Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge

For the book by Anupama Chopra, see Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (book). For the 1974 song, see Chor Machaye Shor.

Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge
The Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge theatrical release poster shows a man in a black leather jacket and blue jeans holding over his shoulders a woman in a red wedding dress. A caption on top reads "Come...Fall in Love".
Theatrical release poster
Directed byAditya Chopra
Written byAditya Chopra
Produced byYash Chopra
StarringShah Rukh Khan
Kajol
CinematographyManmohan Singh
Edited byKeshav Naidu
Music byJatin–Lalit
Production
company
Distributed byYash Raj Films
Release date
  • 20 October 1995 (1995-10-20)
Running time
189 minutes[1]
CountryIndia
LanguageHindi
Budget₹4 crore[2]
Box office₹102.50 crore[2]

Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (transl.  The Brave-Hearted Will Take the Bride), also known by the initialism DDLJ, is a 1995 Indian Hindi-language musical romance film written and directed by Aditya Chopra in his directorial debut and produced by his father Yash Chopra. Released on 20 October 1995, the film stars Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol as Raj and Simran, two young non-resident Indians, who fall in love during a vacation through Europe with their friends. Raj tries to win over Simran's family so the couple can marry, but Simran's father has long since promised her hand to his friend's son. The film was shot in India, London, and Switzerland, from September 1994 to August 1995.

With an estimated total gross of ₹102.5 crore (today's adjusted gross ₹524 crore), with ₹89 crore (today's adjusted gross ₹455 crore) earned in India and ₹13.50 crore (today's adjusted gross ₹69 crore) in overseas,[2] the film was the highest-grossing Indian film of 1995 and one of the most successful Indian films in history. When adjusted for inflation, it is the second highest-grossing Indian film of the 1990s, behind Hum Aapke Hain Koun..! It won 10 Filmfare Awards—the most for a single film at that time—and the National Film Award for Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment. Its soundtrack album became one of the most popular of the 1990s.

The film received positive reviews from critics. Many critics praised performances of Kajol and Khan as well as their chemistry, and the film's blend of simultaneously promoting strong family values and the following of one's own heart. Its success led other filmmakers to target the non-resident Indian audience, which was deemed more lucrative for them. It spawned many imitations of its story and style and homages to specific scenes. Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge was one of only three Hindi films in the reference book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, and was placed twelfth on the British Film Institute's list of top Indian films of all time. In 2012, the film was included by critics Rachel Dwyer and Sanam Hasan in the 2012 British Film Institute Sight & Sound 1,000 greatest films of all time.[3] It is considered as the longest-running film in the history of Indian cinema, due to the fact that it is still being shown at the Maratha Mandir theatre in Mumbai as of November 2024.[4][5]

  1. ^ "Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (PG)". British Board of Film Classification. Archived from the original on 30 May 2015. Retrieved 18 March 2015.
  2. ^ a b c "27 years of DDLJ". Timesnownews.com. 20 October 2022. Retrieved 5 August 2024.
  3. ^ "Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge". British Film Institute. 20 August 2012. Archived from the original on 20 August 2012. Retrieved 13 November 2022.
  4. ^ Shah, Khushbu (25 February 2015). "Bollywood's longest-running movie gets big screen reprieve". CNN. Archived from the original on 12 July 2019. Retrieved 20 November 2018.
  5. ^ Mashal, Mujib; Raj, Suhasini; Loke, Atul (19 January 2023). "India's Love Story with a Movie Still on the Big Screen After 27 Years". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 22 January 2023. Retrieved 22 January 2023.