Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, released internationally as Straight From the Heart, is a 1999 Indian Hindi-language romantic drama with music. The film was directed, helped written, and produced by Sanjay Leela Bhansali. It stars Salman Khan, Ajay Devgn, and Aishwarya Rai. The story is based on Jhaverchand Meghani’s play Shetal ne Kathe, which follows a newlywed man who learns his wife is in love with another man and chooses to help them be together. The film is also inspired by Maitreyi Devi’s Bengali novel Na Hanyate, though the film does not officially credit it as a source.

Filming took place in the Gujarat-Rajasthan border region and in Budapest, Hungary, which was used to represent Italy. The film had its first showing in the Indian Panorama section at the 1999 International Film Festival of India. A Bengali film titled Neel Akasher Chandni was later inspired by this movie.

The film was a commercial success and became one of the highest-grossing Indian films of 1999, earning ₹510 million (US$6.0 million). Critics gave it mostly positive reviews. Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam received 17 nominations at the 45th Filmfare Awards, including Best Actor (Khan and Devgn), and won 7 awards, such as Best Film, Best Director (Bhansali), Best Actress (Rai), and Best Male Playback Singer (Udit Narayan).

Plot

Nandini (Aishwarya Rai) is the daughter of Pundit Darbar (Vikram Gokhale), a well-known expert in Indian classical music. It is announced that a young man named Sameer (Salman Khan) will stay with the Darbar family to learn about Indian classical music under Pundit Darbar's guidance. Sameer is given a room that was previously Nandini's, which causes her to move to another room and develop feelings of dislike toward Sameer. At first, the two play tricks on each other, but they soon become very fond of one another. They share romantic moments during family events, such as weddings and festivals.

One day, the Pundit discovers Sameer and Nandini practicing wedding vows. He becomes very angry because he had already planned for Nandini to marry Vanraj (Ajay Devgn), a young lawyer who fell in love with her during her cousin Anu's wedding. Sameer is sent away from the home, and the Pundit stops singing, believing Nandini has brought shame to the family. Sameer promises never to see Nandini again. Though he first agrees and leaves for Italy, he later writes letters to Nandini asking her to join him. These letters do not reach her. After a failed attempt to take her own life, Nandini reluctantly agrees to marry Vanraj. On their wedding night, Vanraj tries to begin their marriage, but Nandini reacts coldly. When Vanraj asks for an explanation, she refuses to speak.

Nandini eventually receives Sameer's letters, and Vanraj catches her reading them. He becomes angry and first decides to return her to her parents. However, he later realizes that since Nandini is in love with another man, the right choice is to help her reunite with Sameer. Vanraj asks his parents for permission, which they give after some disagreement. Nandini and Vanraj travel to Italy but face difficulties in finding Sameer. During their search, they are attacked, and Nandini is shot in the arm. She begins to feel more warmly toward Vanraj because of his kindness and care. Eventually, they find Sameer through his mother, and Vanraj carefully arranges a meeting between them on the night of Sameer's first concert. He then says goodbye to Nandini, feeling very sad.

When Nandini meets Sameer, she apologizes and tells him she has come to love Vanraj. She reflects on Vanraj's consistent love and devotion and realizes he is her true soul mate. Sameer understands she no longer loves him and lets her return to Vanraj, who accepts her. Sameer is heartbroken and is comforted by his mother. Nandini runs back to Vanraj and tells him she cannot live without him. Vanraj places a mangala sutra around her neck, and they embrace each other.

Cast

• Salman Khan as Sameer "Sam" Rossellini
• Ajay Devgan as Advocate Vanraj, Nandini's husband
• Aishwarya Rai as Nandini Darbar, Vanraj's wife
• Vikram Gokhale as Pundit Darbar, Nandini's father
• Smita Jaykar as Amrita Darbar, Nandini's mother
• Helen as Sameer's mother (special appearance)
• Rekha Rao as Kamna
• Zohra Sehgal as the grandmother
• Rajeev Verma as Advocate Vikramjeet
• Vinay Pathak as Tarun
• Sheeba Chaddha as Anupama
• Ghanashyam Nayak as Vitthal
• Jameel Khan as Nimesh
• Kenneth Desai as Bhairav
• Meenakshi Verma as Pushpa
• Preeti Koppikar as Radha
• Divya Jagdale as Sanjukta, Vanraj's sister
• Kanu Gill as Vanraj's mother
• Dimple Inamdar as Shilpa
• Akash Karnataki as Bharat

Soundtrack

The soundtrack includes lyrics written by Mehboob Kotwal and music composed by Ismail Darbar. The voices featured on the soundtrack are those of Kavita Krishnamurthy, Alka Yagnik, Kumar Sanu, Udit Narayan, Hariharan, Vinod Rathod, Sultan Khan, Shankar Mahadevan, KK, and others. The soundtrack received nine nominations for Filmfare Awards in music and singing categories and won some of these awards. According to the Indian trade website Box Office India, the soundtrack sold 3.5 million copies, making it the third highest-selling album of the year. The song "Albela Sajan" was used again in the movie Bajirao Mastani (2015), which was directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali. Bhansali also composed the soundtrack for Bajirao Mastani. An unlisted track titled "Pritam Gaye Pardes," sung by Karsan Sagathia, is often heard in the movie.

Reception

Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam was praised by many critics for its emotional stories, visual style, music, and the acting of the main actors. Guest star Helen also gave a strong performance that surprised viewers.

Ken Eisner wrote that the film is a long movie filled with songs, love stories, humor, spiritual scenes, and colorful dance sequences that are impressive even by Indian movie standards. Michael Dequina from TheMovieReport.com noted that the lead actress, Rai, delivered a powerful and award-winning performance that showed her growth as an actor. He also mentioned that the other lead actor, Devgn, portrayed his character with quiet strength, making him a more interesting romantic rival than expected. A Filmfare reviewer called the film a rare and special experience, saying the visuals were perfect and the movie aimed to show poetry on screen without being too serious. The music by Ismail Darbar was described as very pleasing. The film combined Indian themes with scenes from foreign places.

The movie was very successful in India, becoming the third most popular Bollywood film of 1999 with over $20 million in earnings. It also did well in other countries, earning ₹85 million.