Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge
Dilwale Dulhania Le
Jayenge , also known by the initialism DDLJ,
is a 1995 Indian Hindi-language romance film,
directed by Aditya Chopra in his directorial debut,
produced by his father Yash Chopra, and written by Javed Siddiqui with
Aditya Chopra. Released on 20 October 1995, the film stars Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol. The plot revolves
around Raj and Simran, two young non-resident Indians,
who fall in love during a vacation through Europe with their friends. Raj tries
to win over Simran's family so the couple can marry, but Simran's father has
long since promised her hand to his friend's son. The film was shot in India,
London, and Switzerland, from September 1994 to August 1995.
Earning ₹1.06 billion (valued
at about US$32,766,000 in 1995) in India and ₹160
million (valued at about US$4,946,000 in 1995) overseas, Dilwale
Dulhania Le Jayenge became the highest grossing Bollywood film
of the year, and one of the most successful Indian films in history. It won
10 Filmfare Awards—the most for a single film at
that time—and the National Film
Award for Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment. Its
soundtrack album became one of the most popular of the 1990s.
Many critics praised the film,
which connected with different segments of society by simultaneously promoting
strong family values and the following of one's own heart. Its success led
other filmmakers to target the non-resident Indian audience, which was deemed
more lucrative for them. It spawned many imitations of its story and style and
homages to specific scenes. Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge was one of
only three Hindi films in the reference book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You
Die, and was placed twelfth on the British Film Institute's list of top Indian
films of all time. It is the longest-running film in the history of Indian cinema.
As of 2019, over 24 years after its first release, it is still being shown at
the Maratha Mandir theatre in Mumbai.
Plot
Raj Malhotra and Simran Singh
are both non-resident Indians (NRI) living in London. Simran is raised by her
parents, Baldev Singh and Lajwanti. Baldev Singh is a strict and conservative
father, while Raj is raised by his father Dharamvir Malhotra, who is very
liberal. Simran always dreams of meeting her ideal man; her mother Lajjo warns
her against this, saying dreams are good, but one should not blindly believe
they come true. One day, Baldev receives a letter from his friend Ajit, who
lives in Punjab, India. Ajit wants to keep the promise
he and Baldev made to each other 20 years ago—to have Simran marry his son
Kuljeet. Simran is disappointed, as she does not want to marry someone whom she
has never met.
One evening, Raj enters Baldev's
shop after closing time to buy beer. Baldev refuses, but Raj grabs a case of
beer, throws money on the counter, and runs away. An infuriated Baldev calls
Raj a disgrace to India. Meanwhile, Raj's father agrees to his request to go on
a train trip across Europe with his friends, and Simran's friends have invited
her to go on the same trip. Simran asks her father to let her see the world
before her marriage, and he reluctantly agrees.
On the trip, Raj and Simran meet.
Raj constantly flirts with Simran, much to her irritation. The two miss their
train to Zürich and
are separated from their friends, but start to travel together and become
friends. Raj falls in love with Simran on the journey, and when they part ways
in London, Simran realises she is in love with him as well. At home, Simran
tells her mother about the boy she met on her trip; Baldev overhears the
conversation and becomes enraged with his daughter. He says the family will
move to India the next day. Meanwhile, Raj tells his father about Simran and
that she will soon get married. When Raj says he believes Simran loves him too,
his father encourages him to go after her. Raj goes to her house to woo her and
her father, but is informed by their neighbor that they have sold their house
and moved to India.
In India, Baldev is reunited with
his relatives and his friend, Ajit. A miserable Simran and her younger sister
Chutki take an instant dislike to Simran's fiancé Kuljeet because of his
arrogance. Simran pines for Raj, but her mother tells her to forget him because
she knows Baldev will never accept their relationship. The next morning, Raj
arrives outside of the house where Simran is staying and the two reunite. She
begs him to elope with her, but Raj refuses and says he will only marry her
with her father's consent. Raj befriends Kuljeet and is quickly accepted by
both families. Later, his father arrives in India and also becomes friends with
Simran's and Kuljeet's families. Eventually, Lajjo and Chutki discover that Raj
is the boy Simran fell in love with in Europe. Lajjo also tells Raj and Simran
to run away, but he still refuses. Baldev recognises Raj from the beer incident
but eventually accepts him. However, after he discovers a photograph of Raj and
Simran together in Europe, he slaps and humiliates Raj and tells him to leave.
As Raj and his father wait at the
railway station, Kuljeet, who is angry to learn of Raj's love for Simran,
arrives with his friends and attack them. Eventually, Baldev and Ajit arrive
and stop the fight, and Raj boards the departing train with his father. Simran
then arrives with her mother and sister; she tries to join Raj on the train,
but Baldev stops her. Simran begs him to let her go, saying she cannot live
without Raj. Baldev, realising nobody loves his daughter more than Raj does,
lets her go, and she runs and catches the train as it departs.
Credits adapted from
the British Film Institute.
Cast
·
Shah Rukh
Khan as Raj Malhotra
·
Kajol as Simran Singh
·
Amrish Puri as Chaudhary Baldev Singh,
Simran's father
·
Farida Jalal as Lajwanti
"Lajjo" Singh, Simran's mother
·
Satish Shah as Ajit Singh, Baldev's
friend in India
·
Achala Sachdev as
Simran's grandmother
·
Himani
Shivpuri as Kammo Kaur, Simran's aunt
Production
Origin and scripting
Aditya Chopra assisted
his father, director and producer Yash Chopra,
during the making of Chandni (1989), Lamhe (1991)
and Darr (1993). During
this time, Aditya wrote several of his own scripts, including one he assumed
would be his first film, but eventually became his second, Mohabbatein (2000). For
three years, he worked on the story that would become Dilwale Dulhania Le
Jayenge before approaching his father to direct it. Yash did not want to
and tried to persuade Aditya to do it himself. As they were discussing
ideas for the script, Aditya conceived the notion that Raj would seek
permission for marriage from Simran's stern father, rather than eloping with
her. He then became excited about the possibility of directing the film
himself. After his mother, the playback singer Pamela Chopra,
agreed that the idea was sound, he decided to make this his directorial debut. Aditya
wanted to make a wholesome film that people could watch repeatedly. He wanted
to diverge from the typical plot line of the time, in which lovers run away
when their parents object, and show that if their love was strong enough, the
parents would eventually understand.
In May 1994, Aditya read the
first draft of the script to several members of the Yash Raj Films production
team assigned to work with him, including a cinematographer, an art director,
and a dialogue writer. They were not impressed, but Aditya held fast to his
ideas. He was given total editorial control by his father, the producer,
and made the film according to his own tastes and sensibilities. Aditya
struggled with both the dialogue writer Javed Siddiqui and
the song lyricist Anand Bakshi to develop words that were
"young-sounding". There were personal clashes over writing
credits on the final script. Pamela's friend Honey Irani believed
she deserved a writing credit that she did not receive, and Siddiqui believed
Aditya did not deserve partial credit for the dialogue. After Dilwale
Dulhania Le Jayenge, neither of them ever worked with Yash Raj Films again. After
approving the script, Yash was consulted about the songs, but mostly left the
creative process to his son, and has firmly denied that he was a ghost director
on the project. He did not shoot a single frame, and did not even view
some portions of the film until it was nearly completed.
Casting
Aditya originally wanted the film
to be about a relationship between an Indian and an American. He wanted Tom Cruise for
the role of Raj but was dissuaded by Yash, who did not want to use a foreign
star. They decided their characters would be non-resident Indians (NRIs).
Aditya approached Shah Rukh Khan to play the role of Raj. Shah Rukh was
initially not interested because of the romantic nature of the role, having had
success playing villainous roles. Aditya then asked Saif Ali Khan to
play the lead role because he was having problems persuading Shah Rukh to do it. Saif
declined for unknown reasons, as did Aamir Khan, causing
Aditya to continue pursuing Shah Rukh. Aditya and Shah Rukh had four
meetings over several weeks; he finally persuaded Shah Rukh by telling him he
could never be a superstar unless he became "every woman's dream man, and
every mother's dream son". Since then, Shah Rukh has expressed his
gratitude to Aditya for helping to make him a star with this film. Shah
Rukh said that fellow actor Salman Khan also
encouraged him to do the role, saying that he thought the film would be very
successful. Shah Rukh has also noted the similarities in the film's script
to his own relationship with Gauri Khan before
their marriage.
Kajol was the first choice to play Simran, to
which she quickly agreed. She and Shah Rukh had previously worked together
in the successful films Baazigar (1993) and Karan Arjun (1995). Kajol
said her character was very difficult for her to relate to, whereas Shah Rukh
said Raj's personality was very similar to his own. Aditya chose the name
Raj for the character, and the mandolin that he played, based on his admiration
for the actor Raj Kapoor. After a successful screen test,
Parmeet Sethi was chosen over Armaan Kohli for
the role of Kuljeet Singh. In addition to his assistant director Sameer Sharma, Aditya asked for two
additional assistants, his brother Uday Chopra and
his cousin Karan Johar. Johar also played a small role in the film as
Raj's friend. Sharmishta Roy was the film's art director and Manish Malhotra was
its costume designer. While Malhotra had many new ideas, Aditya wanted to keep
the clothing style simple; he did not want it to distract from the story. Despite
this, Malhotra was responsible for the idea of Simran wearing a green dress in
the song "Mehndi Laga Ke Rakhna", an unusual colour for a Punjabi
bride.
Filming
Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge was
filmed in several 5-, 10- and 20-day schedules between September 1994 and August 1995.The
first sequence filmed was for the song "Ho Gaya Hai Tujhko" with
Kajol and Shah Rukh in Switzerland. The
European journey scenes and songs were mainly filmed in Saanen, Montbovon and Gstaad,
Switzerland.Other
scenes were shot in England, at locations including Trafalgar Square, King's Cross railway station and Angel Underground station. Film's
cinematographer Manmohan Singh, a regular collaborator
with Chopra, shot the song "Tujhe Dekha To", including the iconic
mustard fields scenes with Shah Rukh and Kajol in the mustard fields in Gurgaon on
the outskirts of the National Capital Region Delhi.The
cast faced difficulties while filming the final scene, which shows Simran
running to catch the train on which Raj is travelling. The smoldering heat made
it difficult to shoot and each time there was a retake, the train took 20
minutes to return.
Saroj Khan was
the choreographer throughout most of the production, but after several disputes
between her and Aditya, she was replaced by Farah Khan near
the end of the shoot. After the film's eventual success, Saroj apologised to
Aditya for underestimating him, but she never worked with him again. Farah
choreographed the song "Ruk Ja O Dil Deewane",during
which Aditya did not tell Kajol that Shah Rukh was going to drop her, as he
wanted to capture her genuine reaction.The
film's title was suggested by actress Kirron Kher;
it came from the song "Le Jayenge Le Jayenge", in the film Chor Machaye
Shor (1974). The
Raj character sings parts of this song during the story, and it recurs at the
end. Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge is believed to be the first
Bollywood film with a "Title suggested by" credit. The
film has since become universally known by the acronym DDLJ.
Towards the end of the principal photography, Shah Rukh had to split
his time between this film and Trimurti (1995),
spending half of his day on each film. In
early August 1995, when filming on Dilwale
Dulhania Le Jayenge was not yet finished, a release date in October around
the time of the Diwali festival was decided upon. Composers Jatin and
Lalit Pandit were given only 10 days to complete the background score, and the
first copies were printed on 30 September. After
filming was complete, Aditya decided to make a Hollywood-style documentary of
the film-making process, which had not been done before in India. Karan Johar
and Uday were put in charge because they had already been recording some of the
processes. On 18 October, two days before the film's release, the 30-minute
special Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, The Making was broadcast on
television by Doordarshan.
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