''Dil Kya Kare'' (English: ''What Should The Heart Do?'') is a 1999 Indian

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

, directed by

Prakash Jha Prakash Jha (born 27 February 1952) is an Indian film producer, actor, director and screenwriter, mostly known for his political and socio-political films such as “Hip Hip Hurray” (1984), ''Damul'' (1984), ''Mrityudand'' (1997), ''Gangaaja ...

and produced by

Veeru Devgan Veeru Devgan (25 June 1934 — 27 May 2019) was an Indian action choreographer, actor and film director who worked in Bollywood films. He worked on more than 200 Indian films including ''Roti Kapada Aur Makaan'', ''Kranti'', ''Mr. Natwarlal'', ...

and Veena Devgan. The film stars

Ajay Devgn Vishal Veeru Devgan (born 2 April 1969), known professionally as Ajay Devgn, is an Indian actor, film director and producer who works in Hindi cinema. Devgn has appeared in over a hundred films and has won numerous accolades, including four ...

Mahima Chaudhry Mahima Chaudhry is an Indian actress and model who worked in Hindi films. During the 1990s, Chaudhry did a few modelling assignments and appeared in several television commercials before venturing into films. She made her acting debut in the 1997 ...

Kajol Kajol Devgan (née Mukherjee; born 5 August 1974), known mononymously as Kajol, is an Indian actress. Described in the media as one of the most successful actresses of Hindi cinema, she is the recipient of numerous accolades, including six F ...

and

Chandrachur Singh Chandrachur Singh (born 11 October 1968) is an Indian actor, who mainly works in Hindi cinema. He is the recipient of a Filmfare Award, in addition to receiving nomination for an International Indian Film Academy Awards, IIFA Award and a Screen ...

Plot

This story is about tragic love which begins in tragedy and ends in tragedy. Anand (

) lives happily with his wife Kavita (

) and Neha, whom the couple adopted because Kavita suffered a miscarriage. Kavita is good friends with Som Datt (

), whose love for her has remained unrequited since their college days. A lady starts stalking Neha and meets her up daily at school. After some time, she befriends Neha and Neha starts calling her "sweet Aunty" and introduces her to her mother Kavita, who invites her home. The stranger introduces herself as "Nandita" (

) and requests to spend more time with Neha. So Kavita lets her stay in their home as a guest for some time. However, deeply buried secrets threaten to surface when Nandita and Anand come face-to-face as it is revealed that they are the biological parents of Neha. Their short-lived tragic history is revealed: Anand and Nandita were traveling by train when thugs took over and tried to rape/kill Nandita. Anand saved Nandita's life and the two became attracted and made love. They did not meet after this night. Anand moved on with his life while a pregnant Nandita was forced to give up her child (Neha) for adoption. Anand and Nandita try to hide their past from Kavita at first, though Anand tries many times to meet with Nandita alone and talk to her, anxious to know why and where she mysteriously disappeared even though he tried to find her. However, Kavita finds out the truth and is disgusted with Anand and Nandita. Kavita leaves her home in the middle of the night with Som. Feeling betrayed, Kavita is contemplating leaving Anand forever. In the meantime, Anand and Nandita enjoy a fun day out with Neha at her insistence. After a spat at Som's house, Kavita finally realises her husband's true nature and files for divorce. At the courthouse, Anand begs Kavita to reconsider. Nandita promises to leave the family alone on one condition – that she take Neha with her. Kavita becomes frantic, as she refuses to give up Neha, and Anand reluctantly supports Kavita after realizing how desperate she is to keep Neha. When Nandita realizes that Anand and Kavita love Neha and are not ready to give her up, she decides to leave her daughter in their care and go away forever. Anand is shocked at this and runs to the train station. He makes it just in time to see Nandita on the moving train, peering at him with tearful eyes.

Cast

Ajay Devgan Vishal Veeru Devgan (born 2 April 1969), known professionally as Ajay Devgn, is an Indian actor, film director and producer who works in Hindi cinema. Devgn has appeared in over a hundred films and has won numerous accolades, including four ...

as Anand Kishore *

as Nandita Rai *

as Kavita Kishore *

as Som Dutt *

Farida Jalal Farida Jalal (born Farida Sami; 18 May 1950) is an Indian actress who primarily worked in Hindi films. In a film career spanning almost fifty years, Jalal appeared in over 200 films. Best known for her character-driven roles in independent cin ...

as Nandita's aunt *

Laxmikant Berde Laxmikant Berde (26 October 1954 – 16 December 2004) was an Indian Marathi language film actor who appeared in several Marathi and Hindi movies. He was known for his highly energetic slapstick performances. Berde started his career as an emp ...

as Ram Dulare Sinha * Akshita Garud as Neha Kishore *

Mohan Joshi Mohan Joshi is an Indian film, television and theater actor. He has worked in Hindi, Marathi and Bhojpuri films. Early life Joshi was born in Bangalore, Karnataka. He made his acting debut in Pune, Maharashtra. For better career prospects, ...

as Nandita's Father *

Anant Mahadevan Anant Mahadevan (born 28 August 1950), also credited as Ananth Narayan Mahadevan, is an Indian screenwriter, actor, and film director of Malayalam, Hindi, Marathi language, Marathi, Tamil language, Tamil films and television shows. Having been ...

as DCP Krishan Kumar *

Rajpal Yadav Rajpal Yadav (born 16 March 1971) is an Indian actor which works in Hindi, Punjabi Marathi, Telugu and one Gujarati and one Bengali and one avadhi, comedian and film maker known for his work in Indian Film industry. His breakthrough came in Ra ...

as a School Watchmen *

Avtar Gill Avtar Gill is an Indian actor who appears predominantly in Hindi and Punjabi language films and television serials. He has done many plays with Indian People's Theatre Association Mumbai. Selected filmography Films * ''Noorie'' (1979) * '' ...

as a Lawyer *

Rajendra Gupta Rajendra Gupta (born 17 October 1947) is an Indian film, television and theatre actor and director who is known for his television roles of Adina Beg Khan Sahib e Azam in 2010 series of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, Pandit Jagannath in the 1990s Doorda ...

as a Lawyer *

Dinesh Hingoo Dinesh Hingoo (born 13 April 1940) is an Indian actor who plays comic & supporting roles in Hindi films. He had appeared in over 300 films, from ''Taqdeer (1967)'' to ''Be Careful (2011)'', and is known for his laughter and impersonations inclu ...

Achla Sachdev Achala Sachdev (3 May 1920 – 30 April 2012) was an Indian actress who appeared in classic films of Hindi language film industry. She was from Peshawar and started her career as a child actor. She later became known for mother and grandmother ...

* Aroon Bakshi *

Sameer Dharmadhikari Sameer Dharmadhikari is an Indian film and television actor and model Popular for Playing the Role of Samrat Bindusara Maurya in Chakravartin Ashoka Samrat . He played the male lead in the Marathi film '' Nirop'' that won the National Award for ...

* Pushpa Varma *

Manohar Singh Manohar Singh (12 April 1938 – 14 November 2002) was an Indian theatre actor-director and character actor in Hindi films. He is best known for his performances in films such as ''Party'' (1984) and ''Daddy'' (1989). Starting his acting career ...

* Yogi Singh

Reception

Critical response

''Indolink.com'' ranked the film the best film of 1999, writing " We have got to hand it to the marvelous performances and complex characters for keeping our interest in ''Dil Kya Kare''. They help give the film the base it needs for credibility. If only Jha had made it a darker and less glamourous product, it would have had phenomenal success with the classes. The masses are certainly going to have a tough time watching, understanding and appreciating this inappropriately packaged flick. Of course, for those of you who like a bit of novelty and acting tour de forces, ''Dil Kya Kare'' is better than a thousand '' Taal''s and'' Hum Aapke Dil Mein Rehate Hain'' s combined. Sharmila Taliculam of ''Rediff'' wrote, "Throughout the film, one gets the feeling that Jha’s heart wasn’t in this film. It could have been a good film, if it had been treated properly. But all we can say is that it remains a disappointment."

Box office

''Dil Kya Kare'' grossed $285,000 in the US and £204,547 in UK. In the second weekend the film grossed $54,000 on screens, crashing to 51st position on the box-office chart from 27th. But it fared far better in the United Kingdom. It remained at No 14 there on 22 screens for two weeks.

Soundtrack

References

External links

* {{Ajay Devgan 1999 films 1990s Hindi-language films Films directed by Prakash Jha Films scored by Jatin–Lalit