Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge

Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, more commonly known as DDLJ was definitely an anticipated movie but no one had predicted its such a huge impact on the future of Hindi cinema.

To start with, this movie was a debut venture for young director Aditya Chopra. The name of the movie did not attarct too many people in the beginning as it was straightaway lifted from a famous song of 70s.

So, what puts DDLJ in the list of all-time greatest hits like Hum Aapke Hain Kaun, Sholay and Mughal-e-Azam, to name a few? The answer is: class. DDLJ is a class in itself. Class as in direction, class as in acting, class as in music, class as in choreography, class as in cinematography, class as in script, and class as in screenplay.

Lets handle them one by one. Direction? Well, the movie is split into two halves, one part entirely shooted in Europe (well, almost) and the other half, in India. The intermission occurs exactly at the borderline. The two parts are so well-separated, yet woven together to make it a complete movie. Other aspects of the direction is the use of the songs at the appropriate instances. Songs are not "inserted" in the movie. I would say, I haven't seen ANY movie that has used any song like Aditya Chopra did with "Ghar aaja pardesi" in DDLJ. That is absolutely a masterpiece of an act. All the stanzas of this song have been used at the exact and most appropriate moments in the movie. Other example woule be the compilation of the entire Europe sequences in one song, "Tujhe dekha to ye jaana sanam". Again, that would require a lot of thought and foresight from a director point of view. I can write a saga on the beauty of direction (e.g., use of number 13 as the apartment number of Simran and so many such minute details) but I would save that for others.

Next come acting. Even though protagonists Raj and Simran are heart of the movie, other characters are also equally if not more important than the main characters. Their parents, friends, even Simran's sister and Kuljeet bring life to their acting. Shahrukh Khan is absolutely fantastic (remember he hadn't done KKHH, DTPH, Mohabbatein, K3G or KHNH by that time!). His appearance looked quite different from his early movies and that came as a big bonus. Later on, Shahrukh Khan did try to repeat this performance and style in the movies listed above and succeeded too. Kajol was also superb especially in the emotional scenes like the one at the roof. Both Kher and Puri fit well in their roles (remember O poochi, O Coka, O Bovi, O Lola?).

Music was a very strong point of DDLJ. How many movies do you find whose ALL songs can be rated far above average? Even Maine Pyaar Kiya had relatively low rated songs like "Dil deke darde" or "Kahe tose sajni" or for that matter the biggest hit HAHK had less famous songs like "Dhik taana". The least famous song of DDLJ would be perhaps "Zara sa jhoom loon main" and that too is far above average. Otherwise Tujhe dekha to, Mehndi laga ke, Naa jaane mere, Mere khwaabon me, Ruk ja o dil, and Ghar aaja pardesi, all are mindblowing and they have more than double impact when you watch them in theater.

Coming to script, almost every dialogue is meaningful and if you want to take specific examples, look at the last but one sequence of Raj with the entire Baldeo singh family. Remember "to kya hua agar ye awaara tumhe baadlon ki tarah..."? Or for that matter "main nahin aaunga..." in UK when Simran asks Raj whether he would come for her marriage or not. There are several such examples.

Cinematography is an obvious plus point of thye movie with the beautiful camera work especially in the first half. Choreography is equally good especially in Mere khwaabon me, and Mehndi laga ke rakhna.

Screenplay of the movie is definitely a big and surprising advantage for the flow of the sequences. Had it not been for the good (or rather perfect) screenplay, the entire second half would have been a big mess. From an viewer's point of view, the second half is just a wedding but because of the fantastic direction and equally good screenplay, the audience flows with the movie.

The movie isn't flawless Iis there any?). There are a few sequences that don't make much sense. For example, when Baldeo is playing chess, Raj takes less than a second to analyze the whole game and come up with an "indigenous" idea. Similarly, the hunting scene of Kuljeet and then Raj saving him doesn't seem realistic either. Another example would be the scene when Simran winks at Raj after falling down on the night of Karva Chauth. Obviously, she can't wink in front of so many relatives around her. But these are such a few and less inportant flaws in front of gamut of positives that they go almost unnoticed.

So, if you haven't seen this movie yet, go for it and if already have then you would anyway go for it, again, and again, and again. Last but not the least, try to memorize the poem read by Simran in the very beginning of the movie, "Aisa pahli baar hua hai, sattarah attharah saalon me..". You will enjoy doing that.