More than a month has passed, since he left all of us in a tragic circumstances. But, his fans and admirers numbering in millions are not ready to believe that he is no more. Therefore, the release of his last film ‘Dil Bechara’ on Disney+Hotstar last Friday has turned out to be a timely and perfect tribute to Sushant Singh Rajput. This film is an official adaptation of John Green’s novel ‘The Fault in our Stars’ . A Hollywood film on this subject has already been released in 2014. But, ‘Dil Bechara’ directed by debutant Mukesh Chhabra and produced by Fox Star Studios is set on the backdrop of industrial city of Jamshedpur to suit the Indian environment.
The film revolves around a young girl Kizie Basu ( Sanjana Sanghi) suffering from thyroid cancer. Being the only daughter of her parents (played by Saswata Chatterjee & Swastika Mukherjee) Kizie is always under their proper care and attention. Knowing about her ailment, she is seen a dejected person. But, when she attends the support group run by her treating doctor, she realizes the problems of other youngsters, who in spite of their ailment or handicap are making all efforts to live a happy life with some aim in life. It is in this group, she comes across an energetic youngster Immanuel Rajkumar Junior aka ‘Manny’ ( Sushant Singh Rajput) , who despite suffering from Osteosarcoma, is a great fan of actor Rajnikant and wants to be part of a film, which his friend from this support group J.P.( Sahil Vaid) is planning to make.
In the company of ‘Manny’ Kizie finds a new way of living life. And we find an emotion filled unusual romance happening on the screen . Time comes, when we see both of them coming so closer that Manny is ready to fulfill her biggest wish of meeting her favourite writer- composer Abhimanyu Veer( Saif Ali Khan) , only to know as to why he left his last composition incomplete. On strong will power she travels to Paris along with Manny and her mother, only to be disappointed by his unconvincing reply to her question. But, more than her, it is Manny who feels hurt with the Musician’s point of view about life and death. What we see on their return to India, is an emotion filled climax, presented very skillfully by the director. He has also added some humour through few important scenes. By the way, their short trip to Paris has been captured very well .
The strong point of this film is that the film shows how ‘Manny’ makes ‘Kizie’ understand herself as well as love, while overcoming the negativity within herself. Both Sushant Singh Rajput and Sanjana Sanghi have given their best through their wonderful performances. The way Sanjana has moved with thin oxygen tube in front of her nose and carrying the portable oxygen cylinder in her shoulder bag throughout the film is to be highly appreciated. At the same time Sushant’s body language while expressing his emotions in different situations says a lot about their hard work. Their chemistry has worked very well in this film, while understanding the depth of their respective roles. They find very good support from Sahil Vaid, Saswata Chatterjee & Swastika Mukherjee. Saif Ali Khan has very little to offer in this film, due to his limited role. A.R. Rahman’s stimulating music is witnessed after a long time in Bollywood through this film. Though this film has a serious subject, director Mukesh Chhabra has filled in a lot of energy through the lead characters to make it a worth watch film with a length of only 1 hour 40 minutes. All in all, this film is a perfect tribute to talented Sushant Singh Rajput, whom we will miss a lot.
( Rating : ***1/2)