Archive · 10 Aug 2026
Dil Chahta Hai at 25: Adulthood Changes Friendship
Dil Chahta Hai is a Hindi movie from 2001 about three best friends named Akash, Sameer and Sid.
At the start, they are just out of college and spend all their time together, laughing and singing on a beach in Goa.
The movie shows that when they grow up, they start living in different cities and doing different jobs.
One friend makes a joke that hurts another friend, and the two stop talking for years.
Later, they fall in love and build their own lives.
The movie does not say this is bad — it says growing up is what happens to everyone.
A writer watched this movie back in 2001 while living in a college hostel with friends.
Now, 25 years later, the writer says the movie was right: adult life changes friendships.
The writer also says phone groups and social media keep old friends in touch, but that is not the same as being close.
The lucky friendships — just a few — survive the test of time, growing up and staying far apart.
Twenty-five years after its 2001 release, a reflective essay argues Dil Chahta Hai presciently showed that adulthood would change college friendships.
The film tracks three friends — Akash (Aamir Khan), Sameer (Saif Ali Khan) and Sid (Akshaye Khanna) — from inseparable college days to separate adult lives.
Akash falls for Shalini (Preity Zinta) in Sydney, Sameer becomes serious about Pooja (Sonali Kulkarni), and Sid returns to find Tara (Dimple Kapadia) dying of liver cirrhosis.
A fight between Sid and Akash over an ill-considered joke leads them to stop speaking, reflecting how adulthood tests friendships on a longer clock.
The writer notes WhatsApp and social media keep old groups technically alive, but they preserve contact rather than closeness, with only a few friendships surviving distance and time.
- Who
- A writer reflecting 25 years later on the 2001 Bollywood film Dil Chahta Hai and its three college friends — Akash (Aamir Khan), Sameer (Saif Ali Khan) and Sid (Akshaye Khanna).
- What
- A reflective essay on how the film understood that adulthood — careers, cities, marriage, heartbreak and ego — would change and test friendship.
- When
- 25 years after the film's release in 2001.
- Where
- The essay references the film's settings of Goa and Sydney; the writer first watched it while living in a college hostel.
- Why
- Because the film's message about friendships drifting apart with adulthood now resonates with the writer, who has experienced that change himself.
- Film
- Dil Chahta Hai
- Release year
- 2001
- Anniversary
- 25 years
- Main characters
- Akash, Sameer, Sid
- Main cast
- Aamir Khan, Saif Ali Khan, Akshaye Khanna, Preity Zinta, Sonali Kulkarni, Dimple Kapadia
- Key theme
- Adulthood changes friendship
- Film settings referenced
- Goa and Sydney
- Tara's condition
- Dying of liver cirrhosis