New Delhi: Dil Chahta Hai, the film widely credited with reshaping Bollywood’s coming-of-age genre, completed 25 years this week, and its director, Farhan Akhtar, marked the occasion with a note of gratitude on X.
“Can’t believe it’s been 25 years.. Akash, Sameer and Sid don’t look like they’ve aged a day!!!! Heart filled with gratitude to you, the audience, for keeping it alive and still relevant. Big hug,” Akhtar wrote.
The 2001 film, starring Aamir Khan, Saif Ali Khan and Akshaye Khanna as three friends navigating love, ambition and adulthood, marked Akhtar’s directorial debut. It is often described as a turning point for Hindi cinema, moving away from the melodrama that had dominated mainstream films through the 1990s and towards a more understated, urban sensibility.
A film that changed the template
Dil Chahta Hai followed Akash, Sameer and Sid — played by Khan, Saif Ali Khan and Khanna — as their friendship is tested by romance, heartbreak and diverging paths into adulthood. The film’s naturalistic dialogue, its Goa-set second half and its refusal to lean on the song-and-dance conventions typical of the era set it apart from its contemporaries.
Critics at the time praised its restraint. Audiences, particularly younger, urban viewers, responded to characters who felt closer to their own lives than the larger-than-life heroes of earlier decades. Over the years, the film has come to be seen as a marker between two eras of Hindi cinema — one defined by grand gestures, the other by intimacy and realism.
Its soundtrack, composed by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, and its ensemble supporting cast, including Preity Zinta, Sonali Kulkarni and Dimple Kapadia, also became part of its lasting appeal.
A milestone for its maker too
For Akhtar, the anniversary carries personal weight. Dil Chahta Hai was his first film as a director, made when he was in his mid-twenties, and it established him as one of the industry’s more distinctive voices. He went on to direct Lakshya and Don, and later built Excel Entertainment, the production company behind several acclaimed Hindi films, alongside his sister, Zoya Akhtar.
In his post, Akhtar’s tone was reflective rather than celebratory in the conventional sense — thanking audiences directly for sustaining the film’s relevance across a generation, rather than simply marking the anniversary as a professional achievement.
The film’s influence is still visible in how film-makers in India approach youth-centred stories today, and its 25th anniversary has prompted renewed conversation among fans and critics about its place in Hindi cinema’s history.
