Movie Review December 2002
Dil Vil Pyar Vyar
Starring: R. Madhavan, Namrata Shirodkar, Sanjay Suri, Sonali Kulkarni, Jimmy Shergill, Hrishita Bhatt
Producer: Viveck Vaswani
Director: Anant Mahadevan
The format of this film is unique. Debutant director Mahadevan?s attempt at presenting something original is indeed laudable. For the first time in Hindi cinema, three parallel love stories are seamlessly blended together by evergreen gems of yesteryears, set to tune by none other than the legendary music composer RD Burman popularly known as Panchamda. But one can?t help wondering why the original tunes were tampered with. Panchamda?s soul is definitely missing in the rearranged versions. The selection of songs though is excellent. So is the timing of some of them, especially the pub song Yeh Jo Mohabbat Hai. Just one jarring note: Why was the title of the movie taken from the first line of a song composed by Laxmikant-Pyarelal for a 60s? film Shagird? It would certainly have been more in the fitness of things to have taken it from an RD number. A good choice could have been Pyar Deewana Hota Hai!
Sanjay Suri as the sensitive widower Dev strikes the right notes with his sincerity. But the film derives its dramatic intensity mainly from Kris and Raksha, the couple played by Madhavan and Namrata. The petite actress comes up with an effectively restrained performance. She is especially good in the key confrontation scene with Madhavan. A slimmer Madhavan (but still the fattest among all the three) gets the meatiest role of all. He is able to express effortlessly a whole gamut of emotions ? from tender love and loyalty to growing resentment and hostility towards a wife who?s only fault is that she becomes successful before him. Shades of Akele Hum Akele Tum / Abhimaan, what?
And finally, Jimmy Shergill, reminiscent of Saif Ali Khan in Dil Chahta Hai, walks away with the best lines. As the poor little rich guy, he undoubtedly plays the most endearing part. Hrishita Bhatt as Jojo, is the surprise package. The actress definitely leaves a mark as the self-respecting upright girlfriend of Jimmy. The sober Sanjay and the cheerful Jimmy complement each other perfectly. Even the secondary characters like Jimmy?s boisterous Sikh male nanny (Gulshan Grover) and Kiran Kumar as Jimmy?s tycoon dad have been portrayed interestingly. Mahadevan has certainly chosen his actors with care.
Raj Kumar K?s cinematography, Gayatri Marwah?s art direction and Sanjib Dutta?s editing are also praiseworthy. Unfortunately the costumes are sometimes an eyesore.
DVPV may not be great cinema, but it?s definitely worth a dekko.
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