Champ

On May 13, Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge (DDLJ) completed 500 weeks at Maratha Mandir, a film theatre in India’s film city Mumbai, where it has been running everyday since it was first released in 1995!

Literal translation of Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge is Brave hearts will take the bride….but it is not actually as dramatic in Hindi as it sounds after translation. One can never catch the same sense in translations. However, you can buy a DVD, if you haven’t seen it so far. (Ten reasons to watch DDLJ .)

I watched this movie with my buddy Amit. And I remember how we ‘persuaded’ three pretty gals to “sell” us their tickets to us.

Perhaps, DDLJ had more influnce on the entire generation of 90s than anything else. This film also marks the entry of a Non-resident Indian (NRI) hero in the Bollywood.

Within a year, half of my friends moved to US, UK, Canada, Australia and became NRIs! A few have found their Senoritas (heroine of the DDLJ), while some are still looking for them .

DDLJ is superstar Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol’s biggest hit and has become a Bollywood classic. (Read SRK’s take on DDLJ’s achievement). To tell you the truth, whenever I watch this movie, I still get goosebumps. (Review DDLJ) (Read other’s views).

It’s Indian romance at its best. We all grew up watching enough candyfloss where boy tries to get the bride when it’s too late in the film. And he dramatically wins the gal during the wedding procession.

But DDLJ takes it to a different level. Raj, the protagonist, had, despite his ultra-cool dad and London upbringing, solid Indian character. Hence the twist: the bride must be won via persuasion, not purloining.
Perhaps, one of the biggest plus of DDLJ was its characters. If all boys identify with ultra-cool, but dependable Raj, all gals till date want to be Simran and all love-birds dread having one Bauji (Gal’s father) in their lives.

The lead couples on-screen chemistry redefined the image of lover for the next decade.

This film not only sums up Bollywood filmmaking, but also marks beginning of a new era in Indian cinema. For the first time Bollywood actually connected with the second generation NRIs. It was the first serious attempt to tap swelling NRI/international market for Indian films. With this film emerged a new trend in Indian film Industry…for the first time overseas market became more lucrative than domestic market. (Charles Taylor wrote an article about DDLJ for Salon last year.)

The début film of Adity, son of Bollywood veteran Yash Chopra, is an example of clever craftsmanship. It was a modern film with lots of urban feel in characters and dialogues. But under the watchful eyes of Dad Yash, Adi brought enough masala for the front benches as well – so there’s a typical stern but essentially understandable father in Amrish Puri; there’s the East or West, Punjab is best song, Ghar Aaja Pardesi; there’s clichéd use of background score which goes up with emotional intensity; and then there are hackneyed bits of Mother-daughter, husband-wife, father-son dialogues.

However, the magic of DDLJ is in achieving the perfect balance of all ingredients. The film achieves a fine equilibrium between commercial needs, quality entertainment and innate desire to experiment. Endless viewing brings out new shades in every scene.

Everyone of my generation, and perhaps next and another one after that, have our favourite moments from the film — Raj’s refusal to come to Simarn’s wedding; now Bollywood’s two most popular two-words “Mema-shema”; an anxious Raj stammering ‘beer’ instead of lassi to Bauji; and there are women, who were perhaps teenage gals when the film was first released, still swoon each time Shah Rukh, lost in Simarans thoughts runs his hand through windswept hairs during Ho gaya hai tujhko to pyaar sajna song. Today, perhaps their daughters give them company when drool over SRK’s boyish charms.

Just five hundred weeks. Hell, we can have 500 more!

References:
1. Hindustan Times
2. Rediff
3. The Hindu
4. IndiaFM