Dil Dosti Etc

"Relax. It's nothing" That's the line you take home after the curtains have come down on DIL DOSTI ETC. Prakash Jha, noted for his hard-hitting films, manages to send home the message loud and clear. That it's for the viewer to make his choices. Whether casual sex is nothing or whether betraying a friend means nothing, or whether adding conquests (read scoring in bed with girls) to your already swollen list means anything to you. Or finally, whether sticking by values instilled in you and standing by principles means anything? The choice is yours. This movie does not preach, it just bares the fact which, sadly cannot be ignored.

In that sense this is a good movie. I mean you can only explain the consequences of bad actions to a teenager; at the end you have to respect him/her to make his/her choices.

How many films do we see targeted explicitly at the youth/students/college kids? Prakash Jha has found his audience and in director Manish Tiwary manages to tell a decent tale. It's shocking at times yes; but so is reality.

Set in modern Delhi(Delhi university to be precise), the movie juxtapositions many oddities together. To begin with, the character Sanjay Mishra(Shreyas Talpade), is your quintessential hinterland hero, emotional, with his earthy middle class values, providing a background for his (very ruthless) ambitions. Quite a contrast to this is the aimless Apurv, spectacularly portrayed by Imad Shah...He's cold, aimless, aloof and his mind operates in a space which is distinctly gray, but at the same time colorful. He exemplifies the new liberal man, who's defining character is his ability to negotiate in that ethical never land...Although I should add that though Apurv comes across as cold, he never appears calculating or Machiavellian....Sanjay's girlfriend Prerna is what I would call a perfect example of misplaced western-ism in the garb of modernity, the kind you encounter most in the metros...Ishita Sharma, who plays Kintu, symbolizing the next-gen teens...at the verge of sexual liberation, but still consider it important to cloak their expletives in a hogwash of codes(if you remember Juno, and the scene where her friend goes 'Phuket Thailand'...)....

Overall the film portrays precisely the kind of societal changes going on in India...An urban elite who are too cocksure about their 'modern' values, a small town guy who holds on to his imagined traditional values, ambitious but often confused by big city people and their elitist habits...And in the end of it all, the intellectually ambiguous Apurv reducing everything to 'Sanjay is dead, and I survived'...So at the end it all boils down to cold facts, and nothing else....

Not always a title will blend in everything to a discussion/monologue. The title above may not be suitable to other viewers. But I think Dil Dost Etc does have a social message which is targeted on an individual basis. This film portrays college days of Apurv (Imaan Shah) and Sanjay (Shreyas Talpade). Sanjay is a student from a middle class family in Bihar who is trying to run election and also win it by all the means he can. Apurv is his fellow mate who is born with a silver spoon. These two students have a totally different background but currently they face almost same situations in the college and they have almost opposite perspective on moral/ethics background. These two students bet to each other and that initiates a series of events which connect them together in the end.

I must say that this film is a great blend of psychology and philosophy of college students who are religious towards timely pop culture and matured audience who perhaps are competitive enough to exercise any and every means towards their goal. Debutant Manish Tiwary has written a clever script that from the first minute ("River of White Water") till the end of the film initiates and propagates various thought processes and live it open to individual comprehension. With humor as a positive ingredient his protagonists speak a language which is definitely thought for. The educational institute seems to be a perfect place to place two characters with different backgrounds and mentality. Though I have seen Sanjay at other occasions but Apurv shocks me. Not only his philosophies and self-ethics bother me but when he talks he seem to have understood a much about his surroundings. He does not apologise for a failed kissing attempt to a school girl (Ishita Sharma) and he survives a great deal of endeavor in the end. "A glimpse of the goal clears away some paths" as he utters this line I wondered where is this movie going to end. Manish Tiwary has ended this film with a social message which has to be self realised and self applied.

Imaan and Shreyas both have acted well. Shreyas as usual is very natural. It was good to see him in a matured serious role. I have never seen Imaan before but I wonder about his courage. Whether I should appreciate his ability to focus on the goal or the goal itself is a mystery. Smriti Mishra as the prostitute is also a great portrayal. The direction and screenplay are running at the same pace. For a debut this is a remarkable film. This is perhaps the best college flick since Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikander (1992) though I doubt I would watch it as many times as I watched Sanjaylal Sharma and the cycle race.

My rating: 8/10.

Simply a great film seen on Indian Screen. Thoroughly enjoyed the film even if it needs the patience to see what the story teller is trying to show case… he very deftly builds up several characters who go to university in delhi… they come from different background and want different things in life. The two hero are from two mentalities one is small towner and wants to be a politician in college other is this characters who rummages through life and just wants to fulfill one basic need – sex! A great creation of environment, and subtle drama… that is so missing on Indian cinema. what is amazing about your film is that many many things you don't see if you don't bother things behind actors & lines said by people - . what I love and thank you is you don't have to give a message there is a distinct feeling when movie ends that you want to go back and see it again. We discussed why did sanjay die, and would happened if sanjay had actually lived? Highly recommended guys! (and girls! – you will see girls here who are making their own minds on romance, sex and career….) - Abhinav Sekawariv

Coldness of the lead actor (Imaad) really makes up for this movie who perfectly lays the foundation of undertones and implicit scenarios woven by this script. Each character whether its schoolgirl (Ishiita) or the prostitute (Vaishali)or even aspiring model (Nikita) is a built-up for the single question raised and rediscovered in the end of the movie. Provocative yet to the ground reality are the high features, but as usual tapping the best out of Shreyas Talpade would have lead to an archetype(...bollywood cinema...did I say that correctly??). This movie gives you a breathing space but the question remains.... Are you aware of it and seek that space?? I was and I liked the movie till the end.