We had recently gone on a lovely holiday to Europe and returned with a load of laundry, summer-tanned bodies, and phone albums filled with photographs. The weekend was mostly to reboot and recover from the holiday. The urge to indulge in desi khaana was at its peak and I swore not to look at
wine and bread almost until I needed some wine to digest this film.

With a warm bowl of dal khichadi and salad, we sat to watch Rehna Hai Tere Dil Mein. It was recently re-released in the theatres. I wanted to watch it in the theatre but my husband was so reluctant that I lost appetite to watch alone. When I found it on Amazon Prime, I had to force my husband to watch it with me. This is a 2001 release and I recall watching it on the television much later in time but I did not remember the story. For the beautiful music album that this film has, I don’t think anyone would want to focus on the story anyway. With that intention and in the mood to watch something light, we started this film.

Very quickly you’re introduced to the good guy and bad guy of the film. The bad guy, Maddy, is the rule breaker, bully, goon-ish character who is flat out uninterested in studying but somehow finds a decent job of a “teacher” at a software coaching class. This man says a lot of inappropriate things and here are some:

• yeh ladki aage se flat hai aur peeche se …
• Ladkiyon se seedhe muh baat karna bekar hai, unhe toh kone mein le jaa kar …
  I am not deliberately leaving the dialogue incomplete but I suppose it was so horrible that Prime just beeped it out for me and thanks to Prime for that. He’s a woman hater and proudly tells his friends that he’ll never date a girl until of course, he sees Rina. One glimpse of her is enough for him to fall “madly” in love with Rina.

Growing up, I remember how much of a rage Maddy had become. Madhavan had gained instant popularity in Hindi Cinema after this role and women were seeking out this man. To think that this horrific character deserves any attention is bizarre but Madhavan is definitely a fresh look and quite watchable.

Once Maddy is convinced with his love at first sight for Rina, the usual begins – stalking the woman, taking her photos without her permission, impersonating as someone else to get a chance to talk to her, stalking her at her office, cutting the telephone lines at her residence so she cannot contact her parents in urgency, beating up guys in front of her. All of it, nicely wrapped in a beautiful background score so it’s all white washed as romance and passion. I suppose Rina really needed that telephone badly because this calls for an SOS situation!

Of course, like all girls would, Rina finds Maddy’s quirks endearing because he adds the Maddy touch to it. He feeds her Pani Puri, fills her house with flowers, takes her to his “special spot” in the city where he often goes to clear his thoughts and some such basic wooing.

The good guy, Rajiv is as good as he can get. Well educated, successful, working in the USA, respectful towards women to the point that he fights with other men if his girl friends are eve teased. Above all, he’s extremely handsome. I couldn’t take my eyes off the perfection that Saif is in this character. I don’t know how I felt about Maddy in my early teens but a 31 year old me would definitely hate Maddy’s guts and crush on Rajiv.

Over the next two hours of the film, Rina finds out that Maddy has impersonated as someone else and plainly lied to her. She reacts angrily only eventually to end up with him. The good guy helps them get back together and that’s pretty much all that his role is. Other than of course Saif’s perfect looks. While getting back with Maddy, Rina tells him that’s he’s an arrogant prick, a bully, “badtameez”, and yet, she loves him.

Rina, played by Dia Mirza, fits perfectly for the role and looks extremely pretty on screen. The songs are a nostalgic trip in themselves. Forward the film if you’d like but watch every song. You’d be humming the tunes for the rest of the week, only to realise that they don’t make this kind of music anymore.

To get over the hangover of this film, I’d have to watch SRK in DDLJ help women in the kitchen, or watch him in Duplicate, a pahalwan’s son with the kindest heart, off on his journey to become a chef. Any suggestions of films where the good guy gets the girl, are welcome, at this moment.

-Aishwarya Bedekar