Mumbai: Actor Kajol says when the shooting of Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge was on, the team believed they were making a ‘cool’ film. Kajol however, said they had never anticipated that the movie would go on to have an everlasting impact on pop culture.
The film, fondly called DDLJ, completed 25 years Tuesday. Kajol said the romance between her character, ‘Simran’ and Shah Rukh Khan’s ‘Raj’ is what makes the movie ‘timeless’.
“I think ‘DDLJ’ is timeless because everybody identifies somewhere down the line with Simran and with Raj. I think they just like these characters a lot! They have liked them for years and years now. It’s one of those things that you always like and probably will always like,” Kajol said in a statement shared by production banner Yash Raj Films (YRF).
The 46-year-old actor said she initially found Simran ‘a little boring’, but gradually recognised the character. “I realised there is a lot of Simran in almost everybody we know. There is always that wanting to do the right thing in someone. Lot of people don’t do the right thing but we always want to do that,” Kajol said.
“You want to get that approval, you want to get that feeling of you are approved of and that you are doing something right in the world. So, yes ‘Simran’ was like that. I thought she was just cool, a little old-fashioned but cool,” added the actress.
DDLJ marked the directorial debut of Aditya Chopra and was produced by his father, veteran filmmaker Yash Chopra.
Kajol said Aditya Chopra is one such director who is driven by his ‘conviction’ for a story.
“I think what sets Adi apart is probably his conviction. He is very, very convinced of what he is making. He doesn’t take on a project if he isn’t absolutely convinced about it. That really is what sets him apart,” she said of the filmmaker.
While making DDLJ, the actor recalled, they had their fingers crossed that the film would turn out to be a hit. As they say, the rest is history.
“We were shooting for DDLJ and we never thought that we were making this! We just thought we were going to make a really cool film together and hopefully, it will be a hit film. We were all crossing our fingers that the music will do well etc. But I don’t think anyone of us ever realised the kind of impact DDLJ would have on people when they saw it!” Kajol said.
The film also gave Hindi cinema one of its most iconic on-screen couples in Kajol and Shah Rukh. They later went on to star in hits such as Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham, My Name is Khan, etc.
Widely credited for changing the grammar of Hindi cinema, DDLJ, according to YRF, was made at a budget of Rs four crore. In 1995 it collected Rs 89 crore in India and Rs 13.50 crore in overseas markets. The film had a total collection of Rs 102.50 crore worldwide.
In today’s inflation adjusted value, the film’s collection stands at a staggering Rs 455 crore in India and Rs 69 crore in overseas territories.