| Dahil Mahal na Mahal Kita | |
| Director: | Wenn V. Deramas |
| Cinematography: | Ding Achacoso |
| Editing: | Joyce Bernal |
| Studio: | Star Cinema |
| Runtime: | 111 minutes |
| Country: | Philippines |
| Language: | Filipino |
Dahil Mahal na Mahal Kita is a 1998 Filipino drama romance film. It marked the directorial debut of Wenn V. Deramas and produced by Star Cinema. The movie stars Claudine Barretto, Rico Yan and Diether Ocampo as mainstay protagonists in Mula sa Puso along with co-star and supporting casts Jaclyn Jose and Princess Punzalan.[1] [2] The film received a grade of "A" by the Cinema Evaluation Board.[3]
Mela (Claudine Barretto) is a campus beauty who's earned the reputation of a “Bad Girl.” But underneath the seductive clothing and uninhibited behavior is a sensitive and vulnerable soul. Mela hides a painful past. Her mother died at a young age, leaving her father desolate and driving him to alcoholism. Numerous beatings from her father caused Mela to run away from home, and seek shelter with an aunt. Despite living an immoral life as a mistress, Mela's aunt is kind-hearted and loving to her niece. Mela herself constantly seeks acceptance and satisfaction in relationships with different men.
Mela's current boyfriend, Ryan (Diether Ocampo), is also a troubled soul who cannot get along with his father. The youngest and the only boy among three children, Ryan's source of emotional support is his mother. Mela and Ryan start off as friends before going steady, but it is not long before Ryan becomes unfaithful.
Hurt and determined to change her destiny, Mela resolves to look for “Mr. Perfect,” who turns out to be Miguel (Rico Yan). Rich, intelligent, and good-mannered. A typical aristocrat guy who is always formal, all-business and snobbish. He portrays the typical “guy-next-door” women fall for, but has a superior personality which is a turn-off. Miguel's only fault is his tendency to rigid self-discipline. Besides being a member of the school's discipline committee, Miguel also helps manage the family business. Miguel's father died while he was young, and his mother was left to raise him and his brother. His brother also died, suffering a broken heart from a relationship with an immoral wife.
Mela sets her sights on Miguel, but Miguel refuses to give her the time of day. Mela is relentless, and dares Miguel to a bet, the consequence being, he would have to spend a weekend with Mela. Miguel loses, and, despite his fears, enjoys the company of Mela. During their weekend together, Miguel discovers the beauty in Mela, and falls hopelessly in love.
Love eventually transforms Mela to a style and manner she felt would please Miguel, and she makes efforts to fit in with his friends and family. Tensions rise when Miguel's clique voice their skepticism about Mela's change, this is further supported by his mother who objects the relationship.
When Miguel hosts a birthday party, he is pressured not to invite Mela and is guilt ridden when she shows up to surprise him and learns that she wasn't welcome. Ryan then makes moves to rekindle his relationship with Mela. He sets up a compromising scenario that make her appear to be cheating, where a video was recorded and the film shown to everyone in school. This further destroys her reputation and Miguel, feeling betrayed, ends his relationship with her.
She denies the accusations but after discovering the whole video scandal was masterminded by Miguel's ex-girlfriend Cory, she picks a fight with her until she is suspended and deemed an outcast. After her break up with Miguel, Mela returns to her wild, bad girl persona, becoming self destructive. Ryan, feeling guilty, tries to fix his mistake but is rebutted.
Miguel sees Mela's behaviour and starts to doubt the accusation, realising she truly loved him enough to change. To redeem himself, he goes against his mother and defends Mela, appealing against her expulsion. Though he succeeds, Mela does not forgive him.
After Miguel repeatedly seeks her forgiveness, they eventually reconcile and resume their relationship.
The original story for this movie is lifted from the Maalaala Mo Kaya Episode titled Billiards which starred Giselle "G" Toengi and Matthew Mendoza. Coincidentally, Jan Marini also played the female protagonist's best friend. The movie had an original working title of "Bad Girl" but Star Cinema executives changed the title to avoid confusion with the 1991 film "Bad Girl", which was produced as a sexy film by Regal Films and topbilled by Cristina Gonzales.
In 2017, Viva Entertainment reportedly planned to produce a remake of Dahil Mahal Na Mahal Kita which would star Julia Barretto (Claudine's real-life niece) and Joshua Garcia.[4]