Dhadkan (2000 film)

Anjali (Shilpa Shetty) is the only daughter of a wealthy businessman, and is in love with Dev (Suniel Shetty). Dev is poor enough, that he is not capable of buying himself proper clothes. On Anjali’s insistence, her father reluctantly agrees to meet Dev, but later rejects him due to his rude and uncivilized behavior. Anjali tries to elope with Dev and is caught by her father who then emotionally blackmails her into breaking up with Dev and agreeing to marry the man her father had chosen for her.

Anjali breaks up with Dev and gets married to Ram (Akshay Kumar). Ram lives with his step-mother, step- siblings, who hate him and plan to kick him out someday. Ram, nonetheless loves his step-family very much in hope that someday they would accept him as their own. Ram respects Anjali’s boundaries and gives her ample time to get adjusted in the new family, but Anjali never reciprocates the emotions back to him, leaving Ram hopeless about his marriage.

Ram’s stepbrother tries to molest Anjali and blames it back on her when caught, by saying that she was the one to seduce him. Ram loses his cool and kicks his entire family out of the house by supporting and trusting Anjali. This makes Anjali fall in love with Ram.

Three years later

Ram and Anjali are celebrating their third anniversary together. Dev returns back in their lives as a rich business competitor. Anjali is shocked by his return but does not tell anything to Ram. Dev constantly tries to insert himself in their lives, making Anjali extremely uncomfortable. Eventually, he proposes Anjali saying he is rich now, so she can come back to him, which she rejects as she is committed and is in love with her husband Ram.

Dev, not able to accept another rejection, decides to ruin Ram. He joins hands with Ram’s step-siblings, and snatches everything belonging to Ram, bring him and Anjali on streets. Ram hears Anjali talking to her father about return of Dev, and confronts Anjali for hiding her past. Before Anjali could explain anything, she faints and turns out she is pregnant. Anjali meets Dev and requests him to leave her and Ram alone. Dev, heartbroken returns to London after he returns everything that he had snatched from Ram.

• Suniel Shetty as Dev Chopra
• Akshay Kumar as Ram Verma
• Mahima Chaudhry as Sheetal Verma
• Shilpa Shetty as Anjali Chauhan Verma
• Sushma Seth as Vibha Verma
• Parmeet Sethi as Bobby "Bob" Verma
• Navneet Nishan as Nikki Verma in the song "Dulhe Ka Sehra"
• Kiran Kumar as Narendra Chauhan
• Anjana Mumtaz as Veena Chauhan
• Neeraj Vora as Babban Miyan
• Sharmila Tagore as Jhanvi Chopra
• Anupam Kher as Digvijay Varma
• Kader Khan as Pandit Hariharan in the song "Dulhe Ka Sehra"

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. The other songs were also recorded in 1997–98, with the exception of "Tum Dil Ki Dhadkan Mein", which was recorded in 2000 at London. "Dil Ne Yeh Kaha Hai Dil Se" and "Tum Dil Ki Dhadkan Mein" became legendary love tracks and "Dulhe Ka Sehra" a 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.[7]

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."[8]

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."[9]

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

Nominated

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.[10] 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.[11]

This film was unofficially remade in Bangladesh in 2001, titled as Hridoyer Bandhon.

• Dhadkan at IMDb