Come fall in love
Nopes. That's not what will happen here.
But that was the catch-phrase to the famous movie of all time - Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge.
We were in Class 9 when it was released. Amma booked the tickets for the 4 of us (All girls) and we all took the famous bus to Ega Theatre to watch the Khan in action. Btw, he wasn't so famous amongst us South Indians then. And the only reason we were there was we couldn't get ticked for our fave chocolate boy Amir Khan's movie 'Akele Hum Akele Tum'.
Huddled in the hall, we sat mesmerised as the monkey hero ran around and made jokes and stutterd and sang songs with Kajol of the lovely eyes fame. It was wholesome entertainment and man! were we happy we didn 't go to AHAT. And that day began a new chapter in my life - as President of Shah Rukh Khan fan club. No magazine, newspaper was left alone. C'mon what if it had a pic of my Idol and i forgot to save it to show my grandkids? My gifts were posters of King Khan (Why does it sound like King Kong now?). And after every debacle in the Physics paper, Amma would barge into my room and scream how i never fail to remember any dialogue from his movie while it wasn't the same when it came to Physics formulae. My answer to that was "Bade bade deshon mein aisi choti choti baathein hoti rehthi hai". (Of course muttered in a whisper lest i be banned from watching his movies :) )
Anyways, DDLJ has broken box office records of even Sholay with its 500th week run in BO. I still can't understand why it is such a big hit. Maybe it was something to do with Jatin-Lalit's score, or Kajol and her rain dance in mini-skirt, or Shah Rukh's crazy antics or just the fact that it was a simple love story told ever so beautifully without any frills (tho' i sincerely believe the fight could have been avoided)...and yes somehow we did fall in love.
But that was the catch-phrase to the famous movie of all time - Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge.
We were in Class 9 when it was released. Amma booked the tickets for the 4 of us (All girls) and we all took the famous bus to Ega Theatre to watch the Khan in action. Btw, he wasn't so famous amongst us South Indians then. And the only reason we were there was we couldn't get ticked for our fave chocolate boy Amir Khan's movie 'Akele Hum Akele Tum'.
Huddled in the hall, we sat mesmerised as the monkey hero ran around and made jokes and stutterd and sang songs with Kajol of the lovely eyes fame. It was wholesome entertainment and man! were we happy we didn 't go to AHAT. And that day began a new chapter in my life - as President of Shah Rukh Khan fan club. No magazine, newspaper was left alone. C'mon what if it had a pic of my Idol and i forgot to save it to show my grandkids? My gifts were posters of King Khan (Why does it sound like King Kong now?). And after every debacle in the Physics paper, Amma would barge into my room and scream how i never fail to remember any dialogue from his movie while it wasn't the same when it came to Physics formulae. My answer to that was "Bade bade deshon mein aisi choti choti baathein hoti rehthi hai". (Of course muttered in a whisper lest i be banned from watching his movies :) )
Anyways, DDLJ has broken box office records of even Sholay with its 500th week run in BO. I still can't understand why it is such a big hit. Maybe it was something to do with Jatin-Lalit's score, or Kajol and her rain dance in mini-skirt, or Shah Rukh's crazy antics or just the fact that it was a simple love story told ever so beautifully without any frills (tho' i sincerely believe the fight could have been avoided)...and yes somehow we did fall in love.
posted by Kumari at 12:02 AM
3 Comments:
What would you think of my if I told you I haven't seen that movie yet ? Or that I haven't see the Hum Aapke Blah Blah either ?
I used to have a wall size Kajol poster in my room. I had to make room for a Erica Eleniak, and I decided to keep Kajol's face first. It soon tattered away, but I do believe that I still have her eyes. Those eyes... remember Minsaara Kannavugal ?
Anyhoo, what exactly does 500 weeks mean ? Does that mean that some theatre in India, still runs that movie ?
I think one of the biggest reasons for the success of a movie like DDLJ was this whole coming-back-to-roots notion. As the saga of the London bred family of Kajol of dancing in the rain wearing short mini skirts and enjoying getting tipsy with her guy traverse back all the way to the land of sarson ka khet, for the promise of forever togetherness and embrace a man and a life so different from her past unfolded in 70 mm splendor, people sighed. Somewhere, we live with a sense of guilt that we are ignoring and fast losing our much-famed “Indianness”, and want to hold on to elaborate rituals and at times misplaced ideologies.
In an era, where there is Generation X+ who choose what they will wear, what they will study, what will they do to keep kitchen fires burning… they will marry someone their parents choose for them, is a notion that has many takers. You know, the classic, “Blend of traditional and modern” that our matrimonial columns talk about with much aplomb.
HAHK sort of set the trend of saccharine-sweet-family sagas… DDLJ managed an upgrade with more slick production values and Manish Malhotra designer wear for the cast as opposed to the more garish HAHK. But, then the laws of diminishing marginal utility caught up and subsequent showcasing of the great Indian family complete with dog and other animals failed as scantily clad women in the midst of incestuous relationships seem to be the order of the day. I wonder, if it is somehow a reflection in the shift in societal values?
Okay, lest I outdo the length of your post, lemme scoot! :)
I so agree about the fight! I think it screwed up the ending of a perfectly good movie.
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