Shah Rukh Khan, Kajol’s love saga continues its record-breaking theatrical run and deservingly so

When DDLJ hit screens on October 20, 1995, Bollywood was mainly about masala entertainers high on action and drama, whereas a lot was left to explore in the romantic genre. The unprecedented acceptance and love that the Yash Raj Films production received from audiences across the country brought a sudden shift in the Hindi film industry as filmmakers started leaning towards love stories and the trend continues till today.

DDLJ is the longest-running film in the history of Indian cinema

The term ‘biggest blockbuster’ wouldn’t even begin to describe the unparalleled adulation that DDLJ has received from generations over the last three decades. A small testimony to it will be the fact that DDLJ, even after 27 years of its release, continues to run in a Mumbai theatre!

One can still catch the historic love saga on the big screen in Mumbai’s iconic Maratha Mandir, which runs a single show of DDLJ each day at 11:30 am. And believe it or not, the film still fetches a respectable number of audience members from time to time.

In 2015, it was announced that Maratha Mandir will finally be running its last show of DDLJ. However, after both YRF and the theatre were bombarded with an uncountable number of requests from fans to continue showing DDLJ, the decision was overturned in almost no time.

What makes DDLJ so special

Among the very many stand-out points of DDLJ is that it perfectly strikes the balance of adhering to family values and following one’s heart. The story revolves around SRK’s Raj and Kajol’s Simran, who fall in love while touring Europe with their friends. Towards the end of the vacation, Raj learns that Simran’s father (played by the late Amrish Puri), has promised her hand to someone else.

Nonetheless, a broken-hearted Raj decides to go to India and win over Simran’s entire family, particularly her morose Bauji. This simple yet intricately woven tale of love resonated with audiences in a manner that Indian cinema hadn’t witnessed before. DDLJ also stars Anupam Kher, Himani Shivpuri, Parmeet Sethi, Mandira Bedi, Satish Shah, Karan Johar, and Anaita Shroff Adajania among others.

Other than being the timeless classic that it is, DDLJ also transformed SRK into the King Of Romance that we all grew to know and love. It was for the first time that the superstar played a romantic lead on the big screen and the rest, as they say, is history!

Besides King Khan leaving a permanent mark in the hearts of audiences, Kajol delivered a memorable performance as a strong-headed girl who eventually decides to go all out for love.

Both Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol as well as Raj and Simran set a benchmark for chemistry that hasn’t been surpassed yet, and in all honestly, it never will be. Aditya Chopra indeed spilled magic with his very first outing as a director.

Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge is certainly not just a film, it is an emotion!