Dil Dhadakne Do (lit. Let The Heart Beat) is an Indian Hindi-language Family Drama film directed by Zoya Akhtar and released on June 5, 2015.
The Mehra family, among the most prestigious members of New Delhi's upper crust, are a Dysfunctional Family par excellence, as told by their dog Pluto (voiced by Aamir Khan); the patriarch Kamal Mehra (Anil Kapoor), the founder and owner of the company AyKa, has a strained relationship with his long-suffering wife Neelam (Shefali Shah) and both of them struggle to relate to their daughter Ayesha (Priyanka Chopra) and son Kabir (Ranveer Singh). Ayesha is stuck in a loveless marriage with her chauvinistic and controlling husband Manav Sangha (Rahul Bose), but hesitates to leave him because of her parents insisting she try to make things work. Kabir, meanwhile, wants to forge his own path in life and be a pilot, but is being forced into joining AyKa by his father.
However, times are tough for AyKa, which is losing money hand over fist. Therefore, Kamal devises a plan to save the company: to betrothe Kabir to Noorie Sood (Ridhima Sud), the daughter of wealthy businessman Lalit Sood (Parmeet Sethi), and thereby get Lalit to invest in AyKa. To this end, he invites Lalit and his family, among many other guests, on a luxury cruise across the Mediterranean to Turkey and Greece, ostensibly to celebrate his and Neelam's 30th wedding anniversary.
Unfortunately for Kamal, his plan does not go as smoothly as he hopes. The Soods' arch-rivals, the Khannas, are also Kamal's guests, which becomes complicated when Noorie get together with the Khanna's son Rana (Vikrant Massey); Kabir himself starts a fling with Farah (Anushka Sharma), a British-Pakistani dancer working aboard the ship; and Ayesha's life is complicated when she meets Sunny Gill (Farhan Akhtar), the son of Kamal's manager who she had dated when they were younger and who she may still harbour feelings for.
This film contains examples of:
- As You Know: During Noorie and Kabir's first chat at the ship's bar, when he asks her what's up, she informs him of her previous engagement and how it fell apart when her fiancé eloped with a hippie he met during his bachelor trip to Goa, something that has been gossip fodder for weeks; she even scornfully lampshades it, saying, "but you already knew, right?" Turns out to be subverted: Kabir genuinely didn't know, surprising her and making her much more comfortable with him when he shows her genuine sympathy.
- Awful Wedded Life: Ayesha and Manav are in an utterly loveless marriage, with him being extremely controlling and chauvinistic, as well as joining in with his mother in demeaning her family.
- Big Brother Instinct: Despite being her younger brother, Kabir is extremely close to and protective of Ayesha, noting that her skill at business management makes her a much worthier heir to AyKa than him, and opposing both Manav's appalling treatment of her as well as their parents' dismissal of her concerns. This culminates in a truly epic verbal takedown of both of his parents when Kamal is recuperating after a gas attack that he gets when he sees Noorie kissing Rana.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: The Mehras at the start have a deeply strained relationship, with Pluto noting that they are never happy in each other's presence. The events during the cruise help them work through their issues, confront their treatment of each other, and discover their love for each other, culminating in Kamal, Neelam, and Ayesha (with Pluto) rushing to the lifeboat to rescue Kabir before they drive it to shore to help Kabir find Farah; Pluto notes that this is the first time the Mehras have been happy in each other's company.
- Evil Matriarch: Smita, Manav's mother, is a pretty nasty piece of work, constantly demeaning the Mehras while on the cruise they have paid for. Apple seems to not have fallen far from the tree.
- Feuding Families: The Soods and the Khannas have hated each other for a long time, since a marriage between the two families was broken off by the former after the bride found out that the groom was banging his secretary; although the ship is neutral ground with both being the Mehras' guests, they often verbally and sometimes passive-aggressively snipe at each other. Naturally, Noorie Sood and Rana Khanna fall for each other.
- Good Adultery, Bad Adultery: Kamal's infidelities are presented as a significant character flaw, which had led to his and Neelam's marriage turning into a Happy Marriage Charade, but Ayesha's growing feelings for Sunny are presented much more sympathetically. Admittedly, there are significant differences in how the two deal with it: Kamal seems to have thought nothing of cheating on his long-suffering and loving wife for years till Kabir tells him that everyone has always known about his womanizing; he seems genuinely surprised when Neelam tells him the only reason she didn't leave him was because her family wouldn't take her back due to dishonour; and, most damningly of all, his womanizing doesn't stop him from opposing Ayesha divorcing Manav and telling her that marriages are commitments for life. Ayesha, meanwhile, has a truly obnoxious husband and mother-in-law, had been considering divorce even before she met Sunny, and agonizes over her feelings for him even though he's a much better partner.
- Happy Marriage Charade: For several years, Kamal and Neelam have been playing the part of an old married couple that are still in love; this forms a major part of their conflict. When Kabir angrily tells them that everyone has known about his infidelities for years, Kamal asks Neelam why she didn't leave him when she found out; she replies that her family would have never accepted her back due to the stigma of divorce, leading her to become a Stepford Smiler.
- Love-Obstructing Parents: Kamal, as a somewhat Control Freak patriarch, heavily controls his children's love lives. Notably, he has no qualms using his money to ensure that they get together with the partner of his choice: he convinces Kabir to court Noorie by promising to buy him a plane if he does so, and is revealed to have paid Sunny's way through Yale when he wanted to separate him from Ayesha.
- Parental Favoritism: Kamal and Neelam blatantly prefer Kabir over Ayesha, primarily due to her gender and the fact that she is married and thus "is part of another family", illustrated in a scene right at the start where their invitation to the cruise mentions his name but not hers. Notably, this is presented as being to both of their detriment (though obviously more to hers): Kamal sidelines Ayesha from AyKa despite her business acumen, and pushes Kabir as his heir to the company despite him having no interest in doing so; this, combined with Kabir's Big Brother Instinct towards Ayesha, means that the two are more often allies than enemies.
- Scenery Porn: As typical for a Zoya Akhtar film, the movie spares no expense showing us how beautiful the Mediterranean coastline is.
- Self-Made Man: Kamal considers himself one, having built AyKa from nothing into a business empire, and never lets anyone forget it. Pluto gets some snark in at his expense:
- Slap-Slap-Kiss: Rana and Noorie have a massive fight at the pier when he thinks she is cheating on him with Kabir, where they argue about the hatred between their families. When he spits that Lalit is "buying" Kamal for her, she, incensed, slaps him. Barely a second later, she jumps into his arms and starts making out with him right there. Notably, this is seen by Kamal, who nearly collapses as a result.
- Star-Crossed Lovers: Noorie and Rana, given their families' hatred for each other. Notably, we never find out how this relationship ends; the last we see of them is Kamal seeing the two kissing.
- Sympathetic Adulterer: Ayesha's growing feelings for Sunny are presented fairly sympathetically, given how awful Manav is as a husband and partner, and the nature of how their relationship had originally ended.
- Unequal Pairing: Kabir's growing relationship with Farah is this, given that she's an employee aboard the cruise line and he's a client. This causes her to be sacked by the cruise liner when they found about their relationship at the end. When Kabir learns about this a few minutes after the ship has left, he jumps into the water trying to swim all the way back to shore to find and confess his feelings for her.
- Uptown Girl: Sunny and Ayesha when they were together, given that he is the son of Kamal's manager Amrish. However, Kamal, opposing this relationship, paid Sunny's way through Yale, causing the two to break up. Sparks fly immediately between the two when he comes onboard, culminating in the two of them kissing in her room in a heated emotional moment. Once Kamal agrees to Ayesha getting a divorce, Ayesha asks Sunny if he will wait for her, and he replies, "Forever."
- Wants a Prize for Basic Decency: In a conversation with Sunny and the Mehras, Manav talks about how his family is very progressive, even "letting" Ayesha work after marriage. Sunny immediately calls them out on this.
