I have one perpetual question in my head whenever I think of DDLJ, ‘Can I ever get tired of this movie?’ And, the answer is ‘Definitely, No!’
Story:
Almost a fable! Ever since its release, several movies had been made with similar story base; Lovers trying to unite by impressing parents rather than by eloping. Simple! The first half set in Europe, is a cool love story, with comic interludes and lovely songs. It’s not all mushy, as the lovers do not actually confess their love for each other till the interval.
The second half set in Punjab, is the best according to me, where the hero achieves the almost impossible tasks of impressing the patriarchal, staunch traditional father of the heroine to accept him as son-in-law. While the hero wooed the heroine’s family, I sitting among the audience, fell in love with the movie itself.
Filmi Aspects
The right mix of essential ingredients, the comedy, romance, sentimental scenes and the feel- good factor are the secrets of the movie’s success, something which the same director was not able to recreate in his other directorial ventures. No aspect of the movie is loud, garish or overdone. Everything is just about right. The sets of the Punjabi house are thankfully not too opulent and there aren’t any ‘crocodile tears’ moments.
Acting
The character of Simran is a perfect archetype of a modern Indian lady. She wears modern clothes, but believes in Indian traditions; she hails from a normal Indian family where her father is loving patriarch whom she wouldn’t dare disrespecting. Kajol’s strength is her conviction. Needless to say, her performance in the movie is extremely convincing.
Raj is not the regular politically correct hero. He is just a lovable rogue, with quirky goofiness; sudden seriousness and natural charm to smooth talk everyone. Who else could do it better than SRK, who is known to be a charming, Machiavellian in real life too? He is believed to have impressed Gauri’s parents in a similar way!
Considering that the movie was made in 1995; a time when the hero was highly stereotyped as the boring, punch line muttering machine; SRK’s portrayal of natural, realistic and lovable heroism was a welcome relief.
He truly deserved a film fare award for this movie. Some might argue that Aamir as ‘Munna’ in Rangeela deserved better. But, Film Fare Awards are Popularity based, and since no one could deny the humongous popularity of DDLJ, the choice for the ‘Best Actor’ award was unanimous. The film bagged totally eight Film Fare Awards.
Relevance to Society
In the recent past, most parents considered the traditional arranged marriage as the symbol of prestige, for it restored the children’s belief and respect on the parent’s judgment. Moreover, children settling for arranged marriage were seen as indications of their obedience to parents and hence the success of parental upbringing
But today, when the Indian society is becoming more and more open to love marriages, the relevance of the theme of this movie with respect to reality is increasing. A scene from the movie is bound to happen in most families. I’ve personally known cases, when the happy climax of the movie did become a reality.
Trivia
The movie was released to celebrate 25 years of Yash Raj Films. The movie had collected more than 800 crores and continues to be a hot selling DVD.
Anupama Chopra had written a book called ‘The Making of DDLJ’. It was the first ever book that was written on the making on an Indian movie.
Since11 years the movie, DDLJ has been running with more than 60% collections in a theatre called ‘Maratha Mandir’ in Mumbai.
‘Koi baat nahin Senorita! Bade Bade Deshonmain … ’ dialogue of the movie, has been voted as one of the most popular movie dialogues of Hindi cinema.
‘Mehendi Lagakey Rakhna’ is an integral part of every North Indian wedding procession that happens in the country.
DDLJ managed to connect with the audience all throughout India, in a way only few movies did.
It is already in league with great old hindi movies like ‘Sholay’ and ‘Mother India’.
My Comfort Movie
To me, the connection with DDLJ is personal. It’s hard to explain that Happy feeling I get whenever, I get to watch this special movie. At every watch, I smile along till it hurts my cheeks, I speak along as though the dialogues are hymns to be chanted, I feel charmed at the end and I wait to watch it again.
After much probing, I realize this feeling has little to do with the movie itself. It has something to do with my past, my teenage days to be exact. The time the movie was released; those where my comfort days. The movie itself is a reminiscence of my happy and perfect past. So naturally, I am waiting to watch it yet another time!