# Dil Se..

Dil Se.. (lit. 'From the Heart..') is a 1998 Indian Hindi-language romantic thriller film co-written and directed by Mani Ratnam who produced it with Ram Gopal Varma and Shekhar Kapur. Set against the backdrop of Insurgency in Assam, the film stars Shah Rukh Khan and Manisha Koirala, while Preity Zinta makes her film debut in a supporting role. An example of parallel cinema, it is noted as the final installment in Ratnam's trilogy consisting of Roja (1992) and Bombay (1995). The film's soundtrack album, composed by A. R. Rahman, sold six million units in India.
Dil Se.. was screened at the Era New Horizons Film Festival and the Helsinki International Film Festival. Noted for its aspects of nonlinear storytelling, the film was moderately successful at the domestic box office; however, it was a major success overseas, earning $975,000 in the United States and £537,930 in the United Kingdom, becoming the first Indian film to enter the top 10 in the United Kingdom box office charts, and it was also a hit in Japan.
At the 44th Filmfare Awards, Dil Se.. received 10 nominations, including Best Actress (Koirala) and Best Supporting Actress (Zinta), and won 6 awards, including Best Female Debut (Zinta) and Best Music Director (Rahman). At the 46th National Film Awards, the film won two awards – Best Cinematography and Best Audiography, while also receiving a Netpac Award at the 49th Berlinale.

## Plot

Amarkant Verma is a program executive for All India Radio, dispatched from New Delhi to cover festivities in Assam. On his way there, during a rainy night, Amar is stranded for hours at Haflong railway station to catch the Barak Valley Express. As he waits, he tries to have a smoke and asks a mysterious person for either a match or a lighter. Suddenly, a strong gust of wind blows off the person's shawl, revealing a beautiful woman. Amar approaches, quickly enamored, tells her she's beautiful, and tries to strike up a conversation. She ignores him. He persists and she eventually asks him for a cup of tea. When he returns with the tea, he watches as she boards the next train with three male passengers and rides off into the distance.
Amar reaches his destination and spots the same woman in Silchar. He attempts to talk to her, but she says she cannot recall meeting him before. As part of his news reporting assignment, for the occasion of fifty years of Indian Independence, Amar interviews many Assamese citizens, and an extremist chief, who blames the Indian Government for human rights violations and poverty in the region. The chief states the Liberationists do not wish to enter into any dialogue with the government and justify their resistance in Northeast India.
Sometime later, Amar describes his encounter with the woman, over the radio, which she hears. He again spots her at a post office in Silchar. At this juncture, she tells him to leave her alone; but he follows her and tells her that he is in love with her. She resists and tells Amar that she is married. Amar decides to apologize to her, but she arrives with two men who beat him unconscious.
During the beating, Amar learns that the men are presumably her brothers and that she had lied about her being married. He rejoices in this discovery, despite being badly bruised and bloody. He reaches her home and learns from the locals that she has left. Amar then goes to the post office and he bribes the PCO owner into giving him her contact details and learns that she is telephoning to Ladakh. Subsequently, Amar travels to Leh, and while recording the Sindhu Darshan Festival, a suicide bomber is chased and shot dead by the Indian military. Amar spots the woman again. As the woman and Amar board a bus, military officers question each passenger before the bus is allowed to leave. Amar tells the officers that he is reporting on the festival, and the woman falsely tells the officers that she is travelling with Amar.
After some travel, the bus breaks down and the passengers are required to walk to a nearby village. En route, the woman reveals her name: Meghna. Amar continues to pursue Meghna, despite her protestations. Meghna tells Amar that her destiny prevents her from being with him. She reveals a traumatic personal history and lets slip that if they were to be together, she would want eight children. The two end up travelling together and recuperate near one another in the desert overnight. In the morning, Amar wakes to find Meghna gone.
Heartbroken, Amar returns to his home in Delhi, where his family introduces him to Preeti Nair from Kerala as a potential bride for him. Preeti confides that she was recently rejected in love and gets Amar to reveal that he was also just dumped. On their date, Amar spots one of Meghna's associates, Kim, who bashed him earlier. Amar chases him down to Connaught Place, where he loses track of the man. Unbeknownst to Amar, the man kills himself with a cyanide pill after being stopped by local police. Because of the extremist nature of the situation, the police relinquish the incident to the CBI. Back at home, Amar agrees to marry Preeti, and wedding preparations promptly begin. Much to Amar's surprise, Meghna shows up at his engagement party and asks Amar for a place to stay and help getting a job at Amar's All India Radio office, which he does.
Amar continues to pine for Meghna, not knowing she arrived in Delhi as part of a Liberationists group which has planned multiple suicide attacks in New Delhi at the upcoming 50th Delhi Republic Day parade. She stays in Amar's residence to escape from the CBI inquiry operation. At one point, Meghna expresses misgivings about her plans to kill innocent civilians. She is scolded by a member of her group and reminded of her duty to their cause.
Based on an eyewitness identification of the Connaught Place incident, Amar is now a prime suspect of the CBI. He is questioned by police and pieces together that Meghna is involved in something dangerous. Amar finds Meghna and questions her motives. She finally reveals to Amar that her name is actually Moina, and as a child, she had been a rape victim of the army. She describes villages being burned to the ground, and family members being raped and murdered. She accuses Amar of having no understanding of her history. She says she seeks justice and liberation through her activities. Amar infers she is planning a suicide attack on the Indian army and the President of India during Republic Day. While trying to grab at a cyanide necklace hanging from her neck, Amar gets arrested for harassing the woman.
The CBI convinces the Army general of India to grant permission to conduct security checks of all the Army convoys and tankers participating in the parade. An associate of Moina's is privy to the government's secret security plans. Moina's associates bribe the police officers holding Amar to release him. They follow him out of the police station and assault him again. Amar fights back and renders his attacker unconscious. He then answers a call from Moina, which she had placed on his attacker's mobile phone. Amar pleads with Moina to stop all this and marry him. Moina tearfully says that it is too late and that her fate is sealed. Gunshots ring out, implying that Amar has been shot and killed.
But Amar returns home, beaten and bloody, only to find out from Preeti that Amar's mother is also being questioned and that Moina's location is at Sunder Nagar. Preeti asks if he has any intention of marrying her, and Amar says he's the only one who can stop Moina. Amar is arrested again and unable to convince the CBI that he is not working with the terrorists. He says he is in love with Moina and that he met her while interviewing an extremist leader. He says he wants to prevent them from perpetrating an attack. The CBI is not convinced. They sedate him for further interrogation later. Through sheer will, Amar resists the sedative effects of the injection he received. He escapes from the CBI and continues his relentless pursuit of Moina.
The next day Moina is prepared for her role in a suicide attack, as an explosive device is concealed under her dress. Amar finds her. He expresses his undying love for her and his desire to be with her. He pleads with her to leave with him, so the two of them can start fresh in a new place. He asks her to say that she loves him. When she does not answer, he persists. Desperate, he asks her to at least let him die with her. He pulls her towards him and continues to plead with her to say she loves him. She embraces him. As the two embrace one another, they cry, and the bomb carried by Moina explodes, killing them both. Later the terrorists are caught by the CBI.

## Cast

* Shah Rukh Khan as Amarkant Varma "Amar"
* Manisha Koirala as Moina / Meghna
* Preity Zinta as Preeti Nair
* Mita Vasisht as Mita
* Arundhati Rao as Kamal Dev Burman – AIR station director
* Raghubir Yadav as Shukla ji – AIR manager
* Zohra Sehgal as Amar's Grandmother
* Janagaraj as Taxi Driver
* Gautam Bora as terrorist Leader
* Sabyasachi Chakrabarty as a terrorist
* Aditya Srivastava as Terrorist
* Sanjay Mishra as a terrorist
* Anupam Shyam as a terrorist
* Shabbir Masani as a terrorist
* Krisn Kant as Kim terrorist
* Manjit Bawa as a terrorist
* Vineeta Malik as Amar's mother
* Piyush Mishra as Arun Kashyap (CBI investigation officer)
* Gajraj Rao as CBI investigation officer
* Priya Parulekar as Young Maina
* Malaika Arora in a special appearance in the song "Chaiyya Chaiyya"
* Vanitha Malik as a school teacher
* Tigmanshu Dhulia as a cameo appearance as man at the post office
* Sameer Chanda as cameo appearance Tuba music shop dealer
* Shaad Ali as a cameo as a citizen of Silchar
* Wasiq Khan as a cameo
* Pia Benegal as a cameo
* Chintu Mohapatra as a cameo
* Karan Nath as a cameo
* Hemant Mishra as cameo
* B. M. Shah as a cameo
* R. K. Nair as Preeti's father
* Alka as Preeti's Mother
* Rajiv Gupta as Sub-inspector
* Avtar Sahani as Army general
* Lakshmi Rattan as Hazarika army official
* Sheeba Chaddha as Moina's sister

## Production

Filming began in November 1997, while Shah Rukh Khan was also simultaneously shooting for Karan Johar's Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. Mani Ratnam selected Manisha Koirala to play the lead role, after he was unable to get through to Kajol. Preity Zinta was chosen to play a supporting role. Raveena Tandon was approached by the team to appear in the "Chaiyya Chaiyya" song, but turned down the offer citing her disinterest in featuring as a part of an item number. Even Shilpa Shirodkar and Shilpa Shetty were approached, but they turned down for various reasons.
Sameer Chanda, and Wasiq Khan were the production and art designers for Dil Se. The principal photography took place in Himachal Pradesh, Leh, Assam, New Delhi, Kerala, and Ladakh over a period of 55 days. Tigmanshu Dhulia was the casting director. Pia Benegal and Manish Malhotra were the costume designers. The song "Chaiyya Chaiyya" was shot between Malaika Arora and Shah Rukh Khan on top of the Nilgiri Express, en route Ooty, Coonoor and Kotagiri, the train is particularly painted in brown for the song sequence. The travelling scenes, other crucial scenes were shot between Manisha Koirala and Shah Rukh Khan near Alchi Monastery, during the Sindhu Darshan Festival in Leh. The longest song of the film "Satrangi Re" with the lead pair was shot near Thikse Monastery, the mystical Basgo Monastery ruins, and Pangong lake near Pangong Tso in Ladakh. The song "Jiya Jale" was shot between Preity Zinta and Shah Rukh Khan near Athirappilly Falls, Alappuzha backwaters, Periyar National Park, Vilangan Hills and Periyar Lake in Kerala. Several action sequences in the film choreographed by Allan Amin were shot near Connaught Place, New Delhi, Rajpath and Old Delhi.

## Themes

Dil Se is said to be a journey through the seven shades of love that are defined in ancient Arabic literature. Those shades are defined as attraction, infatuation, love, reverence, worship, obsession, and death. The character played by Shahrukh Khan passes through each shade during the course of the film. Authors Sangita Gopal and Sujata Moorti of Global Bollywood: Travels of Hindi Song and Dance also compared Khan's romance in the film to the trajectory of love in ancient Arabic literature, believing the lyrics in two of the songs to have delivered an "apocalyptic fatalism".
The film is a dramatization of the attraction between a character from the heart of India and another from a peripheral state and a representation of opposites in the eyes of the law and society. Dil Se is described as a film "structured through deferment and unfulfilled teasing promises". Rediff.com said about the film, "The entire feel of the film is appropriately poetic, with a few romantic exchanges standing out quite memorable. Tigmanshu Dhulia has handled the film's dialogues adroitly. Amid moonlit desert dunes, there is a particularly stirring conversation between the leading pair. Amar reveals his hate for Meghna's eyes – because he can't see the world is hidden behind them and his love for the same, stunning eyes – because he can't see the world hidden behind them."
Elleke Boehmer and Stephen Morton in their book Terror and the Postcolonial (2009) believe that the songs and their exotic locations in the film were very important in masking the impossible reconciliation between a terrorist and an uptight government agent by evoking pure fantasy. They argue that this is a phenomenon called the "liminal space of dreaming" in that the terrorist woman cannot fulfill her sexual desire so the songs fill the void of this desire by "their sumptuousness and exotic locales" in the Ladakh region. The theme of the movie was reported to be paying homage to the 1981 British film The French Lieutenant's Woman.

## Release

Dil Se released on 21 August 1998. Though the film was shot mainly in Hindi-language, director Mani Ratnam also dubbed and released the film in Tamil and Malayalam in the title Uyire.. (transl. Life (given in a romantic context)) which became very popular among Tamil-audience with its songs and in Telugu with the title Prematho (transl. With love). Shah Rukh Khan's Tamil dialogues were dubbed by Arvind Swamy in the film.

## Reception
### Critical reception and box office

Though Dil Se received an average box office response in India, it found success overseas. It was screened at the Era New Horizons Film Festival and the Helsinki International Film Festival. The film went on to win the Netpac Award at the Berlin International Film Festival, two National Film Awards, and six Filmfare Awards. The intense political agenda of the film with the trials of the Assamese on the India-China border, the love story and the fact that it coincided with the 50th Independence Anniversary celebrations became a major factor for its success overseas, particularly amongst the South Asian diaspora in the west.
The film became the first Indian film to enter the top 10 in the United Kingdom box office charts. Even months after its release in September 1998, the film was still screened on five screens, five times per day with an average of 3,000 spectators across all screens in the Cineworld complex in Feltham, West London. Deepa Deosthalee wrote a positive review to the film, calling it "a picture-perfect ode to love" and praising the direction, writing and performances. Khalid Mohamed found the film disappointing, noting it "fine performances, technique and music" but panning its lack "of that crucial element called a story". Anupama Chopra of India Today wrote, "Amid the reels of tripe churned out by Bollywood every week, Dil Se... is a noble attempt. But coming from Mani, that's simply not good enough." The film was included in Time's "Best of Bollywood" list in 2010. Dil Se was also a hit in Japan.

### Awards and nominations

| Year | Award | Category | Recipients and Nominees | Results |
| 1999 | 49th Berlinale | Netpac Award | Mani Ratnam | Won |
| 1999 | 46th National Film Awards | Best Cinematography | Santosh Sivan | Won |
| 1999 | 46th National Film Awards | Best Audiography | H. Sridhar | Won |
| 1999 | 44th Filmfare Awards | Best Female Debut | Preity Zinta | Won |
| 1999 | 44th Filmfare Awards | Best Music Director | A. R. Rahman | Won |
| 1999 | 44th Filmfare Awards | Best Lyricist | Gulzar for "Chaiyya Chaiyya" | Won |
| 1999 | 44th Filmfare Awards | Best Male Playback Singer | Sukhwinder Singh for "Chaiyya Chaiyya" | Won |
| 1999 | 44th Filmfare Awards | Best Cinematography | Santosh Sivan | Won |
| 1999 | 44th Filmfare Awards | Best Choreography | Farah Khan for "Chaiyya Chaiyya" | Won |
| 1999 | 44th Filmfare Awards | Best Actress | Manisha Koirala | Nominated |
| 1999 | 44th Filmfare Awards | Best Supporting Actress | Preity Zinta | Nominated |
| 1999 | 44th Filmfare Awards | Best Lyricist | Gulzar for "Ae Ajnabi" | Nominated |
| 1999 | 44th Filmfare Awards | Best Female Playback Singer | Sapna Awasthi for "Chaiyya Chaiyya" | Nominated |
| 1999 | Screen Awards | Best Male Playback Singer | Sukhwinder Singh for "Chaiyya Chaiyya" | Won |

## Soundtrack

Professional ratings :
| Review scores ||
| Source | Rating |
| Planet Bollywood | |
| All Music | |
The soundtrack features six songs composed by A. R. Rahman. Raja Sen of Rediff called it, "Rahman's finest soundtrack, by far." The soundtrack album sold six million units in India. The song "Chaiyya Chaiyya", based on Sufi music (lyrics based on the Sufi folk song, "Thaiyya Thaiyya" by Bulleh Shah) and Urdu poetry, set Mainly in Raag Madhumad Sarang (or Megh Malhar), with tints of Bhairav and other ragas, became especially popular and the song has been featured in the film Inside Man (2006), in the musical Bombay Dreams, and in the television shows Smith and CSI: Miami. The soundtrack was recorded in several other languages. The song "Dil Se Re", with War Cries and Loud Beats, is set in the raga Nattai/Jog, whereas "Ae Ajnabi" is a soft Ghazal set in the raga Patdeep.
Malayalam lines for the song "Jiya Jale" was written by lyricist Gireesh Puthenchery.
The bass guitarist Guy Pratt, who played on post-Roger Waters Pink Floyd albums Delicate Sound of Thunder, The Division Bell and Pulse played bass on title song "Dil Se Re".

### Original version

Hindi (Dil Se..)
All lyrics are written by Gulzar and Malayalam lyrics from the song "Jiya Jale" was penned by Gireesh Puthenchery; all music is composed by A. R. Rahman
* Album Credits
* Producer: India Talkies (Bharat Shah)
* Director: Mani Ratnam
* Lyrics: Gulzar
* Musicians
* Bass Guitar on "Dil Se Re": Guy Pratt
* Bass Guitar on "Chaiyya Chaiyya": Keith Peters
* Flamenco guitar on "Satrangi Re": John Themis
* Percussion: Sivamani
* Dilruba: Saroja
* Santoor: Seenu
* Engineer – H. Sridhar, S. Sivakumar
* Engineer [Additional Engineer] – Paul Wright
* Harmony
* Ganga, Kanchana, Febi, Feji, Anto, Chandran, Shreenivas, Noell James
* References/External links
* Dil Se Soundtrack on A.R. Rahman Discography (Retrieved 2025-Mar-15)

### Dubbed versions
#### Tamil (Uyire)

All lyrics are written by Vairamuthu and Malayalam lyrics from the song "Nenjinile Nenjinile" was penned by Gireesh Puthenchery; all music is composed by A. R. Rahman

#### Telugu (Premato)

All lyrics are written by Sirivennela Seetharama Sastry and Malayalam lyrics from the song "Innaalilaa Ledule" was penned by Gireesh Puthenchery; all music is composed by A. R. Rahman

### Hindi (Dil Se..)

Track List :

### Tamil (Uyire)

Track List :

### Malayalam (Uyire)

Track List :

### Telugu (Premato)

Track List :