Dil to Pagal Hai

Name: Abid Huq, Student no: 211169612, Movie Title: Dil To Pagal Hai

Dil To Pagal Hai is a popular 1997 Hindi musical romance directed by Yash Chopra.  The film explores various ideals of love through the lives of dancers in a musical trouple.  The opening scene, a dream sequence in where Pooja, portrays the stereotype of pure virginal heroine (category ‘a’ heroine) dressed in white, beamed with light introduces the overarching theme that ‘somewhere someone is destined for all of us’.  Rahul, also in white with a gym bag (emotional baggage), is also in the opening scene but is still a cynic who has yet to believe in love – for the two have yet to be introduced on the earthly realms. In this film Rahul denotes the hero stereotype, as he possesses the qualities of ‘good’ Indian boy, achieving success and winning the heroine’s heart eventually. Back in reality, Rahul (Shah Rukh Khan) is a popular director of stage musicals and choreographer.  Nisha, his lead dancer is secretly in love with the ambivalent Rahul.  Historically, Nisha has been the lead female role due to having the stereotype of sex appeal, moves and ambitiousness (category ‘b’ heroine)– however she sprains her ankle during rehearsals, prompting Rahul to find a new dancer for the role of his new show, Maya.  The eventual replacement becomes Pooja, which sets up the plot. The musical explores three clashing ideals of love in particular through the characters, situations and music.  Rahul does not subscribe to the belief in fate or love, yet sells love stories as a director.  Nisha believes that two best friends that can be around each other are meant to fall in love and Pooja believes in the Disney soul-mate version of love.  Around Nisha, Rahul is cool, non-chalante prankster as he feels she is more part of the crew.  However around Pooja (and her mother), Rahul portrays himself as a clumsy, chasing and begging her in a public market to come to rehearsal.  Rahul finds out he is indeed in love with Pooja in the fairy-tale sense when he is upset to find out Pooja is in an arranged marriage – with her best friend and platonic lover Ajay.  

The overall drama and sequencing of the film were highlighted with musical arrangements by Uttam Singh, which incorporate several key elements of both Bollywood music in addition to Western pop & hip-hop.  The cinematic elements of the film show an immense attention to wardrobe and the musical accompaniments that feature evolving melodies and rhythmic compositions.

(Bholi Si Surat) -- The first song to be summarized appears third in the movie and is sung by Lata Mangeshkar and Udit Narayan.  Set when the group is training in the off-season, it features everyone in a relaxed comfortable setting at a gym. Rahul is inquired to describe just what is this hypothetical Maya (the subject of his latest play) like?  What are her qualities?  Does she even exist? Bholi Si Surat draws on traditional Indian musical composition in terms of rhythm, melody and structure.  The song opens with Rahul declaring the anthara sitting on a ladder at the gym –

An innocent face, mischief in her eyes, oh my

Oh an innocent face, mischief in her eyes

Staying far she blushes, oh my

The words make up a call-and-response pair with the answer phrases played by a type of traditional plectrum Oud variant, which together make up the mukhada.  The song is clearly about a man admiring a woman from a distance and describing her beauty.  Each spoken phase (call) is generally answered by the guitar-like instrument.  The rhythmic accompaniment features lively table accenting quarter notes of a 4 beat measure. Overall, the raas, or emotional flavor of the song is provocative, mysterious and foreshadows love. Interludes in the song feature the vocals of our pure female heroine, Pooja, frolicking in a field employing Gamak to a sung melody with no words.  At present, she is still just a figment of Rahul’s imagination as they have not yet met – dressed in white, in a sunny green environment the music adds to the imagery of ideality.  Pooja’s interludes are also accompanied with higher register string arpeggios (angelic & heavenly).