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Mumbai, the city of dreams was never a dreamland in early nineties when serial bomb blast rocked the city. The ugly incidents of ill-fated gory deaths and lost property made city hell and life miserable for its inhabitants. 'Dil Se Pooch...Kidhar Jaana Hai' is set in this backdrop where the protagonist is torn between two different paths. It tells us the tale of an honest and innocent who listens to his heart as he believes what comes from within his heart is true. It tries to narrate the dominance of malpractices and evil doings of the strong mighty placed in the framework of a corrupt system. The film chooses to narrate its theme through a cop thriller set in present shady and crooked political system.

Bollywood has its shares of good and bad experiences through realistic films like 'Ardh Satya', 'Ab Tak Chappan', 'Gangajaal' etc. There have been many occasions where noble intentions have failed to materialize on celluloid. This film is one such offering that falls into this category for being too theatrical in narration and complex in its execution. The film banks itself on the theme "whether an individual creates a society or society moulds an individual".

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Debutante director Shrirang makes mess of it despite the fact that the film is shouldered on fine theatrical talents and relevant theme. The story talks about communal disharmony and hatred for a particular community after serial blasts. Unfortunately, the script never builds the desired platform that could authenticate the theme. It conveys the message but without conviction and proves to be a gory cop revenge saga after the final onslaught.

The current year belongs to biggies with a promising face value and the films lacking the strength of bankable stars have fared miserably at the box office. 'Dil Se Pooch…Kidhar Jaana Hai' may be blessed with fine theatrical acting talents but scores lowest on face value and entertainment quotient. The commercial viability of such a film has always been debatable as the filmmakers are too idealistic in their respective approaches.

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The protagonists are love birds from different religious backgrounds but share common sentiments for country, family and themselves. The film is an unfortunate story of Hindu boy Avinash (Aditya Srivastav) and Muslim girl Aaliya (Vani Tripathi). These love birds build a castle of love when unfortunate serial blasts paralyze the city. The Aaliya family is deserted and her innocent brother is falsely convicted as terrorist. Avinash loses his father during riots and life turns hell for both the love birds. Circumstances separate them but finally confront each other after ten years.

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Avinash is now a respectable police sub-inspector and known in his department as an honest and reliable officer. He is shocked to confront and meet Aalya as prostitute during police raid on Amma's (Lushin Dubey) brothel. Love sparkles between them and it culminates into their wedlock. They try to live life normally but society never gives them a chance as Avinash's family opposes this relationship. On the other hand, Aaliya's life gets more miserable as her unfortunate past haunts her through lecherous and politically connected Kanshiram Kadam (Ashok Shinde). Evil past haunts Aaliya as Kadam proves an ugly monster in her life. Traumatized Aalya seeks help from Avinash but circumstances turn from bad to worse. Avinash beats Kadam to pulp in front of his office and his henchmen. Powerfully corrupt Kadam misuses his political influence and disrobes Avinash of his job. The climax proves too mild and weak as the evil and corrupt meets his end in an unconvincing way.

The film's biggest drawback lies in its "beaten to death" formula of good versus bad told million of times in last few decades. It has brief light moments where love chemistry develops through melodious "Mere Humsafar", otherwise it's dark, grim and demoralized tale of beleaguered relationships. There's overdose of unwanted violence and action sequences that would restrict family audiences.

The end of the film will have its share of adversaries and followers as it fails to convince viewers with its theme. Besides the two leading characters, characterization suffers heavily from perception and execution. The first half deals with burning concept of communal disharmony narrated through half-baked characterizations. It drags to a large extent with extra-stretched melodramatic feel. The second half derails film from its relevant concept and tracks itself on the path of revenge saga of a deadly cop.

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Aditya Srivastav may lack the desired face and physique of a Bollywood hero but has the skill of a competent actor. He emotes out well in action-packed sequences and shows promise in couple of emotional scenes. The actor has been a reliable figure on the small screen but still has miles to cross to make a mark on the big screen. Vani Tripathi has the alluring charm to be silver screen beauty and proves revelation as reliable actress. The film will positively bring her in limelight as she delivers the needful in this author-backed role.

The last sequence where she kills Aditya is the high point of her acting skill and she deserves accolades of being a promising performer. The film completely belongs to these two artistes well supported by the other cast. Ashok Shinde, Lushin Dubey, Vineet Kumar and Suhita Thaate justify their characters with honesty and leaves impression. Dharam Gulati's cinematography finely captures the violent water currents through sea side view. Aadesh Srivastav's least heard music is a big surprise as they emote the sentiments of the film and characters in title track and melodiously rendered "Mere Humsafar".

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Shrirang's direction and scripting comes with cracks and dents that fail to materialize this burning relevant theme. The film suffers heavily from poor promotion and weak face value and this will add to its producer's worries. The film will find difficult to survive in multiplexes and even class audiences will find it difficult to digest. It could have well been made into different entertainment formats like DVD/ Home entertainment rather than releasing it on silver screen. It will be a discouraging box office affair for its deglamourized face value, poor promotion and novice directorial skills.