Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani

Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani
DVD cover
Directed by	Aziz Mirza
Produced by	Juhi Chawla Shahrukh Khan Aziz Mirza
Written by	Sanjay Chhel Raaj Kumar Dahima Manoj Lalwani
Starring	Juhi Chawla Shahrukh Khan Johnny Lever Paresh Rawal
Music by	Jatin-Lalit
Cinematography	Santosh Sivan
Distributed by	Dreamz Unlimited
Release date(s)	21 January 2000
Running time	168 minutes
Country	India
Language	Hindi
Budget	15 crore
Box office	57 crore

Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani (Devanagari: फिर भी दिल है हिंदुस्तानी, "But the heart is still Indian") is a Bollywood film released by Dreamz Unlimited on 21 January 2000. The film was directed by Aziz Mirza and stars Shahrukh Khan and Juhi Chawla focuses on the media war being fought in the TV newsrooms. Ajay Bakshi and Ria Banerjee, respectively. Two arch rival Television reporters for rival news channels, who try to save the life of a man who has been fixed by a politicians from the death of his brother, from a death sentence.

Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani marked the first attempted by Khan, Chawla and Mirza under their new production company Dreamz Unlimited. The film released on 21 January 2000 to mixed reviews from critics and audiences alike and could not emulate the successes of previous films by the trio including Yes Boss and Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman.

Plot

Ajay Bakshi (Shahrukh Khan) is an arrogant but successful reporter working for a reputed news channel. His father was a freedom fighter living on a measly pension. Ajay thinks that his fathers ideal & sacrifices have given him nothing. He has no respect for his father's ideals, which his father still sticks to. The rival news channel ropes in Ria Banerjee (Juhi Chawla) as his answer. Ria is antithesis of Ajay & uses her charm to get her work done.

Pappu Junior (Johnny Lever) is a don who is soon to be ousted from his own gang, owing to his inability to make it big in the crime world. Ajay approaches Choti with an offer: arrange a fake attack on a minister's (Shakti Kapoor) brother on national TV. Choti will earn respect & Ajay's channel will gain TRP. Little does Ajay know that the plan is going to turn too real.

The minister's brother is gunned down by an assailant named Mohan Joshi (Paresh Rawal). When Ajay learns that he was not Choti's man, he panics. Ria learns about Ajay & Choti's deal, but they decide to help each other nevertheless. Mohan is arrested, but does not open his mouth even once during police torture. To avoid any public unrest, the ACP (Anjan Srivastav) declares that Mohan is a terrorist working for unknown terror organizations. Meanwhile, Mohan somehow escapes out of jail.

Ajay & Ria are fighting over the matter in their car, unaware that Mohan is hiding in the same car. Mohan accosts them, where Ajay accuses him of being a terrorist. Mohan has an angry outburst & tells him that he is not a terrorist. Mohan goes on to narrate his story. Mohan has an ailing wife (Nina Kulkarni) & a now-dead daughter. Mohan says that his daughter went to an interview for a secretarial job at the victim's office, where the latter raped her. She committed suicide & Mohan was left running from door to door for justice. Hence, he took the law into his own hands.

Ajay & Ria are shaken by his confession & decide to help Mohan. Ajay hands over the video tape of this confession to his boss (Satish Shah). Unfortunately, the minister has joined hands with his opposition rival (Govind Namdeo) as he fears that their secrets might come out if Mohan surrenders. Similarly, Ajay's boss forms an alliance with Ria's boss (Dalip Tahil) after knowing about the tape. The ministers & channel heads come together and trick Ajay & Ria to give the tape to them.

Only after they give the tape do they realize what the truth is. Ajay is angry at first, but comes up with a plan to retrieve the tape back from the villains. With the help of Ria & Choti, he succeeds in obtaining the tape. Here Mohan has been arrested by police & is sent to be publicly hanged. Ajay succeeds in broadcasting Mohan's confession just an hour before the execution & asks the public to stop this injustice.

The ministers try to stop the protesters from coming to the execution ground by making the police barricade the entrance. The ACP decides to join Ajay & Ria, thus neutralizing the police barricades. In a blatant mockery of media's TRP hogger attitude, Mohan is made to wear a T-shirt containing logos of various companies & is prepared for execution. Just seconds before the execution, Ajay & the protesters succeed in saving Mohan.

Mohan's execution is called off. Ajay's father tells him that his ideals may not have given him money, but they gave him something far more important - Ajay. Ajay proposes to Ria in front of all the protesters; Ria accepts after playful banter with him.

Cast

• Shahrukh Khan as Ajay Bakhshi
• Juhi Chawla as Ria Banerjee
• Paresh Rawal as Mohan Joshi
• Johnny Lever as Choti/Pappu Junior
• Chariems Josh as Friend of Ajay "Shahid"
• Sanjay Mishra as Bomb Defuser
• Sharat Saxena

Music

Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani
Studio album by Jatin Lalit
Released	2000
Genre	Feature film soundtrack
Length	33:26
Label	Sony Music
Producer	Jatin-Lalit
Jatin Lalit chronology
Mohabbatein (2000) Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani (2000) Raja Ko Rani Se Pyar Ho Gaya (2000)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Planet Bollywood

The music of the film was apprecited. Manish Dhamija of Planet Bollywood gave 8.5 stars stating, "Overall, the album is a pleasant surprise from Jatin-Lalit".

#	Title	Singer(s)	Length
1	"Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani"	Udit Narayan	04:00
2	"I Am The Best - Male"	Abhijeet	04:18
3	"I Am The Best - Female"	Jaspinder Narula	04:18
4	"Banke Tera Jogi"	Sonu Nigam and Alka Yagnik	04:43
5	"Vande Mataram"	Shankar Mahadevan and Ehsaan	04:39
6	"Kuch To Bata"	Abhijeet and Alka Yagnik	04:32
7	"Aur Kya"	Abhijeet and Alka Yagnik	05:03
8	"Aao Na Aao Na"	Jatin Pandit	01:53

See also

• Mera Joota Hai Japani

External links

Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani at the Internet Movie Database