I recently saw the movie Dil Dhadakne Do directed by Zoya Akhtar who has previously directed a personal favourite Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara. The movie stars Anil Kapoor, Shafali Shah, Priyanka Chopra, Farhan Akhtar, Ranveer Singh and Anushka Sharma.  I’m not going to go into the story too much but here are my 7 top reasons why I loved it!

1. It promotes girl-power

Priyanka Chopra who starts her own business without any help from her rich father or husband. She looks like a boss and acts like a boss. She isn’t scared to walk away from a relationship where she doesn’t love her husband. Also when Farhan Akhtar stands up for PC at the time when PC’s husband is kind of putting her down is a fantastic way to promote men empowering women (only my darling Farhan could’ve done this). 

Fearless Farah runs away from home to pursue her dreams; this isn’t easy to do and it’s fantastic to see Bollywood promoting such strong female characters.

2. Pluto

The movie is narrated through the eyes of the family dog Pluto who is voiced by a surprise mega star. It’s weird how such a simple thing bought a totally different element to what could have turned out to be a typical Bollywood fare.

3. It’s a normal family

From the outside they look like the perfect family. A husband and wife that love each other and are celebrating 30 years of marriage, the son who is destined to take over the family business and the daughter who is successful and has married an equally successful man but the world is awaiting a grandchild. On the inside though they all have their issues, just like a normal family. The daughter has issues with her husband, the dad has had an affair but the mum has stayed with the dad due to ‘what society will say’ and the son doesn’t want to pursue the family business but instead wants to be a pilot and has fallen in love with someone from a different religion. It happens in many families and it’s good to see that normality portrayed in Bollywood.

4. It’s bloody funny

The comic timing between Priyanka and Ranveer, the one-liners and the climax all add up to make it a fantastic dramedy. Of course the fact that the dialogues are written by the brilliant writer Farhan Akhtar are definitely contributing factor

5. There aren’t too many songs

Back in the day Indian films had way too many songs. The fact this only has a couple of well-placed songs’ which go with the movies story is great and lets you concentrate on the movie.

6. It’s not over-dramatic

Everything has been done with subtlety and class. From the scenes in Turkey and Greece, to the background music. From the costumes to the acting. Nothing has been over-done and everyone can relate to it whether you’re Indian or not.

7. Farhan Akhtar

Obviously, I can’t write something which involves Farhan Akhtar without speaking about Farhan. From the dialogues he’s written which are sometimes funny, sometimes sad and sometimes thought-provoking. His presence is felt and the fact as i’ve mentioned earlier that he promotes girl-power. All of his movies take Bollywood forward and I can’t wait to see what he does next! 

So there you have it. My 7 reasons why Dil Dhadakne Do rocked and why I loved it! What did you think of the movie?

***Pictures sourced from Dil Dhadakne Do Facebook & Twitter page***