"Bade bade deshon mein chhoti chhoti baatein hoti rehti hain!"
This dialogue - "small things keep happening in big cities" - became the bane of my existence for a short period of time when my sister decided to adopt it as her pet phrase in response to almost everything! But even today, 20 years after the release of the iconic film Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge, the opening tune of the title track "Tujhe dekha toh yeh jaana sanam" makes my heart skip a beat.
Even today, Raj and Simran's love story is talked about in every household and every generation. From the catchy dialogues and one-liners delivered from the scenic Swiss backdrops that are forever linked to the creative genius of the late Mr Yash Chopra, to the heart-wrenching story steeped in family values, to the lessons of following one's heart, the movie ticked all the right boxes and tugged at the heartstrings of everyone who watched the film.
So what's changed in these 20 years?
Not a lot, apparently. Except we lost some great heavyweights of Indian cinema along the way like Yash Chopra and Amrish Puri, God bless their souls. Mumbai's Maratha Mandir still screens DDLJ shows every day, making it the longest running film in the history of Indian cinema, preceded only by Sholay. Even today the ideal of romance is exemplified by the rebellious chase for love that Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol portrayed in the movie. Every "Raj" is still looking for his "Simran" and vice versa. In a recent interview SRK revealed that young actresses and fans claim that he has "ruined love for them". (To which the Baadshah of romance wisely advised that every Raj and Simran is different and that we must find our own versions of them that fit into our lives.)
"Even today the ideal of romance is exemplified by the rebellious chase for love that Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol portrayed in the movie. Every 'Raj' is still looking for his 'Simran' and vice versa."
What the "reel" world gave us and we heartily gorged on decades ago, today poses a question mark on our real world perceptions. What's changed is that this simple, untouched idea of love and doing whatever it takes to triumph seems to have been lost in the woods of the 20th century. Today the will to love longer, to fight less, endure more and respect more seems to have taken a backseat giving way for the ugliness of an anarchist, "idealistic" society that often forgets the basic values they were brought up with. Thankfully we have memorable films like DDLJ to remind us of who we truly are and what we don't need to be.
Apart from debuting as something of a love trendsetter back in 1995, the movie also paved the way for other filmmakers to target the non-resident Indian (NRI) market on a larger scale. Living in Munich, I often meet NRIs who may enjoy the occasional Western opera and theatre but their hearts are still with our Bollywood Rajs and Simrans. Interestingly, Aditya Chopra, Yash Chopra's son and director of the film had originally wanted an American male lead and cast Tom Cruise in the lead role but the idea was opposed by his father who wanted the story to be about two NRIs.
Today, 20 years on, the king of romance and his "senorita" are all set to star in Rohit Shetty's Dilwale and in all likelihood, to tug at our heartstrings once more, bringing back a flood of nostalgia from the original masterpiece. But will it be even a patch on the original? SRK doesn't think so. A proud moment no less is the fact that for its 20th anniversary, DDLJ will also be screened at the National Museum of Ethnology in Japan! I just watched a video starring the two leading actors engrossed in an adorable tete-a-tete reminiscing about the movie that changed their lives -- and also ours.
As I await the release of Dilwale with bated breath and "Tujhe dekha toh yeh..." playing in the background, I lose myself in a daydream of a day that seems not so long ago, when I first watched the movie that made me wish I was Simran in a white salwar-kameez in a lush green field in Punjab running towards my Raj, serenading me with a love ballad on his guitar.
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This dialogue - "small things keep happening in big cities" - became the bane of my existence for a short period of time when my sister decided to adopt it as her pet phrase in response to almost everything! But even today, 20 years after the release of the iconic film Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge, the opening tune of the title track "Tujhe dekha toh yeh jaana sanam" makes my heart skip a beat.
Even today, Raj and Simran's love story is talked about in every household and every generation. From the catchy dialogues and one-liners delivered from the scenic Swiss backdrops that are forever linked to the creative genius of the late Mr Yash Chopra, to the heart-wrenching story steeped in family values, to the lessons of following one's heart, the movie ticked all the right boxes and tugged at the heartstrings of everyone who watched the film.
So what's changed in these 20 years?
Not a lot, apparently. Except we lost some great heavyweights of Indian cinema along the way like Yash Chopra and Amrish Puri, God bless their souls. Mumbai's Maratha Mandir still screens DDLJ shows every day, making it the longest running film in the history of Indian cinema, preceded only by Sholay. Even today the ideal of romance is exemplified by the rebellious chase for love that Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol portrayed in the movie. Every "Raj" is still looking for his "Simran" and vice versa. In a recent interview SRK revealed that young actresses and fans claim that he has "ruined love for them". (To which the Baadshah of romance wisely advised that every Raj and Simran is different and that we must find our own versions of them that fit into our lives.)
"Even today the ideal of romance is exemplified by the rebellious chase for love that Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol portrayed in the movie. Every 'Raj' is still looking for his 'Simran' and vice versa."
What the "reel" world gave us and we heartily gorged on decades ago, today poses a question mark on our real world perceptions. What's changed is that this simple, untouched idea of love and doing whatever it takes to triumph seems to have been lost in the woods of the 20th century. Today the will to love longer, to fight less, endure more and respect more seems to have taken a backseat giving way for the ugliness of an anarchist, "idealistic" society that often forgets the basic values they were brought up with. Thankfully we have memorable films like DDLJ to remind us of who we truly are and what we don't need to be.
Apart from debuting as something of a love trendsetter back in 1995, the movie also paved the way for other filmmakers to target the non-resident Indian (NRI) market on a larger scale. Living in Munich, I often meet NRIs who may enjoy the occasional Western opera and theatre but their hearts are still with our Bollywood Rajs and Simrans. Interestingly, Aditya Chopra, Yash Chopra's son and director of the film had originally wanted an American male lead and cast Tom Cruise in the lead role but the idea was opposed by his father who wanted the story to be about two NRIs.
Today, 20 years on, the king of romance and his "senorita" are all set to star in Rohit Shetty's Dilwale and in all likelihood, to tug at our heartstrings once more, bringing back a flood of nostalgia from the original masterpiece. But will it be even a patch on the original? SRK doesn't think so. A proud moment no less is the fact that for its 20th anniversary, DDLJ will also be screened at the National Museum of Ethnology in Japan! I just watched a video starring the two leading actors engrossed in an adorable tete-a-tete reminiscing about the movie that changed their lives -- and also ours.
As I await the release of Dilwale with bated breath and "Tujhe dekha toh yeh..." playing in the background, I lose myself in a daydream of a day that seems not so long ago, when I first watched the movie that made me wish I was Simran in a white salwar-kameez in a lush green field in Punjab running towards my Raj, serenading me with a love ballad on his guitar.
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