Dil Hai Tumhaara (English: My Heart Is Yours) is a 2002 Indian Hindi romantic drama film directed by Kundan Shah starring Rekha, Preity Zinta, Mahima Chaudhry, Arjun Rampal, Jimmy Sheirgill and Alok Nath. The film was promoted as a star vehicle for Zinta and, although a commercial failure on release, Zinta’s performance was praised by critics and earned her nominations for Best Actress at a number of award ceremonies. The soundtrack, composed by Nadeem-Shravan, did well on the charts.
Shalu (Preity Zinta) is a fun loving young woman living with her mother, Sarita (Rekha), and older sister, Nimmi (Mahima Chaudhry). Unknown to Shalu and Nimmi, they are half-sisters. Shalu is the daughter of Sarita’s late husband Shekar and the woman with whom he had an affair. Fatally wounded in a car accident with Shalu’s biological mother, Shekar begged Sarita to raise Shalu as her own.
Although Sarita adopted Shalu, she cannot give her the love she shows towards Nimmi. Shalu, on the other hand, constantly craves her mother’s affection. She seeks attention and retaliates by being rebellious. Nimmi loves Shalu very much and constantly stands up for her, though she refuses to think ill of her mother or take sides.
A young man named Dev Khanna (Arjun Rampal) enters the sisters’ lives. Dev and Shalu initially do not get along but slowly fall in love. However, circumstances make Nimmi believe that Dev is in love with her. Sarita, only aware of Nimmi’s side of the story, offers a marriage proposal to Dev’s father (Alok Nath) on Nimmi’s behalf. Mr Khanna is taken aback because he knows about Dev and Shalu. When Sarita sees Dev and Shalu being affectionate, she jumps to the conclusion that Shalu has stolen Dev from Nimmi just as Shalu’s mother stole Shekar from her. In anger, she reveals her true heritage in front of Nimmi.
Shocked at her parentage, Shalu decides to sacrifice Dev to make her mother and sister happy. Saddened, Dev eventually agrees to marry Nimmi to make Shalu happy. Nimmi notices that something is wrong with Shalu, but Shalu deflects the question by saying that she has fallen in love with Samir (Jimmy Sheirgill), her childhood friend who has been in love with her for years.
