Farhan Akhtar’s directorial debut Dil Chahta Hai recently clocked 25 years of its release, on August 10. The film, starring Aamir Khan, Saif Ali Khan, and Akshaye Khanna continues to be considered among one of Bollywood’s most loved cult classics. To celebrate the special milestone, the team of Dil Chahta Hai reunited in Mumbai. However, Dhurandhar star Akshaye Khanna was missing from the celebration. Preity Zinta was also not seen at the event.

On Friday, the cast members and director of the film met at an event to celebrate the silver jubilee. Actors Saif Ali Khan, Aamir Khan, Farhan Akhtar, Dimple Kapadia were spotted in several paparazzi videos surfacing on social media. Co-producer Ritesh Sidhwani was also snapped posing with the team of Dil Chahta Hai. However, fans flooded the comments section, wondering about the absence of one of the main leads – Akshaye Khanna.

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Preity Zinta, who is currently in Paris, also couldn’t make it to the event in Mumbai. “Incomplete without AK n PZ,” a fan wrote. Another comment read, “Where is Rahman dakait?” referring to his character in Aditya Dhar’s Dhurandhar. “Akshaye got too busy after Dhurandhar??” a curious user asked. “Not gonna lie, I low-key expected this of him,” a person commented.

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During an interview with Anupama Chopra on the film’s 25th anniversary, Farhan Akhtar reflected on the impact of Dil Chahta Hai. He said, “I feel that what Dil Chahta Hai writing embodied was what was happening around us all the time. It’s just that nobody was capturing it and putting it into a script or putting it into a film. I just happened to be the right person at the right place at the right time.”

He further added, “Nothing really represented me, you know. Or my friends. It was time to represent it the way that we felt it.”

About Dil Chahta Hai

Helmed by Farhan Akhtar, Dil Chahta Hai explores the story of three best friends, Akash (Aamir Khan), Sameer (Saif Ali Khan) and Siddharth ‘Sid’ (Akshaye Khanna), who go through the ups and downs of friendship and love together. The movie lso featured Preity Zinta and Dimple Kapadia as female leads. The coming-of-age drama has achieved the cult status over the years.