by Najwa Karam in 1999. Both Dil Ne Yeh Kaha Hai Dil Se and Tum Dil Ki Dhadkan Mein became legendary love tracks and Dulhe Ka Sehra achieved a status as one of popular wedding song till date. The other successful songs are Aksar Is Duniya Mein and Na Na Karte Pyaar.
The album was listed at second position in the yearly music charts. According to the Indian trade website Box Office India, around 4.5 million units were sold making it the second highest-selling album of the year after Mohabbatein. The soundtrack was #73 on the list of 100 Greatest Bollywood Soundtracks of All Time, as compiled by Planet Bollywood.
All lyrics are written by Sameer Anjaan; all music is composed by Nadeem–Shravan

## Reception

Taran Adarsh wrote of the film:
   Dhadkan is an intense love story and director Dharmesh Darshan has handled it with the sensitivity it deserves ... Despite the flaws, one has to acknowledge the fact that Dharmesh Darshan succeeds in melting the heart at several places. The entire marriage song-sequence in the initial reels, prior to it the scenes involving Sharmila Tagore, Sunil's portions in the second half, clearly indicate that the director knows his job well. He relies more on close-ups to capture expressions, which is the hallmark of a seasoned technician.
Adarsh described Shilpa Shetty as the "life of the enterprise", adding that she "looks good, delivers her lines effectively and emotes with utmost conviction."He said Sunil Shetty's performance is one of his best, especially the scenes between Sunil and Shilpa are fabulous." He also remarked "Akshay Kumar shows vast improvement as an actor. He is very controlled and handles this difficult role with sincerity."
Padmaraj Nair of Screen felt the film had a "nostalgic feel to it, what with the effect of watching social drama from the good ol' 60s." He added that the film was "fairly interesting in the first half, with its slick screenplay, But the director does seem to lose his grip towards the end, as the film climaxes rather tamely. It seems as if he developed cold feet as far as justifying the grey role of Sunil Shetty is concerned, and ends up portraying him on a positive note." He felt, performance-wise, Shetty "scores over the rest", while adding, "Shilpa gets the best role of her career and doesn't disappoint. Akshay Kumar, in the role of the cool-headed husband, is impressive." On other departments of the film, he concluded writing, "Nadeem-Shravan's music is the very lifeline of the film, and all the tracks are melodious and situational. Cinematography by W. B. Rao is outstanding."

## Awards and nominations
### 46th Filmfare Awards

Won
* Best Villain – Suniel Shetty
* Best Female Playback Singer – Alka Yagnik for "Dil Ne Yeh Kaha Hai Dil Se"
Nominated
* Best Film – Ratan Jain
* Best Director – Dharmesh Darshan
* Best Supporting Actress – Mahima Chaudhry
* Best Music Director – Nadeem–Shravan
* Best Lyricist – Sameer for "Tum Dil Ki Dhadkan Main"
* Best Male Playback Singer – Udit Narayan for "Dil Ne Yeh Kaha Hai Dil Se"
2nd IIFA Awards:
Nominated
* Best Film – Ratan Jain
* Best Director – Dharmesh Darshan
* Best Actor – Akshay Kumar
* Best Actress – Shilpa Shetty
* Best Supporting Actress – Mahima Chaudhry
* Best Villain – Suniel Shetty
* Best Music Director – Nadeem–Shravan
* Best Lyricist – Sameer for "Tum Dil Ki Dhadkan Main"
* Best Male Playback Singer – Abhijeet for "Tum Dil Ki Dhadkan Main"
* Best Female Playback Singer – Alka Yagnik for "Dil Ne Yeh Kaha Hai Dil Se"
* Best Story – Dharmesh Darshan
Screen Awards
Won
| Category | Winner(s) |
| Best Publicity Design | Himanshu Nanda, Rahul Nanda |
| Best Negative Role Film Fare Award | Sunil Shetty |
Nominated
| Category | Nominees | For |
| Best Lyricist | Sameer | "Dil Ne Ye Kaha Hai" |
| Best Music Director | Nadeem–Shravan | Best Music Director |
| Best Female Playback | Alka Yagnik | "Dil Ne Ye Kaha Hai" |
| Best Male Playback | Abhijeet | "Tum Dil Ki Dhadkan" |
| Best Male Playback | Udit Narayan | "Dil Ne Ye Kaha Hai" |
| Best Supporting Actress | Mahima Chaudhry | Best Supporting Actress |

## Box office

The film was released on 11 August 2000 at 250 screens. Dhadkan had a worldwide theatrical release on August 11, 2000 during the Independence Day weekend and garnered predominantly positive reviews. It emerged as a commercial success grossing ₹26 crore in global markets.The film’s music, composed by Nadeem – Shravan, went on to break records.

## Remake

This film was unofficially remade in Bangladesh in 2001, as Hridoyer Bandhon, and in the Maldives as Hiiy Edhenee also in 2001.