Flashback Friday: R Madhavan's Rehnaa Hai Terre Dil Mein Is A Handbook On The Flawed Idea Of Romance

 

New Delhi: We've all felt it when we revisit a movie we loved growing up only to realise what a letdown it was. ‘Rehnaa Hai Terre Dil Mein’, which eventually gained R Madhavan fame in Bollywood, is a film we adored as teenagers but shunned as grownups. It is unquestionably tough to speak negatively about Maddy, the film's main character, as a Madhavan fan who has witnessed some of the actor's outstanding work over the years, but one has to do what's needed.

And it's about time to call this movie what it truly is: an opus that has given an entire generation a flawed notion of what love is all about. Bollywood has grappled with the romance genre often and continues to do so. How else do you think ‘Kabir Singh’ has been another phenomenal success? The core idea of it and the overdone portrayal of romance in our films basically boil down to love at first sight and stalking at second. And this movie, directed by Gautham Vasudev Menon, is the poster child of such films. It not only offered the wrong view of love, but it also drew the green light from the majority of us who still attempt to defend straight-up problematic films.

Two 'alpha' males striving to prove their dominance within the premise of their college is the beginning scene of ‘Rehnaa Hai Terre Dil Mein’, a classic film cliche. Saif Ali Khan and R. Madhavan represented two contradictory tropes: the good boy and the bad boy. To prove that, all one needs to do is act as if to be the messiah of women while the other acts like a jerk. And to show that he is the latter, Madhavan's character is given some of the dialogue that is undoubtedly the most offensive. In one such scene, he explicitly requests that Sam, played by Saif, allow his female pals to occasionally entertain his circle of friends. That's Maddy, our hero, right there.

It is established that the two characters despise one another after several unnecessarily drawn-out confrontations. There has been a shift in time, and Sam and Maddy are now living quite different lives. One is a success abroad, while the other is letting opportunities slip to remain in 'Amchi Mumbai'. When Maddy falls for Reena (Dia Mirza), Sam's bride-to-be, fate brings the two of them back together. The chaos, or what Bollywood sells in a shiny package as a love story, begins.

Maddy starts to stalk Reena, as a guy should, of course, when he has feelings for a woman. He somehow manages to run into her practically everywhere he goes and doesn't miss a chance to skulk around her. Coupled with Johnny Lal's cinematography, mesmerising
 songs such as 'Zaara Zaara'and 'Kaise Main Kahun Tujhse' were able to persuade us to embrace even such unexpected behaviour. How naive could we have been to overlook the red flags when we first watched this movie?

Reena is portrayed as a modern Indian woman with traditional values who still wears a salwar suit and tells guys just how simple she is. That's how fleshed out the character is—nothing much. And the whole purpose of her being is to serve as the male protagonists' muse.

After tricking Reena's friend into revealing her contact details, Maddy pretends to be Sam and spends over a week trying to win over the girl of his dreams. While our hero tries to woo his lady love, his father and friends offer advice on how to do it. They come up with a scheme to disguise him as Sam and fool the woman he wishes to pursue. Anupam Kher, who plays Maddy's father, encourages him to make the most of the few days at hand to get the girl, even if it means concealing his identity. How to not be a 'cool' dad: 101

As planned, Reena now believes Maddy to be her true love. The real Sam shows up, and all of her hopes and beliefs get shattered. When the harsh reality hits, she makes up her mind to shut Maddy out of her life. However, bound by his nature, the latter continues to follow her around and at times threatens her. Maddy specifically points out that he could have exploited her if he had wanted to, but he didn't because he's a 'nice' guy. Reena, that was the sign to run. Hold up, not towards him.

Reena ultimately decides to do just that at the end of the movie after giving it a lot of thought and getting a moving speech from Sam. And then she goes on to admit her love for the jerk who had been following her, threatening her, and demeaning her. Ah! the things we do for love.

In little more than two decades since this film first premiered, there hasn't been much of a change in the happy endings of Bollywood romantic flicks. While stalking is a constant, what we have so far are some tweaks in the portrayal of male protagonists to make them less bothersome. Is it enough, though? Bollywood, wake up and smell the coffee.

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