Darr Movie Review
Darr: A Violent Love Story is a 1993 Bollywood romantic psychological thriller film directed by Yash Chopra under the banner of Yash Raj Films. It is the story of an obsessed lover (Shahrukh Khan) and the lengths to which he goes to get the girl (Juhi Chawla) who is already happily engaged to Sunil (Sunny Deol). It is the second film in which Shahrukh Khan played the role of a villain. It is considered to be one of his best performances and earned him a Filmfare Award nomination for Best Villain. Darr was the third highest grossing movie of 1993, being declared a Super Hit at the Box Office.In 1993, Khan won acclaim for his performances in villainous roles as an obsessive lover and a murderer, respectively, in the box office hits, Darr and Baazigar. In Khan's entry in Encyclopædia Britannica's "Encyclopedia of Hindi Cinema" it was stated that "he defied the image of the conventional hero in both these films and created his own version of the revisionist hero." Darr marked his first collaboration with renowned film-maker Yash Chopra and his banner Yash Raj Films, the largest production company in Bollywood.
Story / Plot
Kiran Ahwasti (Juhi Chawla) studies at a college in Shimla, where she is one day serendaded by a man whose face she cannot see. She believes this was done by her lover Sunil (Sunny Deol). However, when they reunite Sunil tells her that he never came to Shimla. When Sunil drops Kiran home one night, a stranger shines a torch in her eyes and says "I love you K-K-Kiran." Later that same night, he telephones her house and says the same words. Kiran believes that the man who did this is the same man from Shimla.
Sunil works in the Indian Navy, his boss is Captain Mehra (Dalip Tahil). It is soon revealed that Mehra's son Rahul (Shahrukh Khan) is Kiran's obsessed lover. Rahul is a lonely man, with very few friends and is often in a world of his own, to the extent that he talks to his mother (who died eighteen years ago in a car crash) about his love for Kiran. He follows Kiran around and is increasingly jealous about her love for Sunil. On the phone he starts threatening to hurt Sunil if Kiran continues to meet him. Rahul soon meets Sunil and befriends him with the hope of getting closer to Kiran - he manages to hide his true intentions by telling Sunil he is Captain Mehra's son. Later, on Kiran's birthday, Rahul manages to make his way into her house. Sunil and Kiran's brother (Anupam Kher) and sister-in-law (Tanvi Azmi) decide the incident needs to go to the police - when Sunil goes to report it, his car crashes because Rahul had tampered with the breaks. The next day, when Rahul phones, Kiran attempts to trick him into meeting her so that they can apprehend him - the plan nearly succeeds until Rahul notices Sunil standing and watching Kiran from a distance. Later, Kiran's family bring a police inspector to the house - after Rahul next phones, they ask him to trace the number and are in shock to find that Rahul had phoned from one of the upstairs bedrooms. During Holi, celebrations are held at Kiran's house. Rahul manages to sneak in and confess his love for Kiran but Sunil again fails to capture him. Kiran and Sunil now decide to get married in order to warn off Kiran's obbsessed lover. Rahul learns they are to marry and is livid - he attempts to shoot Sunil but misses. Sunil angrily chases him down, still unable to identify him. During the chase, Sunil is run over and severely injured. Kiran blames herself for this and decides to leave the city - however, Sunil stops her and they get married. Rahul carves Kiran's name on his chest, vowing to break up her marriage to Sunil. Kiran and Sunil move into a new apartment - the police inspector places two constables outside to protect them. When the constables enter the lift, it crashes (Rahul made it crash). When Kiran and Sunil enter the apartment, they find messages written from the obsessed lover.
To get away from the stalker, Kiran and Sunil decide to take their honeymoon in Switzerland. Rahul is falsely told at the airport that they have travelled to Goa - he goes there but cannot find them, instead he reunites with an old college friend Vikram (Annu Kapoor). Rahul befriends Kiran's family, because of his friendly nature neither of them suspect he is up to something. Vikram is soon dying of liver failure, Rahul makes it look like Vikram committed suicide and places photos of Kiran along with a suicide note next to his dead body, making everyone believe that Vikram had been Kiran's obsessed lover. Rahul overhears that Sunil and Kiran are in Switzerland. Kiran and Sunil receive the news that the man who had been scaring Kiran is now dead - they are overjoyed. They later bump into Rahul - Kiran recognises Rahul, as they were friends from college. Kiran also tells Sunil how Rahul was in love with a girl at college but nobody ever knew who the girl was. Later, Sunil is on the phone to Kiran's brother, who reveals that Rahul had been visiting them whilst Sunil and Kiran were in Switzerland. Sunil puts two and two together and realises that Rahul is the one who terrorised Kiran. He lures him into the forest and beats him, but soon Rahul stabs him. Rahul finds Kiran on a boat and confesses everything to her. That night,Sunil reaches the boat and they have a brutal fight Rahul beats Sunil but dies confessing his love for kiran. Thus they both came back to india where Kiran's family welcome them warmly.
Sunil works in the Indian Navy, his boss is Captain Mehra (Dalip Tahil). It is soon revealed that Mehra's son Rahul (Shahrukh Khan) is Kiran's obsessed lover. Rahul is a lonely man, with very few friends and is often in a world of his own, to the extent that he talks to his mother (who died eighteen years ago in a car crash) about his love for Kiran. He follows Kiran around and is increasingly jealous about her love for Sunil. On the phone he starts threatening to hurt Sunil if Kiran continues to meet him. Rahul soon meets Sunil and befriends him with the hope of getting closer to Kiran - he manages to hide his true intentions by telling Sunil he is Captain Mehra's son. Later, on Kiran's birthday, Rahul manages to make his way into her house. Sunil and Kiran's brother (Anupam Kher) and sister-in-law (Tanvi Azmi) decide the incident needs to go to the police - when Sunil goes to report it, his car crashes because Rahul had tampered with the breaks. The next day, when Rahul phones, Kiran attempts to trick him into meeting her so that they can apprehend him - the plan nearly succeeds until Rahul notices Sunil standing and watching Kiran from a distance. Later, Kiran's family bring a police inspector to the house - after Rahul next phones, they ask him to trace the number and are in shock to find that Rahul had phoned from one of the upstairs bedrooms. During Holi, celebrations are held at Kiran's house. Rahul manages to sneak in and confess his love for Kiran but Sunil again fails to capture him. Kiran and Sunil now decide to get married in order to warn off Kiran's obbsessed lover. Rahul learns they are to marry and is livid - he attempts to shoot Sunil but misses. Sunil angrily chases him down, still unable to identify him. During the chase, Sunil is run over and severely injured. Kiran blames herself for this and decides to leave the city - however, Sunil stops her and they get married. Rahul carves Kiran's name on his chest, vowing to break up her marriage to Sunil. Kiran and Sunil move into a new apartment - the police inspector places two constables outside to protect them. When the constables enter the lift, it crashes (Rahul made it crash). When Kiran and Sunil enter the apartment, they find messages written from the obsessed lover.
To get away from the stalker, Kiran and Sunil decide to take their honeymoon in Switzerland. Rahul is falsely told at the airport that they have travelled to Goa - he goes there but cannot find them, instead he reunites with an old college friend Vikram (Annu Kapoor). Rahul befriends Kiran's family, because of his friendly nature neither of them suspect he is up to something. Vikram is soon dying of liver failure, Rahul makes it look like Vikram committed suicide and places photos of Kiran along with a suicide note next to his dead body, making everyone believe that Vikram had been Kiran's obsessed lover. Rahul overhears that Sunil and Kiran are in Switzerland. Kiran and Sunil receive the news that the man who had been scaring Kiran is now dead - they are overjoyed. They later bump into Rahul - Kiran recognises Rahul, as they were friends from college. Kiran also tells Sunil how Rahul was in love with a girl at college but nobody ever knew who the girl was. Later, Sunil is on the phone to Kiran's brother, who reveals that Rahul had been visiting them whilst Sunil and Kiran were in Switzerland. Sunil puts two and two together and realises that Rahul is the one who terrorised Kiran. He lures him into the forest and beats him, but soon Rahul stabs him. Rahul finds Kiran on a boat and confesses everything to her. That night,Sunil reaches the boat and they have a brutal fight Rahul beats Sunil but dies confessing his love for kiran. Thus they both came back to india where Kiran's family welcome them warmly.
Review
"Darr" is fear. And fear beats in every lover's heart. Fear that your love may not be reciprocated, fear that you lose the one you love, fear that your beloved could have a change of heart. In short, fear is the villain in every love story. But in "Darr" fear is the ultimate expression of passion, of obsession and of sacrifice. "Darr" is Rahul's story whose love and obsession for Kiran frees him from all fears of life and death. "Darr" is Sunil's story, whose enduring love and passion for Kiran gives him the courage to face the fear of death.
And finally "Darr" is Kiran's story, one who is caught between one man's love and another man's obsession. She fears one and fears for the other. One stands for love and the other for life.
In this battle between love and life, the supreme victor is Love, because Love always wins, in Life and in Death.
"DARR was an important film for everyone associated with it. Most of all it was important for Yash Raj Films who had tasted only moderate success with Lamhe and Juhi Chawla, who was looking for perfect ending to the year 1993 so as to come up as Number 1 in the film industry. Shah Rukh had already had a monster hit in baazigar and was hot as sun, Juhi was resplendent and challenging the queens of Bollywood, Sridevi and Madhuri and more than that we had a Yash Raj Banner. The song Jaadu Teri Nazar had become a rage and add the ever dependable Sunny Deol who was coming back from critical appreciation from Damini and you had a lethal combo lined up. The movie moves at good pace usually with perhaps a little too many incidents in the second half. Those could have been done away with. And like the movies of early 90 s it does not have the polished look that yash Raj films were to master with DTPH. Cinematography is quite ordinary at places and the music is pretty ordinary save a couple of songs. The direction is good most of the time but it does not have the deft touches which made Lamhe a classic. Performance wise it is perhaps SRK s more original performance, rest all the films are a copy of this performance with an addition here and a deletion there. KKK Kiran is so much like KKK Kaurwaki. It is definite benchmark for the performances of SRK. But still it would have been nice if he had just curbed his instincts a little and given a controlled performance. Sunny is as plastic as u get and Juhi has pretty much nothing to do but look pretty. Anupam Kher is irritating to say the least. Rest of the cast r there to just compete is a wildlife park. Overall the high that SRK and Juhi were in 1993 got the film a fantastic initial and also miffed more feathers like Sunny who claimed to have been sidelined completely in the film. Yash Raj banner was established and though the movie did not win any major awards it established the Yash Raj banner and gave it the direction to go to in 1990 s." --mouthshut.com
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