There is no better way to give tribute to a genuinely amazing actor. The film was pretty emotional and touching. Such natural acting from #Sushanth and #SanjanaSanghi and a brilliant execution from other the cast and crew. The movie indeed had plot holes and rushed up situations but I don't think anyone will notice those stuffs as the movie maintained a emotionally touching storyline and knowing the fact that Sushanth left us made it way more emotional and can't finish the movie without releasing a single drop of tear.

As I've admittedly not seen many Indian movies and since this was one of the most-talked about movies this year, although not so much in the West, I felt obliged to see "Dil Bechara" ("The Helpless Heart," or something to that effect). It's popularity doesn't seem to have much to do with the qualities of the picture, though. Instead, it mostly seems due to its star Sushant Singh Rajput having committed suicide before its release. According to an article in "The Economist," Rajput and Bollywood have since become a source of controversy or a cause célèbre for gossip mongers and politicians rallying against supposed big-city (namely, Mumbai) corruption and in favor of supposed rustic virtues. Such has been the case, I suppose, since the death of Virginia Rappe and the subsequent yellow journalism coverage and trials of silent film Hollywood star Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle. Unfortunately, the nonsense of "Dil Bechara" is likewise trite, although its reflexivity, including its fatalism compounded by Rajput's death, was promising.

As narrated by co-star Sanjana Sanghi's Kizie, "Dil Bechara" is introduced as a story told by her--perhaps, as nested in her diary. When she says to cut to the next day, the movie does just that. Suffering from cancer, it's suggested that her story will not be like the usual fairy-tale, musical romance that much of not only Bollywood seems to suffer from, but also Hollywood and popular cinema in general (and the book and its ilk that it's based on). The first part of "Dil Bechara" hardly seems to fulfill this promise, as Rajput's Manny rom-coms it up with Kizie and badly lip-syncs a song. The second half, however, does depart from this formula, but does so only to embrace the tropes of another tired genre, of tear-jerker melodrama. Yet another masala movie.

Better yet, we first see Kizie observing a funeral, for someone she doesn't even know. When her mother calls, she tells her she can't talk because she's at the cinema. Not only storyteller, Kizie here becomes spectator turned participant in the conflated metaphor of death-as-cinema, including as she anticipates her own, possibly-soon demise. Enter the filmmaker, Manny and his friend, who in another cruel irony is becoming blind (meanwhile, Manny wanted to be a basketball player and now has a prosthetic leg). They cast Kizie in their movie.

A lot of junk happens besides this, including a plot of meeting the musician behind an unfinished song, none of which is compelling. Some plot elements, including Manny's leg and, later, a wound are introduced with little to no foreshadowing. Manny's wooing of Kizie is more obnoxious than funny, including interrupting one of those funerals to declare his virginity and, later, egging someone's home. And, the score is wretchedly manipulative, and there are too many stupid montages. But, note where the final macabre scene occurs: in a cinema. I'm not going to criticize the late Rajput's acting, either; clearly, anyone who's willing to display that much snot in an emotional scene has more guts than some other movie stars. There's a clever skeleton here, but a lot of garbage was filled in for the body. Based on a book by John Green, "The Fault in Our Stars," I now feel obliged to at least see the 2014 Hollywood adaptation for comparison.

It's rather difficult to review Dil Bechara (My Helpless Heart) in the aftermath but from an objective view, it only manages to engage you with its fabulous music, the lively lead and supporting performances, and the camera work. It is evident that the film was bludgeoned in the editing to make it appropriate but it still retrieves the melodramatic pulp which will make it a much more emotional and touching watch for early millennials. For everyone else, it's touchy-feely with overenthusiastic characters working on a plot that has been said and told numerous times now. But still there's something delightful in Dil Bechara that reignites the magic of John Green's The Fault in Our Stars that the Hollywood adaptation lacked. TN.