I got interested in watching ‘Chand
Mera Dil’ after seeing news of social media users making fun of actress Ananya Panday
for her Bharatnatyam dance in this film. I thought to check why people were so
agitated. After watching this film, I realized it was a case of “much ado about
nothing”. Ananya Panday had danced during “fresher’s function” of her engineering
college. And her Bharatnatyam was not a pure one but a ‘fusion’ to make it
funny for viewers. Entire college enjoyed that dance and were astonished. So,
the film never claimed that Ananya was making a classical dance performance in
this film. Instead of appreciating Ananya and this film for depicting one of the
Indian native dance forms, people on social media were making fun of it and it
was disappointing. I would give her 10/10 for that dance. And the ‘hero’ of the
film Lakshya fell in love with her seeing that dance.
In “Chand Mera Dil”, Ananya’s
character is named “Chandni” which is a refreshing name in the current times.
Lakshya is playing the role of Aarav, a promising engineering student who
sacrifices his career to support Chandni. I don’t want to give too much
spoilers, but I can tell you that I felt like quitting the film mid-way by the
intermission because the film was so intense and troubling at the same time.
The theatre where I was watching the
film was filled with young men and women. And a group of them were sitting in my
row. Initial minutes of the film were all about love, hence everything went
fine. The moment it turned into “marriage”, one girl started getting ‘triggered’.
She started talking to her friends around her, started judging whatever
happened on the screen, and passed comments. There was a scene after which she
started shouting “loser” at Aarav, the male lead. Immediately, the picture of a
typical male-hating fake-feminist came to my mind. She kept shouting at Aarav,
calling him whatever bad things she could, and it went on for some time and it
was so irritating to hear all that. But by the end of the film, Aarav shows
real character and she went totally silent. The ending of the movie was a bit
comforting and gave people hope, and hence perhaps all previous feelings were forgiven.
The movie depicts struggles and
survival for young couple, but presents the whole story in a unique way, not
seen before. I had become a fan of Lakshya after seeing his film “Kill” (2023) on
TV, and Chand Mera Dil was his first film I watched in a theatre. Same for
Ananya Panday too. After watching this film, I could realize why her critics
were shouting on social media. In this film, her acting skills has shone like a
moon (Chand), and she has really given a powerful and ‘complete’ performance.
She is not a typical “show girl” in this film, but she has played the role of a
versatile character artist. And she has given as great performance as any
A-class actress would have given.
This is overall a very nice film.
Although I won’t recommend this film for either people below 18 or the senior
citizens too. Its target audience is exactly the age Aarav and Chadni are
playing – in their mid or late 20s. Hence, overall recommended to above
audience.
- Rahul
