Anjali (Shilpa Shetty) is a young woman who hails from an extremely rich and influential family. Her father Mr. Chauhan (Kiran Kumar) is a renowned businessman and has many dreams for his daughter. Anjali is in love with Dev (Sunil Shetty) who is very poor and often cannot even afford to clothe himself properly. Dev loves Anjali and wants to marry her, so he has to meet her father.

When Anjali puts forward to her parents the proposal of marrying Dev, she is rebuked and gets an outright refusal. Because her father does not like Dev for his bad manners and arrogant outlook. Moreover, her parents have chosen for her a wealthy suitor from Delhi; and the boy is very religious minded. Not wanting to hurt her parents, Anjali finally gives in and marries Ram (Akshay Kumar) who her parents believe will be a perfect match for her.

Ram is a man of great ideals, who believes in giving a rightful place to his wife and respects her sensibilities. Despite this, he is unable to win Anjali's love at first and their marriage remains on the edge. However, after seeing the magnanimity of her husband’s heart in forgiving and accepting her, she realises she has fallen in love with him.

Anjali leads a life of bliss and becomes an ideal wife.

But suddenly, at their third wedding anniversary party, Dev returns and reveals his intent of winning Anjali back. Dev is now a wealthy businessman, and Anjali finds herself at a crossroads where she would stand-for her husband or with her former flame/love. Anjali chooses to stand for her husband and has no wish to return to her former flame/lover even though it pains her to know how hurt he is.

When she tells him this, Dev can not stand rejection for a second time and sets out to ruin Ram's life. This goes on for some time, causing turbulence and turmoil in Anjali's life.

In the end, when Anjali tells Dev she is pregnant with Ram's child and begs him to leave her alone, Dev realises his folly and decides to marry his current friend and business partner Sheetal Varma (Mahima Chaudhary) who is his new companion and secretly loved him for a long time.

• Sunil Shetty ... Dev
• Akshay Kumar ... Ram
• Shilpa Shetty Kundra ... Anjali
• Mahima Chaudhry ... Sheetal Varma
• Sharmila Tagore ... Dev's mother (special appearance)
• Sushma Seth ... Ram's stepmother
• Parmeet Sethi ... Bob (Ram's stepbrother)
• Manjeet Kullar ... Nikki (Ram's stepsister)
• Kiran Kumar ... Anjali's father
• Anjana Mumtaz... Anjali's mother
• Anupam Kher ... Sheetal's father (special appearance)
• Kader Khan ... Singer (special appearance in song "Dulhe Ka Sehra"

• Director: Dharmesh Darshan
• Story, screenplay, and dialogue: Naseem Mukri and Dharmesh Darshan
• Producer: Ratan Jain
• Music: Nadeem–Shravan
• Art direction: Bijon Das Gupta
• Editor: Bharat
• Lyrics: Sameer
• Costume designers: Vikram Phadnis and Navin Shetty

The music of this movie, which became a great success, was composed by the music composer duo Nadeem-Shravan. The composers worked for three years on the soundtrack. The song "Dulhe Ka Sehra" was composed in 1997 and was sung by Nusrat Fateh in the same year. Other songs were also recorded in 1997-1998, except for "Tum Dil Ki Dhadkan Mein" which was recorded in 2000 by Nadeem–Shravan in London. Songs like "Dil Ne Yeh Kaha" and "Tum Dil Ki Dhadkan Mein" became legendary love tracks. "Dulhe Ka Sehra" proved to be a popular wedding song of the era. Other successful songs of the film were "Aksar Is Duniya Mein" and "Na Na KartePyaar".

The soundtrack was listed at the No. 2 position in the yearly music charts. It became a big hit among the masses. According to the Indian trade website Box Office India, around 45,00,000 albums were sold.

Taran Adarsh wrote of the film:

Dhadkan is an intense love story and director Dharmesh Darshan has handled it with the sensitivity it deserves ... Despite the flaws, one has to acknowledge the fact that Dharmesh Darshan succeeds in melting the heart at several places. The entire marriage song-sequence in the initial reels, prior to it the scenes involving Sharmila Tagore, Sunil's portions in the second half, clearly indicate that the director knows his job well. He relies more on close-ups to capture expressions, which is the hallmark of a seasoned technician.

Adarsh described Shilpa Shetty as the "life of the enterprise", adding that she "looks good, delivers her lines effectively and emotes with utmost conviction."He said Sunil Shetty performance is one of his best especially the scenes between Sunil and Shilpa are fabulous'."He also said "Akshay Kumar shows vast improvement as an actor. He is very controlled and handles this difficult role with sincerity." ^[4]

Filmfare Awards

• Best Female Playback - Alka Yagnik - "Dil Ne Yeh Kaha Hai"
• Best Villain - Sunil Shetty

Nominated

• Best Choreography
• Best Director - Dharmesh Darshan
• Best Movie - Dharmesh Darshan
• Best Lyricist - Sameer - "Tum Dil Ki Dhadkan Mein".
• Best Music Director - Nadeem–Shravan
• Best Male Playback - Udit Narayan - "Dil Ne Yeh Kaha Hai".
• Best Supporting Actress - Mahima Chaudhry

International Indian Film Academy Awards

Nominated

• Best Actor - Akshay Kumar
• Best Actress - Shilpa Shetty
• Best Supporting Actress - Mahima Chaudhry
• Best Movie - Dharmesh Darshan
• Best Story - Dharmesh Darshan
• Best Director - Dharmesh Darshan
• Best Female - Alka Yagnik - "Dil Ne Yeh Kaha Hai".
• Best Lyricist - Sameer - "Dil Ne Yeh Kaha Hai".
• Best Lyricist - Sameer - "Tum Dil Ki Dhadkan Mein".
• Best Male Playback - Abhijeet- "Tum Dil Ki Dhadkan Mein".
• Best Music Director - Nadeem–Shravan
• Best Villain - Sunil Shetty

Screen Awards

Won

• Best Publicity Design — Himanshu Nanda, Rahul Nanda
• Best Negative Role Film Fare Award - Sunil Shetty .

Nominated

• Best Lyricist - Sameer - "Dil Ne Ye Kaha Hai".
• Best Music Director - Nadeem–Shravan
• Best Female Playback - Alka Yagnik - "Dil Ne Ye Kaha Hai".
• Best Male Playback - Abhijeet- "Tum Dil Ki Dhadkan".
• Best Male Playback - Udit Narayan - "Dil Ne Ye Kaha Hai".
• Best Supporting Actress - Mahima Chaudhry

Director Darshan announced the sequel Dhadkan 2 - The Heart Beats Again. It will have a fresh cast, crew and music directors. The release date is yet to be announced, but is possibly 2018.