Love can make people do weird things. Some people get obsessive, while others become insecure. There’s those who become extra soft, pookie and then there are some who turn into intense souls. Love can enhance so many new personality traits, ones that you didn’t even know you had it in you.
That’s exactly what happens to Aarav (Lakshya) and Chandni (Ananya Panday) in Chand Mera Dil. They’re the classic college couple who gingerly but surely fall in love. But their engineering college romance gets a wild upgrade when Chandni gets pregnant. The young lovers are suddenly forced to become mature adults and parents. Two lovers, who dreamed of holding hands and watching sunsets, have to grapple with the reality of responsibilities and chores at an age when paying for Starbucks feels like a task.
In Hum Kisise Kum Nahi (1977) Mohammed Rafi sang Chand mera dil, Chandni ho tum, Chand se hai duur, Chandni kahaan, Laut ke aana, Hai yahin tumko, Jaa rahe ho tum, Jao meri jaan… Those lyrics are literally the life beats of Aarav and Chandni’s life. The two grapple with a reality check that forces them apart as they keep loving each other and yet drifting apart. Like a pack of cigarettes comes with statutory warning, love poems and romantic films should also carry a similar disclaimer. They should warn young humans that this crazy feeling of thumping hearts and dazzling pheromones can lead to serious mental hazards and conflicts later on, ones that will define the very path of your life. That’s exactly what happens to Aarav and Chandni, too. They love each other despite feeling they’re not entirely ‘compatible’ but all of this realisation happens as they’re already married, they’re parents while still being college kids and living together, in hardship tests both their personalities’ limits.
Writer-director Vivek Soni’s Chand Mera Dil is actually a reminder that relationships aren’t built on love alone. Love fuels passion and dedication, but the true test of any relationship is perseverance and discipline. A very interesting scene in the film, an absolute dramatic highlight, plays out as both Aarav and Chandni’s parents try to convince them to stay together and not breakup. During this fantastic scene, Aarav’s father (played by Manish Chaudhari) says, young people today don’t have the patience to finish what they’ve started, and modern kids look for an exit plan a little too easily.
While it’s a wonderful moment that highlights the difference between generations and how the dynamics of relationships have changed over the years, it’s not really relevant to Aarav and Chandni. Because their love and their patience has been tested by that point and it’s fractured under intense pressure. A couple, that wants to still be in love, but cannot reconcile with the weight and disappointments of their own failures. That’s a reality that so many couples face, across generations, and each one finds a means to either stay together and compromise or move on. In Chand Mera Dil, Aarav and Chandni go through a roller coaster ride. For most parts, their actions, their personalities, their feelings are all masterfully justified through writing and the performances.
Lakshya and Ananya Panday are quite literally the two, thumping, beating hearts of this love story. Their performances hold together the dramatic beats of Chand Mera Dil. Lakshya’s Aarav feels like a complete and accurate rendition of every young man who’s ever loved, failed and consumed his entire soul and life to service his loved one. The best part of Lakshya’s performance is the restraint. The actor never once lets the character go into overdrive. Ananya on the other hand delivers a veritable surprise. Almost all through the film, she’s able to infuse Chandni with a sense of ‘confused energy’. You always feel, ‘why is Chandni acting like that?’ and once you reach the very end, you realise how Ananya’s performance feeds Chadni with the several layers of mental anguish and conflict. Having said that, there’s something about Lakshya and Ananya’s chemistry that doesn’t quite feel right. The two individually perform to brilliance, but as a couple, you always feel like there’s something missing.
But what’s not missing in Chand Mera Dil, is dollops of soul and a big part of that is because of Sachin-Jigar’s music and Amitabh Bhattacharya’s lyrics. The music and the songs add a great deal of depth to the intense feelings and moments in the film. It’s also interesting to see how director Vivek Soni and cinematographer Debojeet Ray compose some unique frames and scenes in this movie. Despite the production design feeling a little under-cooked, the visuals and music of the film help elevate the story’s deep moods and the lead characters’ feelings very well.
All said and done, Chand Mera Dil, is not a perfect film. But then, even Rumi and Pablo Neruda will agree that perfection is not really a virtue relevant to love. Because love is a weird little feeling, that can make people do so many things that don’t always make sense. And yet, watching Chand Mera Dil, feels like an instant hark back to every good, bad and ugly thing you may have done in love. Most of it might not have made sense, but the feeling of having loved, lived and survived to tell the tale is all that matters.
Also Read: Ananya Panday and Lakshya Starrer Chand Mera Dil Receives U/A Certificate, Kissing Scene Removed
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: filmfare.com
