R. Madhavan and Dia Mirza made their Bollywood debut with Rehnaa Hai Terre Dil Mein (2001). The film enjoys a cult following but has frequently been criticised for the lead character’s actions of lying and stalking the woman he likes and him ultimately being rewarded for his actions.
Madhavan, in a recent interview, has responded to these criticisms and said that the film can’t be judged on a “western yardstick” and that there was no other way to approach a woman back in the day except for following her.
“Main inn sab baaton se bilkul sehmati nahi rakhta. Ye green flag, blue flag ye sab cheezein nikkamme logon ka nikkamma kaam hai. Mera maanna hai ki ek gentleman hona zaroori hai. Bachpan se hume sikhaya gaya hai ki ladies se kaise baat ki jaaye, kaise unhe approach kiya jaaye, aur ye hamesha hamari sanskriti ka ek hissa raha hai. Badmaash toh hote hi hain. Par aap hume Western yardstick se judge nahi kar sakte (I completely disagree with all this. These concepts like green flag, blue flag—these are just meaningless things said by idle people. I believe it’s important to be a gentleman. Since childhood, we were taught how to talk to women, how to approach them, and this has always been a part of our culture. Of course, there are troublemakers everywhere, but you can’t judge us using a Western yardstick),” he said in a conversation with Mashable India.
“Main aapse puchta hoon, jo log problematic bolte hain. Uss zamane mein agar Mumbai mein kisi ladki se hume mulaqat karni hoti, hum dil se mohabbat karte hai aur izzat se milna chahte hai. Toh kaise mile? (I ask those who call it problematic – back in the day, if we wanted to meet a girl in Mumbai, we did it with love and respect. If we were in an unfamiliar city and wanted to meet a girl, how would we do it?),” he added.
Madhavan then stated that in Western countries, people meet at bars and it is considered totally acceptable. He added that if someone fell in love with a woman in those days, one had to track the woman, follow her to her house and then contact her as otherwise, there was no other way. “Aap usko track kiye bagair, uske peeche jaakar voh kahan rehti hai, voh jaane bagair, use contact kar hi nahi sakte. Kaise karta koi insan? (Without tracking her, without following her home, you couldn’t contact her. How could anyone do it?)”
He also added that his character Madhav Shastri in the film did not have any other option but to stalk her.
Directed by Gautham Vasudev Menon, Rehnaa Hai Terre Dil Mein was a remake of the director’s own Tamil film Minnale (2001). It also featured Saif Ali Khan.