Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge

-

 DILWALE DULHANIA LE JAYENGE [1995]

Starring: Shah Rukh Khan, Kajol, Amrish Puri, Anupam Kher, Farida Jalal

Direction by Aditya Chopra

Language: Hindi

I have recently had the pleasure of seeing two of the  most iconic movies in their respective industries in the cinema: Titanic from Hollywood and Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (DDLJ) from Bollywood. DDLJ has been playing for over 20 years in cinemas in Bombay, and I was super excited to finally have the proper movie watching experience. 

Let's start with my actual experience watching it in the cinema. Wow! The theatre was packed, and everyone there had definitely watched the movie beforehand: everyone sang along during the big songs, and everyone cheered and clapped whenever there was a romantic moment. Watching the movie in this environment was incredibly enjoyable, and it's difficult to understand whether it was the experience of the movie itself which made me like it so much. 

Much like Leo DiCaprio in Titanic, this movie was definitely Shah Rukh Khan in his prime. I have seen him act in movies in the 90s, 00s and 2010s, and I can safely say that in none other of his movies have I seen such good acting coming from him. There's something about his character in the movie that is difficult to describe. He was so good! Khan just felt so authentic in this picture: of course this was well before he sold out to Bollywood. Kajol was also great, although I feel that her character was a little bit more plain than Khan's. Obviously, that did not mean that she didn't act well: it's more of the fault of the people who wrote her role. 

In my eyes, one stand out performance in this production was that of Farida Jalal. The character that she acted was one that I felt was very powerful, and that's a massive credit to the writers. Jalal's character was a feminist who acknowledged the sacrifices made by women in India throughout their lives, and although this movie was largely light-hearted and romantic, Jalal's interspersions of hard-hitting rhetoric in the movie was very interesting to say the least. 

One huge triumph was the music, of course. Somehow, the Jatin-Lalit duo managed to create the single most iconic soundtrack in the history of Bollywood. The soundtrack is timeless, and it's comforting to know that a movie's influence has managed to withstand the test of time. Below, I'll transcribe a few song lyrics from the movie that elicited HUGE reactions from the audience in the cinema. 

Na jaane mere, dil ko kya ho gaya. Abhi toh yahee, tha abhi, kho gaya.
I don't know what has happened to my heart. It was here here just now, where has it gone?

Tujhe dekha toh yeh jaana sanam. Pyaar hota hai deewana sanam. Aab yahaam se kahaan jaye hum. Teri baahon mein marjaaye hum.
When I saw you, I knew this much my dear. Love is crazy, my dear. From here, where shall we go? I will die in your arms. 

10/10

Popular posts from this blog

Moonlight

-
Image
  MOONLIGHT [2016] Starring: Mahershala Ali, Janelle Monae, Trevante Rhodes, Ashton Sanders, Naomie Harris Direction by Barry Jenkins Language: English In 2016, I turned 11. I had watched La La Land in the cinema, but was too young to watch Moonlight. I loved musicals even then, and so I thought I was supposed to love the movie. So I resented Moonlight when they were the ones that ended up winning the Oscar on that fateful day in 2017. The movie has always been in the back of my mind: I've been wondering about it of late, and it was only until it came up on my Netflix recommended list that I decided to watch it.  Side note: I didn't realise that A24 was involved in the production and distribution of so many critically acclaimed films! Moonlight, Lady Bird, Everything Everywhere All At Once, The Whale, Aftersun. The list goes on and on. A24 is my kind of production house, that's for certain.  What can I say about Moonlight? It was alright, I guess? I don't know. I watche...
Read more

Days of Being Wild

-
Image
  Days of Being Wild [1990] Starring: Leslie Cheung, Maggie Cheung, Andy Lau, Carina Lau Direction by Wong Kar-wai Language: Cantonese, Mandarin I was very lucky to find that in my city, a local independent cinema was having a Wong Kar-wai retrospective, where they were showing Wong Kar-wai's most influential movies in a bid to increase tourism to Hong Kong. I had originally wanted to watch 'In the Mood For Love' on the big screen, yet it sold out almost instantly. In response, I watched this instead, and I am so glad that I did.  If the movie does anything well, it is character development that excels. Although the movie was quite short, I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of symbolism Kar-wai was able to pack into it. All of the characters felt very fleshed out, but not the the point where their storylines became repetitive, as is the case with may Western movies. Kar-wai's craft, in my opinion, is giving the audiences small hints throughout his movies, meaning t...
Read more

Bunty Aur Babli

-
Image
  Bunty Aur Babli [2005] Starring: Rani Mukerji, Abhishek Bachchan, Amitabh Bachchan Direction by Shaad Ali Language: Hindi After reviewing a few movies, I have realised that I only watch Bollywood movies if I have listened to the songs beforehand and have enjoyed them! In this case, members of my family have singing Kajra Re  since I was born! In other reviews, I have mentioned how I tend not to enjoy crime/action films. However, a crime film put together with some incredibly extravagant choreography, a budding romance and you've got me hooked. Finally, I have seen a movie that isn't just a soppy romance in its entirety! What is interesting about this movie is the shift in narrative: the writers of Bollywood films, to this day, have an obsession with the western world. You'll be hard pressed to find a movie that doesn't take you to the streets of New York or London for a dance number. Most movies often centre around the movement of NRIs (non resident Indians) to and fr...
Read more