Dil Kya Kare

Plot

Anand Kishore (Ajay Devgan), an architect, his wife, Kavita (Mahima Chaudhry), and their only child, an adopted daughter, Neha (Akshita Garud), live a happy and serene life in Delhi, India. Their happy and lovely life together is turned upside down when Kavita finds out that Neha is being stalked by a woman named Nandita (Kajol), who comes to see her at school every day. Though Neha insists that Nandita is a sweet "Aunty", Kavita is frantic and confronts Nandita. She is then told that Nandita is the biological mother of Neha.

Kavita and Anand had adopted Neha after Kavita was involved in a car crash while pregnant, resulting in infertility. Nandita requests to spend some time with her daughter; seeing that Neha favors Nandita, Kavita lets her stay in their home. However, deeply buried secrets threaten to surface when Nandita and Anand come face-to-face. With a shock, it is revealed that Anand is actually the biological father of Neha—she is Anand and Nandita's child.

They have a short-lived history: Anand and Nandita were traveling by train when thugs took over and tried to kill Nandita. Anand saved Nandita and the two instantly fell in love, despite not even knowing each other's names, and made love together that night. The next morning, Anand awoke to find Nandita gone. While Anand moved on with his life, Nandita became pregnant with his child, unbecoming to him, and was forced to give up her child, Neha, for adoption, due to her unaccounted father.

Anand and Nandita hide their past from Kavita at first, though Anand tries many times to meet with Nandita alone and talk to her, anxious to know her after sharing that fateful night together. Soon after however, Kavita finds out the truth and is disgusted with Nandita. Heartbroken, Nandita promises she will leave forever but since she has no one in her life, she requests to take Neha along, since she is her daughter. Kavita becomes frantic, as she refuses to give up Neha. Anand reluctantly supports Kavita after realizing how desperate she is to keep Neha.

When Nandita realizes that Anand and Kavita love Neha, she decides to leave her daughter in their care and go away forever. Anand is shocked at this and runs to the train station alone without Kavita. He makes it just in time. He sees Nandita on the moving train, peering at him with tear-filled eyes and watches her leave with a heavy feeling in his heart.

Cast

Box office

Dil Kya Kare grossed $285,000 in the US and £204,547 in UK. The film had a weak heart in the United States, suffered a financial haemorrhage in the second weekend, grossing $54,000 on screens, crashing to 51st position on the box-office chart from 27th. But it fared far better in the United Kingdom. It has remained at No 14 there on 22 screens for two weeks. It was one of the biggest films of 1999, grossing 78.48 crore in India and 98.14 crore worldwide.