Dil To Pagal Hai

Rahul and Nisha are members of a massive dance troupe that performs dance-based musical plays in Mumbai. Nisha is secretly in love with Rahul, but outwardly, they are just best of friends. Rahul announces his desire to direct a new musical named Maya. The members of the troupe, including Nisha, have their doubts about the title character, "Maya," who Rahul describes as a girl who believes in true love, and who is waiting for her prince charming, who she believes will surely turn up and take her away. Nisha is cast to play the role of this girl, Maya.

The troupe welcomes a new entrant, Pooja, who is an amazing dancer, classically trained as well, and passionate about dancing. Having been orphaned at a young age, Pooja was raised by close friends of her parents. Pooja and Rahul have a string of near-misses as they run into each other time and again. Each of these instances is marked by a tune playing in the background, that registers with Pooja. Doted upon by her foster family, Pooja is soon taken to Germany by her guardian's son Ajay, her childhood best friend who has been working in London for years. Just as Ajay leaves to fly back to London, he proposes to Pooja. In a dilemma, Pooja ends up accepting his marriage proposal.

Meanwhile, Nisha injures her leg during rehearsals for the upcoming play, and the doctor advises her to take bed rest and not dance for a few months. In search of a new dancer to replace Nisha in the play, he comes across Pooja dancing one day, and believes she is perfect for the role. He begs her to come to their rehearsals and after much hesitation, she agrees. Eventuall, Rahul and Pooja become close friends. Nisha soon returns from the hospital and is upset that she has been replaced, and becomes very jealous upon learning that Rahul likes Pooja. Knowing that Rahul does not reciprocate her love, she decides to leave for London to visit her parents. Throughout rehearsals, Rahul and Pooja find themselves falling for one another. When Rahul drops Pooja home one day, he starts whistling his tune, making Pooja realize that she has fallen for the man with the tune she so often heard. The next day, the two go to meet Pooja's old dance tutor, who Pooja addresses as Tai, who figures that the two are ardently in love. At the wedding of two members of the dance troupe, Rahul and Pooja share an intimate moment, but are unsure how to express their love for each other.

A few days before the premiere of the play, Ajay arrives at the rehearsal hall to surprise Pooja. He tells everyone that he is her fiancé. Rahul is heartbroken, but tries not to show it. Nisha, who has returned from London, notices Rahul's devastation and explains how she too was devastated when he did not love her in return. Rahul edits the end of the play to reflect his heartbreak, in contrast to his usual style of always giving a happy ending. On the night of the premiere, as Rahul and Pooja's characters are about to break up on stage, Ajay plays a recorded tape Pooja was going to send him before his proposal, where she described how she felt about Rahul. Ajay is indirectly telling Pooja that she and Rahul are meant to be together. Pooja now realizes she truly loves Rahul and the two confess their love on stage as the audience applauds them, giving the play a happy ending once again. Also, backstage, Ajay ends up asking Nisha whether she is already married or not (implying him getting interested in her).

• Shah Rukh Khan as Rahul
• Madhuri Dixit as Pooja
• Karisma Kapoor as Nisha
• Akshay Kumar as Ajay
• Farida Jalal as Ajay's mother
• Deven Verma as Ajay's father
• Aruna Irani as Pooja's Tai
• Suresh Menon as Supandi: Rahul and Nisha's friend
• Rajesh Tandon as Raju: Rahul and Nisha's friend
• Shruti Ulfat as Shruti: Rahul and Nisha's friend
• Balvinder Singh Suri as Ballu: Rahul and Nisha's friend and Soni's brother
• Murad Ali as Jimmy: Rahul and Nisha's friend and Soni's husband
• Priya Varma as Soni: Rahul and Nisha's friend; Ballu's sister; and Jimmy's wife
• Tanya Mukherjee as Tania: Rahul and Nisha's friend
• Shivani Wazir as Anjali: Pooja's friend

Dil To Pagal Hai was the second of Yash Chopra's 4 consecutive films to star Shah Rukh Khan in the lead male role. It was the third film to feature Khan opposite Madhuri Dixit, after Anjaam (1994) and Koyla (1997). The film was originally titled Maine To Mohabbat Kar Li and Tevar before Chopra finally settled on Dil To Pagal Hai as the title.

Sridevi was initially offered to play the part of Pooja, but she refused it.[5] The role then went to Dixit. After casting Dixit in the lead role of Pooja, Chopra found it hard to cast the role of the second female lead, Nisha. Karisma Kapoor, who eventually essayed the role, was incidentally the first choice for the part, but she declined it when she was initially offered the character. The role was offered to Manisha Koirala, who refused the role. Chopra then offered it to Juhi Chawla, as Chopra wanted the two leading actresses of that time to appear together on screen. But Chawla did not want to play second-fiddle to Dixit, especially after playing the leading-lady in Chopra's Darr (1993). Kajol and Raveena Tandon were next offered the role; however, Kajol deemed the role insubstantial, while Tandon was considering quitting her career at the time. The role was also offered to Urmila Matondkar (who worked with Khan before in Chamatkar (1992)) who accepted, but left the film after a day of shooting. No leading lady of that time was willing to take the risk of playing the second lead to Dixit. Chopra finally re-approached Kapoor with the film and she agreed to take up the challenge and was finally signed for the role.[6][7] She felt that despite the short screen-time, a lot could be achieved with the role.[8]

Aamir Khan, Salman Khan, Ajay Devgn and Saif Ali Khan were offered the role of Ajay. However, all of them turned it down, prompting Chopra to rope in Akshay Kumar.

In addition to writing the story, Chopra co-produced the film along with M. Vakil under the banner Yash Raj Films. The script was written by Chopra, his son Aditya and wife Pamela. The film's costumes were handled together by Manish Malhotra, Karan Johar and Salman. Manmohan Singh was the film's cinematographer, while the choreography was handled by Farah Khan and Shiamak Davar.[9] This was one of Shahid Kapoor's first appearances on film; he appears as a background dancer in the song "Le Gayi".[10]

Chopra rejected 54 dresses created by Malhotra for Dixit's character, choosing a salwar kameez over others.[11] Filming began in June 1996. It was the first Bollywood film to be shot in Baden-Baden and Europa Park, both popular German tourist attractions. It was made on a budget of ₹90 million.[1]

Dil To Pagal Hai
Soundtrack album by Uttam Singh
Released	27 August 1997 (1997-08-27)[12]
Label	YRF Music (digital) Saregama (physical)
Producer	Yash Chopra
Uttam Singh chronology
Jazbaat (1994) Dil To Pagal Hai (1997) Dushman (1998)
External audio Audio Jukebox on YouTube

The soundtrack of Dil To Pagal Hai includes 10 songs. The songs for the film were composed by Uttam Singh. Lyrics were written by Anand Bakshi.[12] The music was a major hit among the audience, with the album becoming the best-selling Bollywood soundtrack of the year and second-most of the 1990s decade, with 12.5 million soundtrack album sales.[13] Chopra earned an advance of ₹45 million for the music rights.[14] In 2008, Chopra launched an unreleased song from the Dil To Pagal Hai soundtrack, titled "Chanda Ki Chandni (Kitni Hai Bekarar Yeh)" sung by Lata Mangeshkar & Kumar Sanu.[15]

Approximately 300 prints of the film were released worldwide, with 250–260 across India, including approximately 60 in the Mumbai circuit. 60 prints were released overseas.[16]

• List of accolades received by Dil To Pagal Hai

• Dil To Pagal Hai at IMDb