1000th week and Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge is still running at theatres! Can there ever be an end to the encore?
Arguably, there is no dearth of mushy boy-meets-girl stories in Indian cinema. So, what makes Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge aka DDLJ so special even after 19 years of its release? One of Bollywood’s most adored romantic stories of all time, DDLJ, that won every major award and made stars out of Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol, is still running at the theatres for 1000 weeks. Unbelievable! Just like how the diametrically opposite characters Raj and Simran met in the epic movie. It’s no hyperbole, they not only fell in love but also made zillion others to fall in love in real life. Kudos to Aditya Chopra who helmed the movie.
The movie narrates the love story of a fun-loving London-bred Punjabi boy and a girl brought up in a conservative family. The story shows how two opposite characters pull each other paving their way to unite.
The movie not only turned out to be biggest blockbusters, but also helped change the way we perceive love. Deep within, every boy wished he were Raj and every girl wished she were Simran and dreamt of meeting the light of their life a la Raj-Simran. Remember the denouement? That epic train scene? Ah! We would die for it!
To celebrate the incredible milestone we caught up with a few youths to know why there’s never an end to the curtain call…
“The most memorable scene which is still fresh in my mind is the climax where Amrish Puri allowed her daughter to live her life with Shah Rukh Khan. DDLJ did not just teach us to love. It also instilled within us the vigour to fight for love and never give up,” says Debashish Kumar Mohanta from Bhubaneswar. “No matter how many films try reinventing romance with newer concepts and stories, DDLJ will still hold a special place in our heart. Somewhere deep down in our hearts, there resides a Raj or a Simran waiting to sing across mustard fields and run behind the train, chasing our love. Aditya Chopra’s DDLJ gained the cult status ever since its release in 1995,” he adds.
Tanushree Dash is of the view that DDLJ is an iconic movie; which we can watch with our family members still today. “The story also aims to capture the struggle between traditional family values and the modern value of individualism. The film also implies that Indianness can be defined by the importance of family life: Whether at home or abroad, it is the Indian family system that is recognised as a social institution. The music by Jatin Lalit is another strong point. The tunes are catchy– Zara sa jhoom lun main, Mere khwaabon me jo aaye, Ruk ja o dil deewane, Ghar aaja pardesi, Tujhe dekha toh ye jaana sanam, Mehndi Laga ke rakhna and Ho gaya hai tujhko still tug at our heartstrings,” chirps the die-hard fan.
Apurba Ranjan Panda gives us a few reasons why people are still enthralled by the movie. “In the 90s we watched movies where heroes and heroines eloped but in DDLJ, the attempt which Shah Rukh made to woo Kajol’s parents were simply amazing making us realise that he is indeed the best man that the girl can spend her life with,” says Apurba who further states, “The father and son relationship played by Anupam kher and Shah Rukh Khan is awe-inspiring”. The scene which he loves the most is the SRK-Kajol conversation on the bridge when SRK gives him away.
For Subarna Mitra DDLJ is a legend. “The movie is special as it goes to the roots of Indian culture. It highlights that we should respect our elders. You just do not run away or elope with the person you love; instead you take your parents’ consent and blessings. it’s like ‘I’ll marry you only if your father gives your hand to me’. The concept was so new and so down to earth! That’s what made DDLJ a cult film. It became more so overseas because the characters in the film were ones based abroad who came to India to find their roots. Even today it has takers the world over. We don’t know how long it will run. But may the curtain never fall,” she cooes.
