How did RHTDM become a cult movie?

I still don't get the hype around that movie, I really don't. It's not just stalking here, it's one step ahead of that, it's lying about your identity and deceiving the girl you claim to love, and then whining like a loser when the truth comes out. Maddy's character was repulsive, tbh. How on earth can they project that as a romantic ideal?

Discuss.

In the 2000s, an era when physical cassettes and radio were indispensable to daily existence, a soundtrack was the pathway to the film’s universe. RHTDM also succeeded in using its music to make a lasting impression.

There are few films that have weaponised a soundtrack to tell its story the way RHTDM managed to. Its songs, deeply catchy and affecting even two decades later, are almost like a protagonist. If in Dil Chahta Hai, “Koi Kahe” cemented the playful brashness of a generation that didn’t play by the rules in under five minutes, then “Zara Zara,” the passionate love-ballad that’s RHTDM’s centrepiece, distilled the language of pining for an entire generation. One doesn’t have to be a fan of RHTDM to be a fan of its music, but there’s no denying that the former implies the latter.

To be fair, there’s nothing new about the film’s premise of mistaken identities. But RHTDM finds quiet ways to make a case for itself. Even though it belonged to a period in Hindi cinema guilty of disguising a strain of stalking as romantic perseverance, it’s worth noting that the film comes close to taking a stand against Maddy’s ways. Once Reena finds out about the real Rajeev, not only is she miffed about being lied to, but also about how she was lied to. In fact, even Maddy comes to the realisation that his feelings for Reena doesn’t justify his means.

There’s also the timing of life RHTDM captured that worked in its favour. Its protagonists are in their early 20s, living a life sandwiched between being carefree college-students and committed professionals. It isn’t a part of youth that usually comes under the scanner in Hindi movies. But the protagonists of RHTDM represent adults in progress: three people who look like grown-ups don’t always act like them, which made their romantic indecision all the more believable.

It’s perhaps why RHTDM is the kind of Hindi romance that seemed more focused on articulating the pangs of the broken-hearted than in repeating what it really meant to fall in love. It helped that it came out when an entire generation of Indian youth, stuck in similar rhythms, were starting to come of age, experiencing romantic encounters that would lead them to their first heartbreaks. It also reveals why people of a certain age continue to respond to the movie even two decades on, seeing parts of themselves in a movie even when they might have stopped being that person.

RHTDM‘s music, the rare great Hindi soundtrack not composed by AR Rahman, was essentially designed to drive home this very panic of losing the person you could have built an entire life with. Composed by Harris Jayaraj, it is stacked with songs that evoke similar investment irrespective of whether they’re sung in unison at a party or hummed alone in your room.

The title track, “Rehna Hai Tere Dil Mein” is an energetic ode to the giddiness of love while, “Dil Ko Tumse,” plays out like the softest gesture, an emotionally intense proclamation for your lover. And despite the ability of “Zara Zara” to constantly elicit goosebumps, the song that hits the hardest is “Sach Keh Raha Hai Deewana,” a heartbreak sermon delivered by KK with such vividness that it defines the movie.

In that sense, the enduring magic of RHTDM rests on the fact that its music has at some point been instrumental in playing as background score either while someone was in the thick of a romance or just out of it. We may no longer be the same people as when we first heard them, but it brings alive a memory of a time on youth. That alone is enough.

Because of that superlative soundtrack. The songs just don't get old!

Yes. I hate the film itself. Maddy and Dia's chemistry is good in the songs and the scenes. But the story and Maddy's character are very problematic. I also hate Rina's character for being so weak.

Originally posted by: S_H_Y

In the 2000s, an era when physical cassettes and radio were indispensable to daily existence, a soundtrack was the pathway to the film’s universe. RHTDM also succeeded in using its music to make a lasting impression.

There are few films that have weaponised a soundtrack to tell its story the way RHTDM managed to. Its songs, deeply catchy and affecting even two decades later, are almost like a protagonist. If in Dil Chahta Hai, “Koi Kahe” cemented the playful brashness of a generation that didn’t play by the rules in under five minutes, then “Zara Zara,” the passionate love-ballad that’s RHTDM’s centrepiece, distilled the language of pining for an entire generation. One doesn’t have to be a fan of RHTDM to be a fan of its music, but there’s no denying that the former implies the latter.

To be fair, there’s nothing new about the film’s premise of mistaken identities. But RHTDM finds quiet ways to make a case for itself. Even though it belonged to a period in Hindi cinema guilty of disguising a strain of stalking as romantic perseverance, it’s worth noting that the film comes close to taking a stand against Maddy’s ways. Once Reena finds out about the real Rajeev, not only is she miffed about being lied to, but also about how she was lied to. In fact, even Maddy comes to the realisation that his feelings for Reena doesn’t justify his means.

There’s also the timing of life RHTDM captured that worked in its favour. Its protagonists are in their early 20s, living a life sandwiched between being carefree college-students and committed professionals. It isn’t a part of youth that usually comes under the scanner in Hindi movies. But the protagonists of RHTDM represent adults in progress: three people who look like grown-ups don’t always act like them, which made their romantic indecision all the more believable.

It’s perhaps why RHTDM is the kind of Hindi romance that seemed more focused on articulating the pangs of the broken-hearted than in repeating what it really meant to fall in love. It helped that it came out when an entire generation of Indian youth, stuck in similar rhythms, were starting to come of age, experiencing romantic encounters that would lead them to their first heartbreaks. It also reveals why people of a certain age continue to respond to the movie even two decades on, seeing parts of themselves in a movie even when they might have stopped being that person.

RHTDM‘s music, the rare great Hindi soundtrack not composed by AR Rahman, was essentially designed to drive home this very panic of losing the person you could have built an entire life with. Composed by Harris Jayaraj, it is stacked with songs that evoke similar investment irrespective of whether they’re sung in unison at a party or hummed alone in your room.

The title track, “Rehna Hai Tere Dil Mein” is an energetic ode to the giddiness of love while, “Dil Ko Tumse,” plays out like the softest gesture, an emotionally intense proclamation for your lover. And despite the ability of “Zara Zara” to constantly elicit goosebumps, the song that hits the hardest is “Sach Keh Raha Hai Deewana,” a heartbreak sermon delivered by KK with such vividness that it defines the movie.

In that sense, the enduring magic of RHTDM rests on the fact that its music has at some point been instrumental in playing as background score either while someone was in the thick of a romance or just out of it. We may no longer be the same people as when we first heard them, but it brings alive a memory of a time on youth. That alone is enough.

lovely analysis👍🏼

Yes, I agree to a certain extent that the soundtrack was superlative.

But I have a problem when losers are glorified. Both in this movie and Mujhe Kuch Kehna Hai, both movies of 2001. The hero in MKKKH isn't a stalker, but he's a loser in the sense he just can't articulate his feelings and is suffering from some sort of complex. Both these movies became super hits. Maybe because of the music only?

But 2001 had amazing soundtracks from every second movie, so I don't think there was a dearth of good music as in the present era.

https://youtu.be/OtxiNBXnGiY

This song

Originally posted by: Maroonporsche

This song

Yeah exactly whining like a loser when the truth comes out. The angst is not justified👎🏼

Don't get me wrong, I love the song. Just in the context of the movie, it doesn't ring authentic.

it’s mostly cos of songs or else movie as you stated was extremely problematic and maddys character was a stalker and he deceived Dia’s character .. I would never understand the craze about this movie

songs amd only the songs is the reason for it

neither i liked it in tamil nor hindi but love the songs both in tamil n hindi infact both versions are the same except for the title track and both versions music directors was harris jayaraj

dil ko tumse pyar hua was made in tamil version as ondra iranda asaigal by harris jayaraj for surya-jyotika starrer khakha khakha which is the tamil version of force

Originally posted by: mintyblue

Yeah exactly whining like a loser when the truth comes out. The angst is not justified👎🏼

Don't get me wrong, I love the song. Just in the context of the movie, it doesn't ring authentic.

Yes he lied

But he faced his penance.

She’s the one who came back to him

Kasoor had the best soundtrack of 2001 IMO...and also Hum Ho Gaye Aapke

Both movies flopped

Every movie had good soundtrack back then

So music cannot be the sole reason

I believe such movies appeal to the latent misogyny in the masses...and especially launde lapades patronized this movie because they could identify and sympathize with the lead character and his gundagardi.

I’m yet to see an example of holding men accountable for their poor choices in Bollywood.