Darr

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 DARR [1993]

Starring: Shah Rukh Khan, Juhi Chawla, Sunny Deol, Anupam Kher

Direction by Yash Chopra

Language: Hindi



Pyar jab hadh se guzar jaaye toh pooja ban jata hai, aur pooja bahek jaye toh junoon.

When love slips out of your hands, it becomes devotion, and when devotion goes astray, it becomes obsession.


Magar iss mein aik baat aur bhi hai, woh baat joh aaj tak kisi prem kahani mein nahin aayi hain….Darr!

But in this [movie], there is one more element, an element that, until today, has not featured in any love story…fear!


And the award for most improbable sequence of events in a movie goes to…..Darr! A self-proclaimed ‘violent’ love story, this was Bollywood’s attempt at diversifying the love stories so popular in the 70s and 80s. I’ve said it once, and I’ll say it again - I do not really like action films. BUT this movie balanced not only the love stories that I almost expect out of Bollywood, but it combined aspects of horror, psychological thriller and action to create a wonderful, confusing, yet daringly different movie that I loved. 


I have not watched Bollywood movies in chronological order, and that’s why I was so incredibly relieved to see Juhi Chawla, Shah Rukh Khan, and Sunny Deol starring in the movie. Thank god there was some fresh chemistry to watch, rather than the same old Bollywood favourites: Kajol and Preity Zinta with Shah Rukh Khan. 

Although Chawla delivered a pretty standard  performance, by playing the role of a largely subservient, timid woman which Bollywood seems to love, it was fascinating to just see this role being delivered by a fresh face! Why I haven’t seen her star in other renowned films of the time period, I don’t know. 

Sunny Deol also performed in a very boring way: he played a typical role of a strong man, a protector who eventually prevails over the forces of an evil antagonist to save what is dear to him, typically a woman. Been there, seen that! 


It was Shah Rukh Khan’s performance that was definitely the most striking for me. Thank god I was able to see a movie where Shah Rukh Khan wasn’t playing a happy-go-lucky character who becomes infatuated with woman only to have essentially his entire personality changed. In this movie, he played the role of a psychopath, a person who has not only fallen in love, but a person who has become obsessed to the point of insanity in his infatuation. Being able to play a character who, in my eyes, I see as bipolar in his constantly fluctuating actions not only indicates skill, but it also adds a whole other dimension to Shah Rukh Khan and his ability. His constant utterances of ‘I love you K-k-k-kiran’ will forever be lodged in my brain. 


9.5/10

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