Last week Friday (12th December 2014) the movie "Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge" completed 1000 weeks of successful
running at Mumbai's Maratha Mandir theatre. The single screen that came into
the limelight after it ran 'Mughal-e-Azam' for eight years and today it has
broken its own record by running “Dilwale” for nineteen years continuously.
A story that redefined love.
To commemorate 1000 weeks of romance a book was released on this occasion
titled, “Aditya Chopra Relives . . .
Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge” published by Yash Raj Films Pvt. Ltd. Director
Aditya Chopra was just 24 years of age when “Dilwale” was released on Diwali 20th
October 1995. One can only realize the creativity exhibited by this young boy
then.
There are many interesting anecdotes that are given in his book and I
take this opportunity to share some of them in my piece.
“Dilwale” or “DDLJ”
Well, whenever Director Aditya Chopra speaks of the movie he calls it as
“Dilwale” and not “DDLJ”. Title being too long with
passage of time “Dilwale Dulhania Le
Jayenge” became “DDLJ” amongst the
masses. Not that Aditya has any objection or gets offended with this but for
him it’s like a nickname someone else has given to your child. It’s just that
he has always referred to the film as “Dilwale”
and continues to do so. It was Kirron Kher who suggested the movie’s title.
Come Fall In Love
Love is a singular experience being plurally felt witnessing delicate
merger of two souls. Love is something one always aspires for and for some
these aspirations do come true while for other’s they end up coming out of the
woods of a broken heart.
It could be possible that in real life your love is forbidden to you or one
may not be able to express it openly in the public or otherwise to that someone
special. But on the silver screen one can experience it all. Romance in Cinema
provides that dream space.
With “Dilwale” Director Aditya
Chopra wanted Raj and Simran to be seen as lovers that many people would always
aspire to be. Hey, I want to be like this man Shahrukh in my love or otherwise.
Post watching the movie that thought has to be registered that every guy would
love to have Simran in his life while every girl would aspire to have her Raj
in her life. Aditya Chopra admired Raj Kapoor for his work so much that Shahrukh (Raj
Malhotra) was called as Raj throughout the movie.
If we observe this romantic movie not even once did Raj or Simran said “I
Love You” to each other. On the contrary it was pretty evident they both have
fallen in love with each other. In the scene where Simran invites Raj for her
wedding Shahrukh says, “Main Nahin Aaunga”
(I won’t come for your wedding). When a girl invites you for her wedding it’s
very unlikely a guy would refuse the invitation. It was in fact Raj’s style to
convey it to Simran “I Love You” hence I won’t come to be part of your vibrant
wedding celebration.
Palat Palat Palat
The dialogue where we see Shahrukh saying Palat Palat Palat was
something Director Aditya admits to have copied the same from Clint Eastwood
1993 thriller titled In the Line of Fire.
There is a scene where in Eastwood sees his love walk away and then says to
himself “turn”. The idea was there in Aditya’s mind for long and while writing
the scene it came back to him. He liked the idea and decided to use it in his
script.
The shooting for this was scheduled at King’s Cross Station in the evening
and weather was cold in there in London. So Aditya Chopra who was wearing the
brown jacket lent the same to Shahrukh which can be seen in this movie in the “Palat” scene.
The Facts Remain
The entire screenplay was written in twelve days. The filming of DDLJ
took place over sixty-seven non consecutive days. The whole movie was made in a
budget of three crore rupees. For many years Dilwale was the most successful
Indian film abroad. With the profits earned with Dilwale it allowed the Chopra’s
to buy land in Andheri West where the Yash Raj Films studios stand today.
For the Director of Photography (DOP) the choice decided was Manmohan
Singh (Manji). He shared close association with Yash Ji and had shot most of
his films. Not even once he made Aditya Chopra the young boy of 24 years feel
that he was inexperienced. Today, Manji has stopped photographing films in
Mumbai and is now a leading film director in Punjabi Cinema.
The musical hit “Dilwale” was the good work from the duo Jatin Lalit who
gave most unforgettable scores. The mahurat shot in this movie was Simran’s
introduction. While for Amrish Puri (Baldev Singh’s) shop they wanted to do the
shoot at Southhall. However, on the day of the shooting there was massive crowd
gathered who had come to see the shooting making it impossible to complete the shoot.
The scene was later filmed in a petrol pump station shop on some motorway.
The song "Tujhe Dekha
To" fetched lyrics writer Anand Bakshi his Filmfare Award. The movie “Dilwale” set the record at its time for
the most Filmfare awards won by a single film with ten in all. Aditya knew that
Bakshi Saab’s words have power and was very important person out here. However,
post ten days had passed and at least fifty of Bakshi Saab’s mukhdas were
already rejected.
Bakshi Saab said, “Adi, I’m not able to meet your expectations. I’m not
sure if I would be the right person for you. You better replace me with someone
else. However, Aditya knew it was Bakshi Saab only who could get the work done here
and to the final projections. There was nothing wrong with the mukhdas but they
were just not apt for the girl Simran is what Aditya felt. The day Bakshi Saab
came up with this line, “Ussse Kaho Jaaye Chaand Leke Aaye, Mere Khwabon Mein
Jo Aaye” the things took a different turn for both Bakshi Saab as well as Aditya.
Not that I have covered all the anecdotes in my piece but I am positive
for all the fans of “Dilwale” reading
this Aditya Chopra’s book full of interesting anecdotes would be indeed
enlightening. Reading the anecdote and then watching the movie again would be a
different experience all together.
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