It is indeed a case of truth proving stranger than fiction with the release of a film on terrorism at the very height of a global terrorist scare. One would think that this fact could only aid "Dil Se" by heightening the impact on the audience. Unfortunately, this is not the case. "Dil Se" is a valiant effort on Mani Ratnam's part but gets lost somewhere along the way in a weak screenplay and sketchy characterizations.The first half of "Dil Se" relies more on images than a solid screenplay, but Santosh Sivan's camera work is simply stunning and perhaps the best I've ever witnessed on the Hindi screen.The locations are gorgeous! Mr. Sivan single-handedly holds the audience's interest despite the fact that they are left to contend with the very drawn out interactions between Amar (Shahrukh) and a cold, lifeless caricature called "Meghna" (Manisha).
Amar is on a terrorist interview assignment for All-India Radio somewhere in a northern territory, where he keeps bumping into "Meghna" . Despite repeated attempts to get close to Meghna, all Amar really finds himself in is trouble, and after being ditched by Meghna, Amar quickly returns to his family in Delhi and an engagement to the frank and outspoken Preity (Preity Zinta).
Shahrukh's character talks forever about how much he loves Manisha, but his "love" really has no reason to be anything more than infatuation and intrigue. Not once do you have reason to suspect otherwise. Again, Shahrukh does the best one can do with his role, but the redundancy and ignorant nature of the part work against him. The chase sequence towards the end shows a new, diversely intense side to Mr. Khan's acting.
I would give this film a much, much lower rating. Ironically, with a title like "Dil Se", the film loses its heart somewhere along the way.
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