Chandni

The 80's was by far the worst decade for Yash Chopra, none of his movies did well(Mashaal,Vijay,Faasle even Silsila flopped on release and made money through reruns). Then suddenly in 89 came Chandni and became a massive blockbuster and resurrected Yash Chopra's career. The plot follows Rishi Kapoor and Sridevi who meet and fall in love much to his parents disapproval and get married. Everything is going well until Rishi Kapoor severely injures himself and becomes disabled. Worried of becoming a burden on his wife he divorces her. Heartbroken Sridevi starts a new life and then Vinod Khanna comes into her life who immediately takes a shine to her. They eventually decide to get married. Before they get married Vinod Khanna bumps into Rishi Kapoor(who is now fully recovered)and they become friends. Naturally Rishi Kapoor finds out who his friend is marrying. Who will Sridevi choose,Vinod Khanna or Rishi Kapoor?(I am not telling, watch movie to find out). The real attraction is not the cast nor is in the storyline but is the magnificent songs. Mere Haaton Mein Nau Nau became an instant chartbuster and is a favourite at weddings. My personal favourite is Laagi Aaj Sawan(sung by Suresh Wadkar). Chandni reminds me of a more simpler time where movies with real soul and great music ruled the box office and when I look at the stuff Bollywood is mass producing these days it makes me so sad.

Chandni is probably Sridevi's most popular film and it's easy to see why. Sridevi is positively luminescent and makes you want to fall in love with her. Her co-stars Rish Kapoor and Vinod Khanna pale in comparison. The songs composed by Shiv-Hari are quite good and there's some terrific dancing by Sridevi, specially in the number "Mere Haathon Mein". The plot is a standard Bollywood love triangle but Yash Chopra manages to make it feel fresh. The second half tends to drag though. The film is very long and could have been better edited. 'Chandni' is worth watching for lovers of Hindi film romances and specially for fans of Sridevi.

Overall 710

Hello all,

I am here to point out an error on Anu Kapoor who has written the story of the triangle love story "Chandni".

Chandni is a story of a girl from a small town in Delhi who falls in love with the rich boy Rohit. But though their love blossoms, obstacles comes in the form of disapproval from Rohit's parents. When things get better fate plays a different game on them. Rohit meets with an accident and is left handicapped in a wheel chair. Chandni like a dutiful lover becomes his strength and pillar. But Rohit cannot bear seeing her waste her life on him as he cannot protect her. He breaks the relationship. A broken hearted Chandni finds solace in a new city with a new job. She slowly pecks her withered life.

Another man comes into her life in the form of Lalit, his boss and well wisher. Will she be able to accept his proposal? The movie is worth a watch.

If you did not find the story interesting enough. watch it for the sheer magic of Sridevi. She will never disappoint you. She is just magic.

Now, coming to the correction. I would like to tell that Chandni and Rohit is not married so there is no question of them going for a honeymoon as mentioned in the review of Mr Anu Kapoor. What he saw was just a dream sequence in the form of a song, nothing else.

I request to pay a little more attention while watching movies especially when you are going to write a review on it. Thank you.

In an author backed role, Sridevi excelled like a master and owned the screen like a goddess. She held her own and emoted so well in each of the situations she comes across playing the character. Such is the grit and determination with which she played the role that we cannot ever imagine anybody else fitting in the role of Chandni.

Watch this movie only for her and you will be disappointed.

Whenever the current crop of actresses is asked to list their dream roles, Chandni is almost always included at or near the top of the list. And yet when one considers the possibility of the role being performed by any but Sridevi, one cannot help but feel that she is the only one who could ever play the part with as much grace, humor, elegance, and restraint. Sridevi *is* Chandni, just as Dilip Kumar is Devdas, Amitabh Bachchan is Don, and Rekha is Umrao Jaan. These performances are so completely intertwined with the actors who embody the characters that it becomes all but impossible to imagine anyone else in the part. Because of this Chandni has become a romantic archetype, one that would inspire the generation of romantic heroines who were to follow (it will be obvious to anyone who has seen Juhi Chawla in "Darr", Madhuri Dixit in "Dil To Pagal Hai", Kajol in "Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge" or even Preity Zinta in "Veer Zaara" that these characters are derived from the "Chandni" mold). It is interesting, therefore, to consider that in the career of a woman who has nearly always played larger-than-life characters, she achieves one of her great successes in playing an average, middle-class girl, one who is not afflicted with any of the great dilemmas that burden her other characters, like ravaging insanity (Khudah Gawah), diabolical egomania (Laadla) or matrimonial self-destruction (Judaai). Chandni is a typical Punjabi girl: carefree and fun-loving, who falls for Rohit (Rishi Kapoor), an upper class heir who defies his conservative family and marries the girl of his choice. All seems relatively pleasant until Rohit is paralyzed in a helicopter accident. This strains the relationship, and Rohit declares that his love for Chandni has died. Thus the marriage is ended, and Chandni is left to live the life of a single working class woman. Thrown for the first time into the whirlwind of economic independence, she stumbles as she tries to relieve the tragedies of her past with the responsibility of the present. Eventually she catches the fancy of her boss, Lalit (Vinod Khanna), whose advances she rejects until Rohit reenters her life. The structure of the plot is not unlike other love triangles; where Chandni was different (and magnificently so) was in the way it presented this 'every woman': childlike but wise, suffering but sexual, this was a major multi-dimensional screen creation, and Sridevi infused her with her own brand of quiet dignity, raucous silliness and pert sexuality. Yash Chopra originally offered the role to Rekha (who had played a woman named Chandni in "Silisila" nearly a decade earlier) but she did not want to go back and play a character she thought she had already done. So she recommended Sridevi for the part. If the film proved one thing it was that even in the every-woman guise, Sridevi cut a larger-than-life figure. She was not a Hema Malini or a Madhuri or even a Rekha. She inhabited the 'normal' woman in such an abnormal way that at once we knew that though she was real, she would remain untouchable. 'Chandni' is a modern day icon to film actresses, proving that one need not sacrifice novelty for the sake of normalcy. The film boasts of incredible chemistry between Sridevi and Rishi Kapoor, especially in the first twenty minutes when Rohit romances Chandni, revealing her inherent vivacity that later becomes tempered when Life interrupts her hitherto ideal love story. "Chandni" is also important in that it was during the shooting of the film that Yash Chopra also came to realize that he had at last discovered the actress who would make possible the realization of a film he had been planning to make for nearly two decades, but had shelved the film because the theme was deemed too controversial. The film was "Lamhe".