Three inseparable childhood friends are just out of college. Nothing comes between them - until they each fall in love, and their wildly different approaches to relationships creates tension.
Three young men Akash, Sameer, and Siddharth are close friends, but their tastes and characters are completely incompatible. So when Siddharth falls in love with a much older woman, Tara, a woman who has been unsuccessful in keeping her marriage intact as well as alcohol-dependent, widens the rift between the trio, forcing them to part company. Years later, the trio will be re-united, they will be much mature and understanding, but will they still accept Siddharth love for Tara, especially when they themselves have fallen in love with women around their respective ages?—Sonia
'Dil Chahta Hai' is the story of three friends - Akash is fun-loving, non-believer in love. Sameer is always "ready" for love-but does not know its true meaning. Siddharth is the more serious of the trio. He is sensitive, understanding, caring ... in short the perfect man for any girl. He falls in love with a middle-aged, slightly alcoholic divorcée Tara Jaiswal. Akash cannot understand this relationship and when he insults Siddharth's true love, Siddharth slaps him. This causes a rift between both and they go their separate ways. Subsequently Akash too realizes the meaning of true love when the vivacious, bubbly Shalini comes in his life. Same happens with Sameer when he meets Pooja. So finally we get to see how these boys become men.—Soumitra
Three young men name Akash, Sameer, and Siddharth are close friends, but their tastes and characters are completely incompatible. Akash is fun-loving, non-believer in love. Sameer is always "ready" for love-but does not know its true meaning. Siddharth is the more serious of the trio. He is sensitive, understanding, caring - in short the perfect man for any girl. So when Siddharth falls in love with a much older woman, Tara, a woman who has been unsuccessful in keeping her marriage intact as well as alcohol-dependent, widens the rift between the trio, forcing them to part company. Years later, the trio will be re-united, they will be much mature and understanding, but will they still accept Siddharth love for Tara, especially when they themselves have fallen in love with women around their respective ages? They all believe that they are mature men now and must think maturely.—gavin@[email protected]
The film is about three distinct characters, Akash, Sameer and Siddharth, their individual relationships and the effect that these relationships have on them. Love. One term that can hold different meanings even for close friends like Akash, Sameer and Siddharth. Welcome to a summer of their lives. So you have Akash, who has been sent by his parents to live in Sydney, he does not believe in the concept of love. Two weeks is all that he is willing to give a perfectly healthy relationship. Incidentally, he feels even two weeks is a bit too much! Sameer, like a lot of us, is in love with the idea of being in love. He wants to be in love. But Sameer has not quite understood the concept yet and tends to wear his heart on his sleeve. So this young man is looking for the perfect woman in his life... The most mature, sensitive and understanding of these three is Siddharth. Sid, as he is fondly called, seems to know the true meaning of life. According to his friends, neighbors and even the dogs, Siddharth knows it all. The women who come and change their lives are Shalini and Tara Jaiswal.—Anonymous
Akash (Aamir Khan) does not believe in love, so he does not keep girlfriends for more than two weeks. Sameer (Saif Ali Khan) is a genial, well-meaning, desperately romantic but confused guy who is prone to romantic infatuations and believes to have found true love whenever he gets attracted to a girl. Siddharth (Akshaye Khanna), or Sid, an artist by profession and the most mature of the three, is not interested in trivial romances and is dedicated to his work.
Akash, who is a cad in his personal life but also a mischief-maker in his friends' lives, craftily engineers a breakup between Sameer and his girlfriend.Akash, Sameer and Siddharth (aka Sid) attend their college graduation. Akash notices a pretty girl called Shalini (Preity Zinta) and approaches her to flirt with her. Unknown to him, Shalini is engaged to the short-tempered Rohit, who punches Akash for flirting with his fiance.
After the incident, Sameer's girlfriend, Priya (Suchitra Pillai), asks him to cut ties with Akash. Sameer hesitates and is told by Priya to confirm by 2 PM if he wants to be with her or not. Sameer loses track of time while spending the afternoon with Akash. He calls Priya at 4 PM, and she slams the phone when she finds that Sameer is with Akash. Akash tells Sameer to meet Priya and lay the ground rules, but when Priya calls back, he says that Sameer was never at his place. This leads to Sameer and Priya's break up.
Akash then plans a vacation trip to the beaches of Goa. Akash comes across a clingy ex-girlfriend, Deepa (Samantha Tremayne), whom he avoids. Deepa is madly in love with Akash and is distraught that he cannot see her love for him.Sid finds Deepa alone on the beach one day and encourages her to move on.
Sameer predictably "falls in love" in Goa with a pretty Swiss girl named Christine, a story that ends in disaster. Sameer is swindled of his money as Christine turns out to be a crook.He returns home to find that his parents (father AR Mulchandani (Bomi Doctor) and Mother Mrs. Mulchandani (Anjula Bedi)) have arranged a meeting with a potential marriage prospect. He resists at first as he does not want an arranged marriage, but the moment he sees the girl, Pooja (Sonali Kulkarni), he realizes that she is 'the one'. Unfortunately, she is already in a relationship with someone else named Subodh and Sameer has to be content with just being her friend. Despite Akash's insistence that he do nothing, Sameer befriends Pooja and tries to pursue her.
Sid, in the meantime, befriends and eventually falls in love with Tara (Dimple Kapadia), an older divorcee and alcoholic, who had moved into a nearby house and shares his love for art. Tara lost custody of her daughter to her ex-husband, and has a growing addiction to alcohol.Sid decides to keep it from her, suppressing all hopes of a relationship as he knows that she, like most other people in society, would consider this scandalous. When his family and friends start finding out, everything goes wrong. Sid's mother Nandini (Suhasini Mulay) is horrified and wrongly accuses Tara of having led Sid on.
Sid confesses his feelings one evening to Akash and Sameer. Akash is dismissive and makes fun of Sid's true intentions, comparing Sid's infatuation to his own "first time" with an older woman, leading Sid to slap him.Tara hears that Sid has quarreled with friends and family because of her and feeling that she has ruined his life, refuses to see him.
Akash, on the other hand, is also experiencing romantic upheaval. His parents (Father AK Malhotra (Ahmed Khan)) send him to Sydney, Australia to work for the family business. On the flight, he meets Shalini again. He apologizes for his earlier prank and asks her to show him around the new city. Shalini lives with Mahesh (Rajat Kapoor) her maternal uncle.After seeing the opera with Shalini, Akash realizes he wants Shalini as a life-partner, but she has to return to Mumbai for her wedding to Rohit.
Shalini also eventually, starts to feel a certain "something". She tries to find out how he feels, but he holds back. She then leaves for India to marry Rohit (Ayub Khan), her fiance.
Akash lets her go, then realizes that he can't live without her and returns to India to win her back. With Mahesh and Sameer's encouragement, Akash proposes to Shalini publicly for the second time after their graduation, though she accepts this time, as she has also fallen in love with him.Shalini has the blessing of Rohit's parents (father Balwant (Rakesh Pandey)). Shalini was supported by Balwant after the death of her parents, and she was marrying Rohit only because she did not want to disrespect their generosity towards her. Balwant is devastated at this revelation and frees Shalini from all her bonds to the family.Rohit tries to resist but is helpless with his parents' decision and Shalini's true love for Akash.
Meanwhile, Sameer and Pooja start going out after she breaks up with her boyfriend, and Sameer plans on proposing marriage soon.Tara is hospitalized with liver cirrhosis and dies with Sid at her bedside. Sid drives her to the hospital, but the prognosis is not encouraging as liver is badly damaged and a transplant is not possible at short notice. Sid calls Sameer and asks him to come, and Sameer calls Akash.
Akash chooses not to come, but regrets in the morning after driving by his Alma mater. Sameer informs Sid of his plans to marry Pooja, and Akash drops by the hospital to bury his grudge. Sid is summoned into Tara's ward as she is dying. She wishes Sid happiness before passing away.
Six months later, Sid is grieving, but has accompanied Akash, Sameer, Pooja and Shalini, on a trip to Goa. He meets a woman (Mandala Tayde) who smiles back at him. The three friends enjoy dinner together with their respective partners.
