Monday, February 29, 2016

Darr (1993)

Darr means “fear”, and the tagline is “A violent love story”, just so you know what you’re getting into. It’s not a love story at all. It’s beyond those stories of all-consuming love like Dil Se all the way past Raanjhana and into some heavy-duty crazy. So naturally I enjoyed it.

 Shahrukh Khan plays Rahul, an unbalanced young man dangerously obsessed with Kiran (Juhi Chawla).


Kiran is as beautiful and carefree as Juhi usually is. As she gets ready to leave college, she’s serenaded by an unseen singer. She assumes it’s her fiance, Sunil (Sunny Deol*), but as she searches the campus and the gardens, the mysterious voice stays hidden. It’s not Sunil, it’s Rahul, and as the movie goes on, the refrain “tu haan kar/yah naa kar/tu hai meri Kiran” (Whether you say yes or no, you’re mine) becomes more and more disturbing because we will find out that is exactly what he means. Nothing Kiran can do will stop him.

*My favorite part of the wikipedia entry on this movie: “Chopra offered Sunny Deol the choice between playing the role of Rahul and Sunil. Deol chose the latter, believing it would be an asset to his career. However, this did not happen.”