Shilpa Shetty makes an interesting revelation about her 2000 film ‘Dhadkan’. The actor, in an exclusive interview with india.com while promoting ‘Indian Police Force’, talks about the original climax of the film.
Dhadkan, the 2000 Hindi film became a Box Office success for reasons more than one. The film featured a fantastic star cast including Shilpa Shetty, Suniel Shetty and Akshay Kumar in the lead. Essentially featuring a love triangle, this Dharmesh Darshan film slowly found an iconic status in popular culture, especially because of its narrative, dialogues and songs. This was a new ‘Anjali’ in Bollywood falling in love with Dev, played by Suniel, and eventually settling down for Ram, her life partner for ages, played by Akshay. 24 years down the line now, Shilpa spoke about how Dhadkan was not what we think of it today.
The actor is making a grand appearance on OTT with Rohit Shetty‘s ‘Indian Police Force’ which is streaming on Amazon Prime Video. During an exclusive conversation with india.com for the promotion of the same, Shilpa took a moment to discuss ‘Dhadkan’, one of the most memorable films of her career. The actor revealed how the climax of the film wasn’t what it looked like. When asked what if Anjali chooses Dev over Ram and the story had an alternate ending where Dev finally gets his love, Shilpa wondered a bit. She then revealed that Dev actually dies in the original climax of the film.
She explained, “Film ki ending vo thi nahi jo hai jo aap logo ne dekha hua hai. Jab mujhe narrate kiya gaya tha toh actually Dev ko aakhir me pata chalta hai ki Anjali Ram ke bache ki maa banne vali hai, uski dhadkan vahin par ruk jati hai. He dies. That was the end. [The film’s original ending is not what you guys have seen. When it was narrated to me, I was told that Dev’s heartbeat stops the moment he gets to know about Anjali’s pregnancy].”
Shilpa Shetty’s Reveals Dhadkan’s Alternate Ending
Shilpa added, “Shuruat ke ek scene me, Suniel kehte hain mujhe ki kabhi mujhe aisa laga ki tum mujhse dur chali gayi toh meri dhadkan khud ruk jayegi. That was actually the whole crucks of the movie. Phir Dharmesh ji ko laga ki aaj ke zamane me kaun marta hai pyaar ke liye toh he moves on [There’s a scene at the beginning of the film in which Dev tells Anjali that his ‘dhadkan‘ will stop the day he finds out she has gone away from him. That’s how it was originally planned. However later, Dharmesh ji wondered who dies in today’s age and time over love and they showed Dev moving on].”
The actor went on to recall the kind of impact ‘Dhadkan’ had on the audience where a lot of women resonated with her character. She said women could see themselves in Anjali because we are talking about the time when many men and women had to sacrifice their love after their parent’s disapproval. “Bohoton ne apne mummy daddy ke liye apne pyaar ko chhoda hai, apne Devon ko chhoda hai… (laughs),” she said, adding, “Many of these women have had good marriages. And if Anjali were to choose Dev over Ram, he wouldn’t have become what he eventually did. He wouldn’t have had that kind of hunger in him to become someone.”
‘Dhadkan talked about destiny’: Shilpa Shetty
Shilpa said she believes in destiny and Dhadkan also kind of taught that: “aapki zindagi me kaun aata hai, jata hai… everything is destined [Destiny decides who comes in and goes out of your life].”
The film will be completing 24 years in August this year and it continues to stand tall on the list of all the romantic dramas and love triangles that the Hindi film industry has produced so far. Dev, Anjali and Ram are etched in the memories and hearts of the film lovers forever and nothing can change that.
Watch this space for the full interview with Shilpa Shetty!
