Yeh Dillagi

Yeh Dillagi
(translates as "this romance")
1994
3/5 stars

Sapna (Kajol), the chauffeur's daughter, goes to Mumbai to become a model so that she can earn money and be on equal footing with her father's rich employers.  She matures and gains confidence, and as a result turns the heads of both of the sons of the house: Vicky, unprincipaled playboy (Saif Ali Khan) and hardworking buisnessman Vijay (Akshay Kumar) Their mother (Reema Lagoo) is a stickler for social position, and refuses to allow either son to consider an alliance with the daughter of a servant.  They woo Sapna in their own way, and when one wins her love, he faces the difficulty of brotherly conflict and parental disapproval.

On the face of it, this romantic comedy (loosely based on Hollywood's Sabrina), is a love triangle that pits brotherly love against romantic love.  The story goes deeper than that, though, and becomes an evaluation of social snobbery.

Kumar, Kajol, Khan

It is a mostly fun film, but to my surprise contained two somewhat steamy scenes that didn't seem typical of a 1990's Bollywood movie, and detracted from the experience.  I also had a difficult time enjoying Lagoo's performance.  She's my favorite Bollywood mummy, and I'm not used to seeing her in an unsympathetic role.  The acting of the three main characters was good, and they had fine chemistry together.  The music was average, but there were some entertaining dance scenes.  Were it not for the two detractors mentioned above, this would be a 4 star movie, but as a result, I could only find it average.

This movie is available to rent on Google Play.