Dil Bechara - Movie Review

At the beginning of Disney+ Hotstar’s ‘Dil Bechara’, the protagonist, Kizie Basu (Sanjana Sanghi), sums up the movie for us – Ek thha raj, ek thhi rani, dono marr gaye, khatam kahaani. In the Hindi screen adaptation of ‘Fault in our Stars’, we get a narrator in Kizie, who suffers from thyroid cancer, giving us a glimpse of her morose life, until the flamboyant Immanuel Rajkumar Junior AKA Manny (Sushant Singh Rajput) enters it.

This is not the first time we have a movie with terminally-ill protagonists. From Anand to My Brother Nikhil or Guzaarish, we have had makers tell us stories of diseases and the deceased. Dil Bechara comes closest to Mani Ratnam’s 1989 hit, Geethanjali. Thematically, both the movies have the same beats – terminally ill protagonists, one of them has a zeal for life and helps the other one come around. However, Geethanjali was in a much lighter vein and Mani Ratnam downplays their agony and pain, which is more pronounced in Dil Bechara. Other way to look at it – probably Dil Bechara has a more real take on the lives of the terminally ill – their bouts of health problems, their inner battles and mental turmoil. So, we get to see a sombre Kizie always walking around with ‘Pushpinder’ (her oxygen cylinder), her fluctuating health and recurring cancer counselling sessions. Her sullen life is lit up when Manny, a patient of osteosarcoma, enters her life and brightens it up.

Manny has a completely contrasting take on life. Belonging to a rich household (much of which we are not told about) and probably being able to afford best of medical care, he has a more positive approach towards life. A chain ‘smoker’, he likes to hold cigarette in his mouth without lighting it. He says its metaphorical – something that causes cancer has been rendered useless by a cancer victim. He is a Thalaivar AKA Rajinikanth fan and wishes to fulfil his best friend’s dream of directing a Bhojpuri flick. Kizie, who frequents funerals as a hobby, is chosen as his ‘leading lady’ in this ‘movie’ being shot on a handycam. Expectedly, he manages to make Kizie look at life better and fall in love with him, ending up romancing in Paris. But, does Kizie’s opening story - Ek thha raj, ek thhi rani, dono marr gaye, khatam kahaani - come true? Is their story ephemeral? Watch to find for yourself.

Dil Bechara, with a crisp running time of 100 minutes, does not thankfully meander into unnecessary subplots. We do not have cliched sad drama involving the families – everyone is unbelievably nice. But, unlike Geethanjali which focussed more on their love story, Dil Bechara takes to the tragic pain that the protagonists go through, making it a not so easy watch. Coupled with the collective pain we have been experiencing since the untimely death of the lead actor, the movie feels a lot heavier than it intended to be. For a movie title hinting at a love story, this required to be more on the romantic side. (Except a glimpse in the song ‘Khulke Jeene Ka’, not much of it is seen). But it ended up being a movie on life and death.  

A R Rahman’s music compliments the theme well, though ‘Main Tumhara’ - the track that brings them together and acts as a major plot point, could have been better. Performance-wise, Saswata Chatterjee, Swastika Mukherjee and Sahil Vaid provide good support to the leads. Sanjana Sanghi is promising in her maiden lead attempt and uses her petite frame to transition from an awkward college student to a girl madly in love. Sushant Singh Rajput, in his last acting stint, is good as the goofy Manny, giving us laughs and then takes us through his pains with equal conviction.

But, as everyone has been saying (and warning), Dil Bechara does not deserve to be ‘critiqued’ and ‘rated’. It is a tribute to Sushant Singh Rajput and I would also leave it at that (which means no rating). Watch it, but beware of tearing up (mostly because of SSR, the actor and not the character).

P.S: I admit it wasn’t easy watching this movie objectively, after the sad turn of events in the past few days and the cacophony that followed. That is why I decided to sleep over it to clear my thoughts and be able to pen them better. It is ironic that a young star, with promising acting skills, could not take inspiration from his zealous character, Manny. While watching the movie with a mind shrouded by the recent unfortunate events, one may find the dialogues sting at you. When Manny says ‘hum kab marte hai yeh hum decide nahi karte’ or when he begs Kizie ‘Can we pretend am not dying aur kahi nahi jaa raha’, you wonder if only Sushant Singh Rajput, the actor, had taken these words to reinforce himself.