Shah Rukh Khan did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Amarkant "Amar" Varma in Dil Se...
Dil Se... was a bit surprising about a radio journalist becoming infatuated with a woman who just might be a terrorist.
Returning to Shah Rukh Khan, one of the most well known stars of current day Bollywood, in yet another romantic leading man turn though considerably different from his work in 94. As per usual, especially with requests, I tend to go in blind to a film, so it is safe to say I really was in for more than a few twists with this film. As the opening was one that seemed like it was going to be one thing, as we see Khan with an overeager, though effectively portrayed as such, demeanor as he happens upon a beautiful woman we will come to know as Moina (Manisha Koirala), who seems fearful yet is blunt in her rejection of him, which Khan presents as his Amar as mostly taking in stride but most certainly more than a little impacted by the seeming intensity of the interaction. Khan manages to set up his hopeless romantic with enough of a charm if also the sense the man perhaps goes a bit too head first into such notions. Khan I find just hits the right balance between the sides of the character to find a likeability within the character while still indeed being slightly overbearing but not going too far to become too overbearing for us to empathize with as we get started with this very atypical romance.
The atypical romance that has its first wrinkle as we follow Amar later on as he is working as the radio host, where Khan has a strong presence as the man with the passion to attempt to find his goal, which ends up being a combination between the romantic and surprisingly the political as he goes about interviewing an extremist militant group and runs into Moina again, who once again does her best to push him away despite his persistence. And while one can argue he's maybe a little much in his continued pursuit, it speaks to the charisma of Khan that he brings you along with this regardless, because there is this certain manner of honesty within his performance that helps ease it away a bit. It perhaps helps even more that he quickly is beaten for his interest by two random men who claim relation to Moina but rather suggest that she and the men may be tied to the terrorist group. The real challenge of Khan's performance begins to reveal itself within this kind of whiplash of elements between an unlikely love story and a very dramatic story of one falling into extremists. Particularly tricky because the shifts aren't in acts really, but rather in the first half the film rather quickly shifts between romantic overtures and some very serious ideas regarding Moina's extremists views and what fueled them.
Khan to his credit is able to maneuver this effectively within his performance that manages to create cohesion by always presenting Amar with the defining trait of his passionate demeanor no matter what the situation may be in a given circumstance. With Khan managing to find some kind of connection in showing the nature of the man taking kind of the love above else approach that manages to go from overbearing to overwhelming in a way that does work. Where Khan manages to show the way his intense passion carries him through and where his performance consistently emphasizes the sincere concern he has for Moina as much as he is intrigued by her. The swing then, as quick as it is, too quick I'd say, Moina admits her own affection for him openly though she is constantly burdened by her state of existence, though doesn't feel phony by the way Khan just so much exudes the intense interest in every aspect of her and does feel so sincere as the man unquestionably in love. And I think what works in contrast to this is Khan's chemistry with sort of the simpler alternative love interest of another young woman, Preeti (Preity Zinta), where the two do also have chemistry. The chemistry though is of an easy warmth between the two, that is low key but affectionate, however distinctly different from the fraught and intense chemistry we see between Khan and Koirala.
And to think I knew where the film was going would be wrong, as Moina doesn't escape her extremists beliefs and instead ingratiates herself within Amar's world as an agent in her group. Something Amar works on trying to break her from, which from Khan is a great scene where he has her listen to her spoken dreams of a life together, where Khan's performance is wonderful by the amount of direct empathy you see in his eyes in trying to purge her from her hate. When though she counters with her very real trauma at the hands of the government soldiers years ago. Khan is also great because he manages to show the sense of understanding the man has for her very real pain, but with this calm yet potent insistence that no matter the past her violent past is not what will help the world. But again to turn again as the film goes even more towards full thriller, where when Moina is going to go forward as a suicide bomber and Amar ends up needing to face both the terrorists and the police to face her. Khan is terrific though in not becoming the action hero suddenly, even if he does action hero things, as he goes through the emotional and physical wringer in his quest though with the sense of his passionate love behind it all. Khan is moving in showing the physical degradation of it all though in his eyes still the ever potent determination that the man refuses to give up and allow Moina to become the killer. Leading to a climax I definitely didn't see coming, but regardless made powerful by Khan's performance where he shows the man who is at the end of his rope in some ways in the level of emotional desperation he brings, the physical exhaustion behind it all, but still this purity of the man heart that defines him....there's all song and dance scenes that are purposefully her completely separate of a piece though related as fantasies though given the subject matter are particularly extreme in their contrast. So Khan's performance in these scenes is very different, but hey certainly brings a very different energy effectively, if it isn't exactly as a singular piece with the right of the film.