Dil To Pagal Hai

Dil To Pagal Hai (The heart is crazy) is a Bollywood comedy/drama, released October 31 1997, about the love-lives of dancers in a musical dance troupe. It is directed by Yash Chopra. It stars Shahrukh Khan, Madhuri Dixit and Karisma Kapoor with a guest appearance by Akshay Kumar. It won 7 Filmfare awards, including Best Film, Best Actor and Best Actress.

The film has often been rumored to be (very loosely) inspired by Paul Verhoeven's much-maligned American film Showgirls (1995), which also featured a plot surrounding a injured young igenue who has to be replaced by another performer.

The tagline is "Someone..... Somewhere..... is made for you"

Extended Synopsis

Rahul (Shahrukh Khan) is a dancer and the director of a successful musical dance troupe. He and Nisha (Karisma Kapoor) are best friends, though Nisha is secretly in love with him. After a successful tour, Rahul announces a new one which he calls "Maya" after the girl of his dreams.

Rahul does not believe in love or marriage, but he is clearly in love with "Maya", a girl that only exists in his fantasies. One day, Nisha injures her foot and won`t be able train and participate in the new show, so Rahul searches for a replacement — and finds Pooja (Madhuri Dixit), a kind-hearted young woman. Pooja believes in marriage and love — and it is her principle that she will only marry her soulmate. Since Pooja`s parents have died, she lives with her uncle and aunt and has grown up with Ajay (Akshay Kumar). Ajay is in love with Pooja, but she only feels friendship towards him, but still gets in engaged to him, thinking that he may be her soulmate.

Pooja then starts to train with the troupe and when Nisha is released from hospital, she realizes that Rahul has fallen in love with Pooja, so she leaves for London.

Ajay, who has spent some time outside India, returns in order to get married to Pooja. Rahul finds out about Poojas engagement and is devasted. Pooja tries to tell Ajay that she loves Rahul via a tape recording but it seems Ajay hasn`t received it.

Nisha returns from London to see the show and complains that "Maya" has a bad ending. Rahul however, bitter about Pooja's engagement, refuses to change the end. "Maya" is really Pooja's and Rahul's story the way he sees it: He and Pooja met, fell in love with each other and yet won't get together.

The show is a huge success and in the final scene, Rahul's feelings for Pooja start to emerge and he asks her in front of the audience if she has ever loved him. She declines but suddenly the tape recording Pooja has send Ajay starts to play in the background and she is forced to listen to her own declaration of love for Rahul. Ajay breaks the engagement and convinces her to tell Rahul about his feelings for him. She does so in front of the entire audience and their relationship is mended.

Cast

• Shahrukh Khan ... Rahul
• Madhuri Dixit ... Pooja
• Karisma Kapoor ... Nisha
• Akshay Kumar ... Ajay (Guest Appearance)
• Farida Jalal ... Pooja`s aunt
• Yash Chopra .... Himself (opening credits sequence)

Awards

1998 Filmfare Awards:

• Best Film
• Best Actor (Shahrukh Khan)
• Best Actess (Madhuri Dixit)
• Supporting Actress (Karisma Kapoor),
• Filmfare Best Art Direction Award (Sharmishta Roy)
• Best Dialogue (Aditya Chopra)
• Best Music Director (Uttam Singh)

1998 National Awards:

• Best Supporting Actress (Karisma Kapoor)