Atul Agnihotri's Dil Ne Jise Apna Kaha could and would have been a good film if the story had not taken this entire turn lifted from Return to Me. The film's first half is just fun to watch. It is simple, lovely and we are introduced to a nice couple played by Salman Khan and Preity Zinta. This part is heartwarming, the story follows the couple's ordinary but enjoyable life. What makes this part particularly entertaining is the presence of the marvelous Preity Zinta, who plays a young doctor named Pari and Salman Khan's wife. Zinta is as natural and likable as always and she plays her role with conviction and style in a way that when she's on-screen, nothing else matters. But then the movie takes a drastic dramatic turn, and instead of Zinta we are left with her heart and with a Bhoomika Chawla, who plays one of her heart patients. Not only is it unoriginal, it's terribly clichéd. The story becomes awfully predictable, uninspiring and melodramatic. Nothing against Bhoomika Chawla, who was pretty good in the previous year's Tere Naam, but she really looks bland here and she often displays a kind of laziness in her expressions that is very tiresome, particularly when compared to the lively Preity Zinta, whom she is supposed to replace. As for Salman, he does a thoroughly good job, but again, more in the first half as the second one does let him down a bit. Dil Ne Jise Apna Kaha is not a horrible movie for it has its moments. The music is nothing special but the title track, composed by master A.R. Rahman is quite nice. The final verdict is below average, not recommended, and sadly so.

This movie started off with a bang. Preity Zinta was her usual self, commanding the attention of the audience every time that she is on the screen. Salman Khan just didn't have the charm he had in Chori Chori Chupke Chupke. He appeared too busy showing off his muscles than actually attempting to make the audience believe he was capable of a loving relationship. Even worse was Bhoomika Chawla. Where did this girl come from and why has Bollywood allowed her to be on screen? She cannot act, she has no presence, and just stands there like a swollen lipped scarecrow. I think the film would have been saveable had a decent second actress been cast (imagine Kajol or Rani Mukherjee). Then at least the interesting nature of the plot could be carried out. But, alas, once Preity left the film there was nothing left for the audience to be entertained with. Poor music and dance numbers as well and extremely week supporting cast.

Atul Agnihotri has done an excellent job for a directorial debut. The first half is brilliant with a completely fresh appeal to it. Salman and Preity's relationship is illustrated beautifully. It is the perfect modern, youthful, romantic marriage. The second half has mostly Bhumika and Salman.Their relationship doesn't make sense. If the audience is supposed to believe that their relationship is based on the heart-thing (you'll see what I'm talking about when you watch the film), that's really dumb. Preity, as always, delivers a marvelous performance. Bhumika, unsurprisingly, is her bland self. Salman, however, is outstanding. His acting has improved by a quantum leap! His scenes are jaw-dropping well-acted. For the first ten months of 2004, I feel he deserves the best actor award for this movie. I've never seen such a talented Salman before. A.R. Rehman gives lovely, melodic tunes, and beautiful background music. Himesh Reshammiya's "Balle Balle" is a nice foot-tapping song.

Bhoomika Chawla and Preity Zinta provided sweet eye-candy in this movie, and there were a number of colourful dance sequences which were quite pretty, but overall I am surprised by the high rating the few voters have given it so far. It would be one of the weaker efforts I have seen this year, and I suppose my main criticism would be the quality of the acting. Apart from the two female leads, a lot of the other acting was not as good as it should have been, and especially a number of the supporting cast were quite wooden at times. Dhani's grandma was quite hammy at times, as were some of Rishab's work colleagues, and even Rishab himself was not as well played as I have seen Salman Khan before, in "Mujhse Shaadi Karogi" for example. Some of his tearful bedside scenes were just a little hard to watch, not because of the pathos but because it wasn't believable. I did enjoy moments of the film, and the dance sequence in the nightclub was very hot, but on the whole I have seen better.