Dil Dhadakne Do

Story:

Dil Dhadakne Do is a 2015 Indian Hindi-language comedy drama film directed by Zoya Akhtar and produced by Ritesh Sidhwani and Farhan Akhtar under the Excel Entertainment banner. The film has an ensemble cast of Anil Kapoor, Shefali Shah, Priyanka Chopra, Ranveer Singh, Anushka Sharma and Farhan Akhtar with a voice-over narration by Aamir Khan. The supporting cast includes Rahul Bose, Zarina Wahab, Vikrant Massey, Pawan Chopra, Parmeet Sethi, Dolly Mattdo and Manoj Pahwa. The film tells the story of the Mehras, a dysfunctional family who invite their family and friends on a 10-day cruise trip to celebrate the parents’ 30th wedding anniversary and later reconcile.

PLOT

Kamal Mehra, a self-made billionaire businessman in Delhi owns AyKa, a company on the verge of bankruptcy, and has a troubled relationship with his wife Neelam, daughter Ayesha and son Kabir. Ayesha has a successful travel business in Mumbai, but is unhappy with her marriage to a narcissistic and controlling Manav Sangha who, along with his mother Smita, hates her family. Kabir unwillingly takes part in his father’s business while dreaming of becoming a pilot. Kamal and Neelam invite their family and friends for a 10-day cruise across the Mediterranean Sea to celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary.

Their guests include the Sood family. Kamal and Neelam plan to arrange Kabir’s marriage to the Soods’ daughter Noorie, in exchange for her father Lalit investing in AyKa to prevent bankruptcy. Kabir falls in love with a cruise performer and dancer, Farah Ali. Noorie falls for Rana, the son of the Soods’ sworn rivals, the Khannas. Ayesha wishes to divorce Manav. Sunny Gill, the son of Kamal’s manager Amrish, also joins the trip. Sunny is a childhood friend of Ayesha and Kabir; he and Ayesha were in love in their youth, but Kamal had arranged and paid for Sunny’s scholarship to Yale University to break them up. Ayesha and Sunny, who is now a successful journalist, still harbor feelings for each other. Unlike Manav, Sunny is a feminist who appreciates Ayesha’s strong and independent personality.

Neelam sees Kamal flirting with a local guest and struggles with why she did not divorce him despite his past infidelities. Ayesha confronts Sunny about their breakup and kisses him, which shocks them both. Farah hears that Kabir is going to marry Noorie and storms off. Kamal sees Noorie making out with Rana and learns that Kabir and Noorie are not as together as he had thought, causing him to have a gas attack.

Kabir reveals to his family that he is in love with Farah and intends to leave the family company. He asks them to consider Ayesha, who is actually interested in business. When he tries to persuade them to let her proceed with her divorce, Kamal and Neelam refuse, stating that marriages are lifelong commitments. Infuriated, Kabir bursts out that they are hypocrites for talking of marriage, values, and morals, as the whole family circle has been aware of Kamal’s adultery for years, as well as Neelam’s refusal to leave him for the sake of their reputation. Neelam reveals to Kamal that she had no choice because her family would not accept her back due to dishonour. He realises his mistake and asks for Neelam’s forgiveness. While trying to reconcile Manav and Ayesha, Kamal witnesses how his son-in-law mistreats his daughter and orders him and Smita to leave. He and Neelam finally agree to the divorce and apologize to their daughter.

Farah is dismissed from her job for being romantically involved with a passenger and told to leave the ship. Kabir learns about her dismissal after the ship has set sail. He breaks news of Ayesha’s now-impending divorce to Sunny, and after publicly rejecting his impending marriage to Noorie, allowing her to be with Rana, jumps off the ship to swim to the shore, believing his family will rescue him. Kamal, Neelam, and Ayesha scramble aboard a lifeboat with the help of their friends. While leaving, Ayesha asks Sunny if he will wait for her, to which he replies “forever”. The family rescues Kabir and heads toward the shore to help him find Farah while being chased by the ship’s crew. The Mehras are shown happy and closer together.