Dhadkan

Plot

Anjali Chauhan is a young woman. Her rich and influential father, Narendra Chauhan, is a renowned businessman. Anjali is dating the poor Dev Chopra, who cannot even afford to clothe himself properly. He loves Anjali, too. Dev's mother, Jhanvi Chopra, dotes on Dev and is ecstatic to meet Anjali. Dev is the illegitimate son of his unwed mother, so he has no father. Jhanvi trusts Anjali to take care of Dev and never hurt him, as society has. When Anjali puts forward the proposal of marrying Dev to Narendra (after Narendra informs Anjali that he has fixed her wedding, she begs him to meet Dev once), he decides to meet Dev. After meeting him, Narendra doesn't like his attitude (Dev is unshaven, in ordinary clothes and sandals. Dev says if Narendra doesn't give his consent to the wedding, he will take away Anjali forcefully) and rejects him. Dev wants Anjali to leave with him, but Anjali refuses and promises to meet him later.

Anjali leaves Dev so as not to upset Narendra and her mother, Veena Chauhan. Anjali wanted to leave her house, but Narendra threatens to commit suicide if she took this step. Narendra agrees to let Anjali keep her promise to meet Dev, where she tells him that she has come to leave him. Dev is shocked and promises to destroy everything he holds dear if he can't get Anjali. Heartbroken, Dev tells this to his mother, Jhanvi, who dies in shock as she liked Anjali a lot. Under pressure, Anjali marries Ram Verma, an idealistic man, in an arranged marriage.

Ram lives in Delhi with his step-mother Vibha Verma, step-brother Bobby Verma, and step sister Nikki Verma. Ram is 75% owner of the business, and the rest of the family owns 25%. Bobby and Nikki resent him for this. Vibha wants to turn Ram against Anjali, and thus needles Anjali to hand over her jewels to her. Anjali refuses. Ram advises her to listen to Vibha. Anjali prepares to leave the house when her maid shows her how Vibha and Nikki are plotting against Ram and Anjali. Ram tells Anjali that he knows everything and wants to win everyone over with unconditional love. When Ram is away at work, Bobby tries to seduce Anjali, but she refutes his advances. Ram catches them live, and the matter escalates to Vibha. Vibha blames Anjali, but Ram defends her, saying Vibha and Bobby are lying. Vibha decides to leave the house with Bobby and Nikki after Ram puts his foot down.

After seeing the magnanimity of Ram's heart in accepting her, Anjali realizes she has fallen in love with him. Ram too falls in love with her. They confess their love and consummate their marriage.

Cast

Akshay Kumar as Ram Verma, Anjali's husband.

Suniel Shetty as Dev Chopra, Anjali's love interest.

Shilpa Shetty as Anjali Ram Verma (née Chauhan), Ram's wife.

Mahima Chaudhry as Sheetal Varma, Dev's business partner.

Sushma Seth as Vibha Verma

Parmeet Sethi as Bobby "Bob" Verma

Manjeet Kullar as Nikki Verma

Naseem Mukri as Mrs. Malhotra

Kiran Kumar as Narendra Chauhan, Anjali's father.

Anjana Mumtaz as Veena Chauhan, Anjali's mother.

Neeraj Vora as Babban Miyan

Sharmila Tagore as Janhvi Chopra, Dev's mother.

Anupam Kher as Sheetal's father

Kader Khan as priest in the song "Dulhe Ka Sehra"

Music

The music of the album has been composed by the duo Nadeem–Shravan in the span of three years. "Dulhe Ka Sehra" sung by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan was composed in 1997, while other songs were recorded in 1997-1998, with the exception of "Tum Dil Ki Dhadkan Mein", which was recorded in 2000 at London.

The album was listed in second position in the yearly music charts. According to the Indian trade website Box Office India, around 4.5 million units were sold making it the second highest-selling album of the year after Mohabbatein. The soundtrack was #73 on the list of 100 Greatest Bollywood Soundtracks of All Time, as compiled by Planet Bollywood.

Reception

Taran Adarsh wrote of the film:

Dhadkan is an intense love story and director Dharmesh Darshan has handled it with the sensitivity it deserves ... Despite the flaws, one has to acknowledge the fact that Dharmesh Darshan succeeds in melting the heart at several places. The entire marriage song-sequence in the initial reels, prior to it the scenes involving Sharmila Tagore, Sunil's portions in the second half, clearly indicate that the director knows his job well. He relies more on close-ups to capture expressions, which is the hallmark of a seasoned technician.

Adarsh described Shilpa Shetty as the "life of the enterprise", adding that she "looks good, delivers her lines effectively and emotes with utmost conviction."He said Sunil Shetty's performance is one of his best, especially the scenes between Sunil and Shilpa are fabulous." He also remarked "Akshay Kumar shows vast improvement as an actor. He is very controlled and handles this difficult role with sincerity."

Padmaraj Nair of Screen felt the film had a "nostalgic feel to it, what with the effect of watching social drama from the good ol' 60s." He added that the film was "fairly interesting in the first half, with its slick screenplay, But the director does seem to lose his grip towards the end, as the film climaxes rather tamely. It seems as if he developed cold feet as far as justifying the grey role of Sunil Shetty is concerned, and ends up portraying him on a positive note." He felt, performance-wise, Shetty "scores over the rest", while adding, "Shilpa gets the best role of her career and doesn't disappoint. Akshay Kumar, in the role of the cool-headed husband, is impressive." On other departments of the film, he concluded writing, "Nadeem-Shravan's music is the very lifeline of the film, and all the tracks are melodious and situational. Cinematography by W. B. Rao is outstanding."

Awards and nominations

46th Filmfare Awards:

Won

Best Villain – Suniel Shetty

Best Female Playback Singer – Alka Yagnik for "Dil Ne Yeh Kaha Hai Dil Se"

Nominated

Best Film – Ratan Jain

Best Actor - Akshay Kumar

Best Director – Dharmesh Darshan

Best Supporting Actress – Mahima Chaudhry

Best Music Director – Nadeem–Shravan

Best Lyricist – Sameer for "Tum Dil Ki Dhadkan Main"

Best Male Playback Singer – Udit Narayan for "Dil Ne Yeh Kaha Hai Dil Se"

2nd IIFA Awards:

Nominated

Best Film – Ratan Jain

Best Director – Dharmesh Darshan

Best Actor – Akshay Kumar

Best Actress – Shilpa Shetty

Best Supporting Actress – Mahima Chaudhry

Best Villain – Suniel Shetty

Best Music Director – Nadeem–Shravan

Best Lyricist – Sameer for "Tum Dil Ki Dhadkan Main"

Box office

The film was released on 11 August 2000 at 250 screens.

Dhadkan had a worldwide theatrical release on August 11, 2000, during the Independence Day weekend and garnered predominantly positive reviews. It emerged as a box office success grossing ₹26 crore worldwide. The film’s music, composed by Nadeem – Shravan, went on to break records.

Remake

This film was remade in Dhivehi as Hiiy Edhenee in 2001, in Bangladeshi Bengali as Hridoyer Bandhon in 2001 and Telugu as Ramdev in 2010