DDLJ Review

Laine Bulakites

HNDI 2441

April 5^th, 2010

Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge Review

Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (DDLJ/The Lover Will Win The Bride) is another movie starring a classic movie couple, Shahrukh Khan (playing Raj) and Kajol (playing Simran). The duo is perfect for the romantic comedy/family film. DDLJ is the longest running film ever in history, playing somewhere in the world. It has been running over 750 weeks now and continues to play. Judging by that fact, it would not be hard to say that DDLJ is one of India’s most loved films.

The story starts with Simran and her family. Her and her family are NRIs living in London. Simran sings about her perfect man that she hasn’t met yet, but her dreams are interrupted when her father tells her that she will be going to India soon to marry his friend’s son. In a last attempt to find some happiness, Simran convinces her father to let her go on a trip through Europe for a month.

On her trip, Simran meets Raj, who has just failed school, but is also and NRI. At first she hates Raj and they are constantly fighting, but after their train leaves without them one day, they are forced to become closer. Simran and Raj fall in love over the next few weeks, but don’t pursue each other because of Simran’s arranged marriage.

Once they arrive back home, Simran’s father is enraged to learn that she has fallen in love and sends their family straight to India for the wedding. Raj’s father convinces him to win the girl he loves, so Raj travels to India and tries to win the approval of Simran’s family and friends (without revealing who he really is.) Upon finding out Raj’s true identity, Simran’s father is enraged and forces him to leave. In the end though, he lets Simran follow Raj because he knows that no one will love her any more than Raj already does.

This movie challenges some old traditional concepts, like arranged marriage. The audience does not see Raj or Simran as “bad” by continuing an affair when Simran is engaged to be married, but just the opposite. The audience knows that Simran is not in love with her husband-to-be, and love marriages are now more widely accepted. The audience also does not see Simran’s father as a character who knows everything or even knows what is best. In fact, I would be more inclined to think that Simran’s father is almost a villain of the film.

The film also touches on the subject of NRI’s. While Simran’s parents were ecstatic about India, she herself did not feel their passion. She had nothing really against India, but it was very unfamiliar to her. She is scared about traveling to India to marry and actually kind of upset. Raj’s father looks more Western, but assures everyone that he is very much Indian at heart. Also, even though Raj is arguably the most Western out of anyone in the movie, in a twist of irony, in India he shows everyone how to be an upholding, good person.

DDLJ also allows for a more feminist reading, similar to the movie K3G. At first, Simran’s mother tells her that women have to make sacrifices for the happiness and wellbeing of others. Her mother tells her that though men will never make sacrifices, women will always have to, and Simran needs to make the sacrifice of forgetting Raj to please her father and her new husband. Later on, Simran’s mother realizes that it shouldn’t solely be the woman’s duty to sacrifice, and that sometimes they need to pursue their own happiness.

While I enjoyed DDLJ, I honestly didn’t know what made it such a beloved film in India. Though I have limited knowledge of Hindi cinema, from what I saw, it was very similar to a lot of films that we have already seen and I didn’t quite understand what made it seem so spectacular to such a huge audience. However, the film entertained me and I did enjoy it to the point where I would watch it again.