Rachel Newsham

HIND 2441

4/5/2010

Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge Film Review

Yash Chopra’s film Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, which I will refer to as DDLJ, is an entertaining film about how the “lover will take the bride.” As the title implies, the film is a drama filled narrative that results in a happy ending, ingredients that are both common and expected in Bollywood films. The first part of the film is based in Europe and begins by introducing the two main characters, Raj (played by Shahrukh Khan) and Simran (played by Kajol Devgan). Due to his wealthy, party-filled lifestyle, Raj fails to graduate from college. Instead of being upset, his father, Dharamvir Malhotra (Anupam Kher), congratulates him for keeping a strong family tradition: failing in education. Simran on the other hand is portrayed as an ideal Indian daughter who writes her diary in Hindi, prays before a Hindu shrine in the mornings, and finds full consolation from her mother rather than turning to her friends. After finding out from a letter that she is to be married to a man she has never met, Simran persuades her father into letting her go on a sight-seeing trip through Europe with her friends. Ironically, Raj and his friends decide to go on a similar trip. The paths of the two groups cross at the train station and, after running into each other several more times, they decide to travel together. Although Simran and Raj start out their relationship loathing each other, by the end of their trip, both begin to realize how much they have grown to love the other.

The second part of the film is based in the Punjab. Baldev Singh (Amrish Puri), Simran’s father, has taken his family back to India to marry Simran off to the son of a childhood friend. While the two families make preparations for the marriage, the illusionary tune of Raj’s mandolin continues to invade Simran’s mind, distracting her while upsetting her father. One morning, Simran wakes up to find that the music does not go away. She rushes out into the fields to find Raj in his cowboy hat and leather jacket playing his playful, catchy tune on his mandolin. Within the tall fields of yellow mustard seeds, Raj and Simran are able to express their undying love for each other. Although they don’t have a plan as to how Raj will gain Simran’s hand in marriage, he determines that he will do so only with the consent of their parents. Raj comes up with a scheme in which he pretends that he has never met Simran, establishes a good reputation, and wins the hearts of Simran’s family. Through many twists and turns, Raj is left at the train station awaiting the vehicle that will take him away from his true love forever. Although he is hopeful that Simran’s father will realize that Raj is the best man for his daughter, Raj knows that he has done all that he can, and the rest must be left up to fate. By winning over the hearts of Simran’s family and proving himself as an ideal, traditional Hindu, Raj’s heart of love for Simran proves triumphant in the end, enabling him to “win the bride.”

The first and most important theme brought up in the film is that of the “Diaspora.” The term “Diaspora” is used to define a group of people who have left their original homeland. With an ever-growing community of Indians leaving their homeland for the West, usually with the goal of making money, the film industry realized that they could make a profit by addressing many of the joys, hardships, and longings that these “None Resident Indians,” another term for Diasporic Indians, have to face while reminding them of traditional customs and values. Yash Chopra’s DDLJ was the first movie to incorporate these ideas into film, opening wide the doors for thousands of other films to address similar topics. While the west is often painted as a picture of wealth, entertainment, and education, India remains the upholder of traditional values and is represented in DDLJ as a mother who continues to call her children back to herself.

DDLJ successfully points out the contentious views of first and second generation Diasporas in terms of India as “homeland.” While both of the fathers view India, more specifically the Punjab, as their homeland, their children are unable to share in this devotion due to their unfamiliarity with it. In the beginning of the film, we see Simran’s father walking to his shop through the streets of London feeding pigeons. As he continues on his way, he comments on how he is a stranger in a strange land and longs to return to “my India, my Punjab.” Baldev Singh is portrayed as trying desperately to hang onto the traditions and culture of his Hindustan in a country that is completely foreign to him. While her father’s devotion lies in the heart of Punjab, Simran is much more hesitant to claim such a devotion. Although she has doubtlessly heard many stories and descriptions of her parent’s homeland, she has never had a chance to make it her own. India is both unfamiliar and slightly terrifying to Simran, especially when accompanied by the idea of having to marry a stranger. By the end of the film, Simran seems to have assimilated into the culture that was previously foreign to her, and yet, she still seems to lack devotion to India as her own “motherland.” By leaving her family to marry Raj, one can assume that she returned to London in order to support her husband in his family business while, presumably, maintaining the Hindu traditions past down to her from her parents.

Chopra’s song and dance sequences are an integral part of the film. Many of them are still popular today and are recognized by Bollywood audiences all around the world. Chopra uses these dance sequences to instill nationalism within the hearts of the audience, depict Indian traditions, and provide room for transgressive and erotic behavior. The first song “Ghar Aaja Pardesi” has a strong nationalistic message directed at the Diaspora. From the lines “follow those dreams of yours, but know that we are yours also… Come home wanderer, your country has called you,” we can infer that India has taken on the role of a mother who is calling her child back to her. Even though they, meaning the Diaspora, have begun a new life away from their homeland, they are never to forget where they came from. The song “Mehndi laga ke rakhna” is a song used to depict and describe several traditions of a Hindu wedding. This song sequence is important in terms of business and culture because the film industry was able to remove it from the context of film, repackage it, and transform it into a consumer good to be used at weddings in both the homeland and the Diasporic communities (Mishra, p. 262). The song “Zara Sa Jhoom Loon Main,” is used by Chopra as an expression of transgression. From the preceding scene, one can imply that both Simran and Raj are drunk, a result of trying to warm themselves up from the frigid night air in a barn. Within the context of song, the characters are allowed to get away with the transgression of being drunk and making sexual allusions otherwise not permitted in Hindi films.

The film DDLJ incorporates a strong feminist view of the patriarchal hierarchy in terms of marriage and the role of women within society. While doing her best to console her daughter and persuading her to consent to the arranged marriage, Lajo describes several of the hardships she has had to face in her own life. When she was younger, her father would tell her that she was just as important as her brothers, and yet, when the time came for them to go to school, her brothers were favored with an education while Lajo had to stay at home. After she was grown, she was married off to a man that she had never known. Lajo claimed that when Simran was born, she had promised to provide Simran with all of the joys she was unable to enjoy herself. Although Lajo had no desire for her daughter to become another sacrificial victim to the patriarchal order of Hindu society, she realized that even this decision was not in her power to make. She considers submission to those in authority, predominantly male figures, as a form of tradition that must not be broken. In her conclusion, Lajo asks her daughter to give up her dreams of marrying for love and adhere to the cultural norm by accepting her father’s decision of whom she would marry. Although the film does not offer a direct solution to issues produced in a patriarchal embedded society, Baldev’s approval of Simran’s marriage to Raj implies that love is more powerful than boundaries set by tradition.

The first time I watched DDLJ I thought it was too long and very frustrating. The character of Raj in the first half of the film was too arrogant for my taste while the character of Simran in the second half was too demanding. I have watched the film three times since then and, although the characters are still annoying to me at times, I have developed a deep appreciation and love for this film. As its 750 weeks of continuous screening can attest, DDLJ is a landmark film within Hindi cinema.