General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20265 min read

Dhadkan (धड़कन)

Dhadkan (धड़कन, "Heartbeat") is a 2000 Indian Hindi-language musical romantic drama film directed by Dharmesh Darshan, starring Akshay Kumar, Shilpa Shetty, Suniel Shetty, and Mahima Chaudhry in a love triangle. It was released on 11 August 2000, produced by Ratan Jain under the Venus banner, with music by Nadeem–Shravan.¹^•²

Key fact	Detail
Release	11 August 2000, India; re-released in theaters on 23 May 2025 in a digitally remastered format³^•⁴
Director / producer	Dharmesh Darshan; produced by Ratan Jain (Venus)²
Lead cast	Akshay Kumar as Ram Verma, Shilpa Shetty as Anjali, Suniel Shetty as Dev Chopra, Mahima Chaudhry as Sheetal Varma⁵
Runtime and certificate	161 minutes per the BBFC and Box Office India; JustWatch lists 2h 51min; certified U⁶^•⁷^•⁵
Music	Songs composed by Nadeem–Shravan; the soundtrack was the second best-selling album of 2000¹
Box office	Budget ₹95,000,000; total nett gross in India ₹140,200,000; worldwide gross ₹264,706,250; about 9,914,000 footfalls⁷
Awards	5 wins and 31 nominations, including a Filmfare Award for Suniel Shetty as Best Performance by an Actor in a Negative Role⁸

Spoilers

Plot

The story follows Anjali (Shilpa Shetty), a young woman from a wealthy family, who is in love with Dev (Suniel Shetty), a poor man. Her father rejects Dev because of his background and instead arranges her marriage to Ram (Akshay Kumar), a good-hearted man from a rich family who lives with a hostile stepmother and step-siblings.²^•⁹

Anjali initially keeps her distance from Ram, but his constant affection and honorable nature gradually win her over. Years later, Dev returns as a multi-millionaire and tries to win Anjali back, buying out Ram's business and house; by then Anjali has genuinely fallen in love with her husband, and the triangle resolves with Dev marrying his friend and business partner Sheetal Varma (Mahima Chaudhry), who has secretly loved him for a long time.²^•⁹

The film is described by several sources as a loose adaptation of Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights, with Dev's poverty, obsession, and dark styling echoing Heathcliff.²

Production

Darshan shot the film quickly: after his previous film Mela released in January 2000, he filmed 90 percent of Dhadkan in five months, completing the shoot in 54 days, with the aim of bringing it to cinemas on 11 August 2000. The date was chosen partly for personal reasons; his father's birthday fell on 8 August, and since that was a Tuesday, the film arrived on Friday, 11 August, which is also Suniel Shetty's birthday.¹⁰ IMDb's filming locations record lists shooting at Film City, Goregaon, Mumbai, from 8 March to 10 May 2000.¹¹

The first version of the song "Dil Ne Yeh Kaha Hai" was shot across six countries, including Delhi, Switzerland, France, Germany, and Italy; the mustard field shown at the end of the song is in France.¹⁰ Kader Khan was brought into the film for the song "Dulhe Ka Sehra" after Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan passed away.¹²

Music

The songs were composed by the duo Nadeem–Shravan, with the film's score by Surinder Sodhi.² The soundtrack became the second best-selling album of 2000.¹ Songs including "Tum Dil Ki Dhadkan" and "Dil Ne Ye Kaha Hai Dil Se" drew Screen Award nominations in 2001 for Best Lyrics (Sameer) and for playback singers Udit Narayan, Abhijeet, and Alka Yagnik.⁸

Box office

According to Box Office India, Dhadkan was made on a budget of ₹95,000,000 and earned a first-day total of ₹78,00,000, a first weekend of ₹2,49,00,000, and a first week of ₹47,200,000. Its total nett gross in India was ₹14,02,00,000, with an India gross of ₹23,84,00,000, overseas gross of $575,000, and a worldwide gross of ₹26,47,06,250, on about 9,914,000 footfalls.⁷ A contemporary Times of India review noted that the film took about four years in the making and praised Shilpa Shetty's performance while criticizing its cinematic liberties.¹³

Awards

At the Filmfare Awards of 2001, Suniel Shetty won Best Performance by an Actor in a Negative Role for his portrayal of Dev; the film was also nominated for Best Film, Best Director, Best Music Director (Nadeem Saifi and Shravan Rathod), and Best Supporting Actress (Mahima Chaudhry). Across bodies, the film recorded 5 wins and 31 nominations, including a Zee Cine Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Suniel Shetty), a Bollywood Movie Award and a Sansui Viewer's Choice Award for Best Supporting Actress (Mahima Chaudhry), and IIFA nominations for Best Director and Best Actress.⁸

Reception and legacy

The film was a major commercial success, grossing ₹260 million (₹26 crore) worldwide.¹ In a 2020 retrospective interview, Darshan said the film and its music were not an immediate success from day one but picked up gradually, and that the songs were still being listened to two decades later.¹⁰ A sequel has been reported as in the works, with Darshan sharing details in a 2023 interview.¹⁴

The film returned to selected Indian theaters on 23 May 2025 in a digitally remastered format with improved picture and sound quality, timed around its 25th anniversary.⁴ As of late 2026, it streams in India on JioHotstar and Zee5 free with ads.⁵

References

Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Indian films (individual works) › Hindi films of the 2000s › Drama films

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026

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