MUMBAI: Shah Rukh Khan and Manisha Koirala’s blockbuster romantic thriller, Dil Se clocks 25 years. Helmed by the prolific director and filmmaker of Indian Cinema, Mani Ratnam, Dil Se was released in the year 1989 on August 21. 

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The SRK and Manisha starrer tragic love story which is now celebrated as one of the cult-classic by cinephiles, apparently received a lukewarm response at the box office back then. Almost two decades have passed by, but Dil Se still manages to hit the right chord with the audience. 

While King Khan and Koirala stole the show with their outstanding performance, musical maestro AR Rahman left the audiences spell-bound with Jiya Jale, Dil Se Re, and Chaiyaa Chaiyaa, the soulful tracks from Dil Se that are etched in our memories for eternity. 

Amid the undying love and ever-growing popularity of his film, the man behind the masterpiece, Mani Ratnam has now revealed in an interview that he hasn’t watched Dil Se yet!

In an interview with Scroll, while speaking about the film which has now turned 25, Mani Ratnam revealed that he has only seen ‘bits and pieces’ of Dil Se. 

Ratam shared, “I haven’t seen the film in 25 years, so I don’t know how it has stood. I have only seen bits and pieces, and that too on mute – or any of my other films, for that matter.” 

Set against the backdrop of insurgency in Assam, the movie stars Shah Rukh Khan as an All India Radio employee and Manisha Koirala as Moina, a member of a North-East terrorist sleeper cell. 

While the movie highlights the insurgency in Assam, however, the movie lacks clarity over Manisha’s character and it doesn’t reveal till the end from which part of North-East Moina belongs exactly.

Reacting to the criticism about the lack of clarity over his leading lady’s character, Ratnam explained, “The reason was, there were several troubled border states, and we were looking for a representative story. Otherwise, it would have become a story of a particular place. The film represented several places that were going through turmoil. You do what you think at that point in time. If you accept something that works very well and is appreciated, you also accept something that hasn’t connected or is not well-received. Maybe the way that you’ve told the story hasn’t reached? You learn from it and move on. You can’t be too worried about the appreciation or the criticism that comes your way.”

Dil Se not only marked Mani Ratnam’s directorial debut in the Hindi film industry, but it also marks Preity Zinta’s remarkable acting debut in a supporting role. Directed by Mani Ratnam, Dil Se was led by Shah Rukh Khan and Manisha Koirala. 

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Besides, SRK, Koirala, and Zinta, the film also starred Mita Vasisht, Arundhati Rao, Raghubir Yadav, and Zohra Sehgal in key roles. Dil Se was released on August 21 in 1998.

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Credits - Pinkvilla