Yeh Dillagi

Love is such a phenomena that when a person (or two persons mutually) is hit by it, he / she never knows when it's happened. However Indian social and family values have always put a premium on brotherhood (and sisterhood) and the love between the siblings has been silently considered as supreme over the romantic love for the opposite sex. Nevertheless, it may happen that two sisters fall in love with the same man or two brothers fall in love with the same woman. In Indian patriarchal social set-up, the sisters' rivalry in love could be digested by the public but not the brothers' rivalry for that purpose. Movies like President (1937) and Bahaaren Phir Bhi Aayengi (1966) were made in Bollywood showing two real sisters falling in love with a common male. However the first Bollywood movie showing two real brothers as Raqeeb (rival in love) of each other is, in my opinion, Yeh Dillagi (this joke / this teasing) which came as late as in 1994.

An adaptation of Hollywood movie - Sabrina (1954), this movie has been produced by the prestigious Yash Raj banner of Bollywood and the responsibility of direction has been put on the shoulders of Naresh Malhotra. This story is a love triangle in which the girl - Sapna (Kajol) who happens to be the daughter of the driver of the household whose two sons - Vijay (Akshay Kumar) and Vicky (Saif Ali Khan) unwillingly and unknowingly become each other's Raqeeb for her love. The brothers are son of a businessman, Bhaanu Prataap Saigal (Saeed Jaaffrey) and his wife - Shaanti (Reema Laagoo). Their mother, i.e., Shaanti is status-conscious and wants only the girls of equal status as her daughters-in-law. However the parents are by no means concerned for the life of their younger son - Vicky who has turned into a casanova, philandering with different girls with seriousness for none of them. He also does not pay two hoots for the business and related works also which is completely taken care of by his elder, more mature and sensible, no-nonsense elder brother - Vijay.

The real story of Yeh Dillagi starts with the ladies' man Vicky's getting smitten by the charms of Sapna and he actually starts feeling to be in love with her. However considering his image of a flirt, Sapna avoids him. Gradually Sapna's opinion about Vicky changes and Vicky himself also takes steps in transforming his personality and approach towards life. But the trouble comes when Sapna and Vijay fall in love with each other. Now both of them know that Vicky loves Sapna but hesitant of telling this fact to him. Vijay loves Vicky very much and wants to sacrifice his love for him but he cannot force his will on Sapna for that purpose. On the other hand, Vicky, being ignorant of the love of Vijay and Sapna, feels the real trouble as his mother's high-handed attitude of not accepting a driver's daughter as her daughter-in-law though she has become an accomplished model now. The day, the extremely painful truth dawns on Vicky, nothing remains the same for all three of them. The movie ends on an expected yet very emotional and impressive note.

The biggest USP of Yeh Dillagi is the power-packed performances of all the three lead characters. Kajol has always been a class apart and Yeh Dillagi is another showcase of her talent. As a girl with sky in her eyes but feeling the circumstances of hers clipping the wings of her ambitions, a girl conscious of her self-respect and unwilling to be close to a flirt but losing her heart to a sincere and mature boy and a girl caught between the love of two real hand-in-glove brothers but not ready to sacrifice her love for one for the sake of the other, Kajol has marvelled like anything. Akshay Kumar and Saif Ali Khan have always complimented each other well and that's why the audience was fond of their pairing in many movies during the nineties.

Sameer has written good lyrics for the songs and Dilip Sen Sameer Sen have composed heart-soothing melodies for them. Jab Bhi Koi Ladki Dekhoon Mera Dil Deewaana Dole, Naam Kya Hai Pyar Ka Maara, Dekho Zara Dekho Barsaat Ki Jhadi, Hothon Pe Bas Tera Naam Hai, Gori Kalaai Kalaai Mein Kangna etc. are good to listen and were quite popular in that time. However the two profound songs of this movie which have won my heart are - 1. The title track - Lagi Lagi Hai Yeh Dil Ki Lagi Na Samjho Ise Dillagi (sung jointly by Lata Mangeshkar, Udit Naarayan and Abhijeet), 2. Main Deewaana Hoon Mujhe Dillagi Ne Maara Hai (sung by Pankaj Ud-haas). I just loved the latter for Pankaj's singing, the touching lyrics and above all, the performance of Saif on that. It proved to be a tear-jerker for me when I watched the movie.

All in all, this two decades old romantic movie is a nice timepass which is full of fun as well as sentiments. Both the rom-com loving audience and the audience of emotional family dramas will like it for sure. It was a box office hit and rightly so.

Typical 90's movie with climax railway station/airport scene.Ending could have been a bit better.Only 2 songs are good.Remaining all songs were waste of time.Overall ok movie even if you watch now

Sapna (Kajol), the chauffeur's daughter, goes to Mumbai to become a model so that she can earn money and be on equal footing with her father's rich employers. She matures and gains confidence, and as a result turns the heads of both of the sons of the house: Vicky, unprincipled playboy (Saif Ali Khan) and hardworking businessman Vijay (Akshay Kumar) Their mother (Reema Lagoo) is a stickler for social position, and refuses to allow either son to consider an alliance with the daughter of a servant. They woo Sapna in their own way, and when one wins her love, he faces the difficulty of brotherly conflict and parental disapproval.

On the face of it, this romantic comedy (loosely based on Hollywood's Sabrina), is a love triangle that pits brotherly love against romantic love. The story goes deeper than that, though, and becomes an evaluation of social snobbery.

It is a mostly fun film, but to my surprise contained two somewhat steamy scenes that didn't seem typical of a 1990's Bollywood movie, and detracted from the experience. I also had a difficult time enjoying Lagoo's performance. She's my favorite Bollywood mummy, and I'm not used to seeing her in an unsympathetic role. The acting of the three main characters was good, and they had fine chemistry together. The music was average, but there were some entertaining dance scenes. Were it not for the two detractors mentioned above, this would be a 4 star movie, but as a result, I could only find it average.

This movie is alright for an Indian film. The actors are so-so. The story is clearly taken from Sabrina. So, if you want to see the same story only 100 times better, see Sabrina with Audrey Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart. Now that's a movie!

Yeh Dillagi is a very unique romantic comedy.It is a mixture of Romance,Comedy,Drama+Musical to keep you totalyy entertained.The story tells about the Saigal family who has 2 sons Vicky and Vijay.Vicky is obsessed of girls and has a lot of phone numbers.Vijay is obsessed of business.Then enters their drivers daughter Sapna.She meets the 2 brothers in a hilarious sequence.Her father says she will only be known as a drivers daughter.She goes to Mumbai.She is popular and is a fashion model.Soon returns home and falls in love with vicky.Soon dump off.She is in love with Vijay.A good sense of story.The comedy track is fresh and funny.Saif was superb,Kajol was superb,Akshay was great,Reema supported well,Deven was wonderful.Neena Softa is long forgotten and delivers a good performance.The dialogues are wonderful.The songs are Bouncy and are great to watch and listen.Saif and Akshay chemistry is AAAAAAAAAAAAmazing,Kajol lacks chemistry with Akshay but it is her one and only movie with him,She shares good chemistry with Saif.A great family movie