Dil Aashna Hai (...The Heart Knows) (1992)

Laila, brought up in a brothel, is a cabaret dancer in Digvijay Singh's five star hotel. One day, her dying mother informs her that she is adopted. Laila is aided by Karan in her search for the mother.

Director:

Hema Malini

Writers:

Iqbal Durrani (dialogue), Imtiaz Hussain (screenplay) (as Imtiaz Husain)

Stars:

Jeetendra, Mithun Chakraborty, Dimple Kapadia

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jeetendra	...	Prince Arjun Singh
Mithun Chakraborty	...	Sunil (Barkha's boyfriend)
Dimple Kapadia	...	Barkha
Amrita Singh	...	Rajlaxmi A. Singh
Sonu Walia	...	Salma A. Baig
Kabir Bedi	...	Rai Bahadur Digvijay Singh
Divya Bharti	...	Laila / Sitara
Shah Rukh Khan	...	Karan D. Singh
Nassar Abdulla	...	Akram Allahabadi Baig (as Nasser Abdullah)
Pankaj Udhas	...	Self
Raza Murad	...	Goverdhan Das
Amarjeet Mukherjee	...	Chandu
Farida Jalal	...	Razia
Beena Banerjee	...	Shobha (Karan's mother) (as Beena)
Sushma Seth	...	Mrs. Baig (girl hostel's principal)

Storyline

Laila, brought up in a brothel, is a cabaret dancer in Digvijay Singh's five star hotel. On day her dying mother informs her that Laila is her adopted child. Laila is aided by Karan in her search for the mother. Her search leads her to Razia, who divulges that eighteen years ago, there were three naughty little girls in her college Barkha, Salma and Raj. They were in love with their boyfriends and one of them delivered a baby girl. Each of the three looked after the baby as if it were her own. The baby was later handed over to Razia. Now all three girls are leading their own lives and have a god standing in society. But Laila is determined to bring them together to seek answers from them and find acceptance at the hands of her real mother.

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Plot Keywords:

illegitimate daughter | female protagonist | secret | cabaret dancer | unplanned pregnancy | 

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Genres:

Drama | Romance

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Did You Know?

Trivia

Hema Malini approached Vinod Khanna for the film. But he did not want to work with Amrita Singh. Jeetendra was signed to replace him.

User Reviews

one of SRK's first films

Hema Malini was a good actress but as a director, she failed to give hit films. This film was also supposed to be Shah Rukh Khan's debut but thankfully, Deewana came and gave him his first hit. Otherwise, this movie would be his debut and yes, this movie was a box office disaster.

The movie is about a young girl you is brought up in a brothel, she makes a living as a cabaret dancer in some other guy's club. She is not a happy person as she knows her mom is alive but can't find her, with the help of a friend(played by SRK) she goes on a search. However, the search gets complicated as many people are not as they seem to be and too many characters create a confusion. Will the girl find her dear mother? Will she be able to bring a permanent smile on her face? Watch the movie to find out.

The movie is all about a search to find the girl's mother and the search goes well but there are too many subplots which drags the film. The attention a viewer has on the main plot is not long lasting as the subplots tend to bore the viewer. The film is lengthy and editing is not well conducted as the film has many rough patches. To make matters worse, there are quite a lot of arguments and problems between characters and the overacting in these scenes tend to irritate. Music is the saving grace thanks to a couple of good tunes but none of them are up to the mark, none of them became hits.

Direction by Hema Malini is poor, she fails for the most part. She handles a few scenes well and the comic scenes are good for its time although clichéd in parts. Her direction falls flat when the emotional and serious parts of the movie occur, it looks unintentionally funny in some scenes. The end is also not justified and the subplots don't connect with the main plot which means all these subplots move parallel as a result, there is no flow in the storyline of the film.

Performances are anything great either, SRK is functional but this is one of his earlier films and he wasn't much of a good actor. He did much better in Raju Ban Gaya Gentlemen and Baazigar after which he actually started to rock as an actor. The heroine has a meatier role than SRK and she does a decent job, the rest overact horribly. Even veteran actor Mithun Chakraborty does a bland job, this is one of his weak films.

On the whole, Di Aashna Hai is a poor film, it fails for the most part though a few scenes are worth watching. However, the movie in general is a wasted product. Die hard SRK fans might like it but this is definitely not one of SRK's good films.

Details

Country:

India

Language:

Hindi

Release Date:

23 October 1992 (India)

Also Known As:

The Heart Knows the Truth

Filming Locations:

Chandivali Studio, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

Company Credits

Production Co:

H.M. Creations

Technical Specs

Runtime:

164 min

Color:

Color