Search - Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam on DVD

S A A. (Learned2Heal)
Reviewed on 1/31/2011...

A lovely (looooong) Indian movie with one extremely distracting and annoying "garnish": the director tells the story as if the last half were set in Italy when, in fact, it is clearly set in Budapest, Hungary!

It gets worse... Not only did he try to pass off Budapest as being in Italy, all the "Italians" are speaking Hungarian! The closest you get to an Italian phrase in this movie is when they refer to "The church of the Santa Maria" which, in truth, is probably more Latin than it is Italian.

Furthermore, he could easily have passed off Budapest as some city in Italy, if only he had not chosen to display the panoramas of the Danube and the Hungarian Parliament as well as just about every single well-known tourist landmark in that city, including taxicabs with Hungarian writing on the side. I mean, filming in alternate locations is done all the time, but with a little more finesse and, generally, they take pains to at least use the correct language and local customs and costumes for the intended backdrop. None of which happened here.

For me, a Hungarian (in case you haven't guessed...), this whole thing was very distracting and pretty laughable.

I do love the colors and pageantry of Indian films though. It seems as though Nandini had a different sari on in every scene. That, I enjoyed very much, because the saris are just gorgeous. So was Nandini. Sameer, on the other hand, though handsome, struck me more like an Indian Jerry Lewis with his demented need to be funny all the time. He was clearly the "comic relief".

All in all, a pleasant enough movie, but insulting from the cultural perspective.

Romantic Masala!

Syeda Abdul Khuddus | Richardson, TX USA | 08/01/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This is yet another love-triangle but made very aesthetically. This is perhaps the only Aishwarya movie I've watched repeatedly...because I've enjoyed her "chemistry" with Salman. She can dance well yes, but act...I still doubt it. She sure looks like a doll on screen but truly does not make my heart beat or head turn...she's meant to model.
Salman's funny, as always...but what makes this movie very special & warm is Ajay's character. I wanted to hold him in my arms and cry...I wanted to give him my shoulder to cry on...he's an ordinary looker but extraordinary performer!
The songs are simply mind-blowing because of Kavita Krishnamurthy's outstanding singing...after Lataji & Ashaji, she's the next legend!"

An amazing, excellent film-highly recommended

Nicole La Rochelle | NorCal | 04/19/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This and Kuch Naa Kaho are my two absolute favorite Bollywood films.
This one just surpasses all for the music, costumes, singing, dancing, length of film you get for your dollar, acting, you name it.

Aishwarya Rai, Ajay Devgan, and Salman Khan give most excellent performances and all look picture perfect throughout the film. The scenery is amazing. This film is what I consider "monumental" as one can see the amount of time, effort that went into making this film.

Love, love and more love...the romance is intriguing-made me want to marry Ajay on the spot, but preferred Salman's light-hearted character a bit more.

I'm more than a little tired of the whole father picking the husband for the daughter routine-wish India would catch up with the western world in that respect, but glad to see it turned out all right in this film.

Highly recommended-buy the soundtrack too and blast it while driving around town. I can't tell you the bizaare looks I get when I get to a stop light and folks hear Hindi music!! Make your neighborhood culturally aware :)"