Less known facts about DDLJ
An iconic love story, a movie that people just can’t seem to get over. It celebrates 25 long years. A movie that took Shah Rukh Khan to another level when it comes to fame, and made him Bollywood’s biggest heart-throb.
Both SRK and Kajol had acted together before, but their chemistry in DDLJ made them one of the hottest on-screen couples that Bollywood had ever seen. Here a few facts that you might not know about DDLJ
The first choice for the character Raj in DDLJ
Did you know that Saif Ali Khan was the original choice for ‘Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge’? In fact, even before the role was offered to Saif, Aditya Chopra wanted to cast Tom Cruise but Yash Chopra didn’t agree to it.
SRK rejected the role of Raj in DDLJ multiple times
Shah Rukh Khan had in fact turned down the movie Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge four times, but then he eventually ended up agreeing to do it. According to reports, Shah Rukh Khan back then in the 1990s wanted to focus mainly on the negative roles, this was after the success of Baazigar and Darr.
The most iconic scene in DDLJ was copied from another movie
Did you know that the iconic “Palat” scene in which Simran walks away and Raj says that if she loves him, she will look back was actually a copy from Clint Eastwood’s Hollywood film ‘In The Line Of Fire’ that released in 1993? DDLJ released two years later in 1995.
Movie was released right before SRK’s 30th birthday
DDLJ was released on October 19, 1995, which was just a couple of weeks before his 30th birthday. The film blew up, as everyone loved the simple love story of Raj and Simran. DDLJ released 25 years ago still has been running at the Maratha Mandir theatre which is in Mumbai for all this while.
Why the name “Raj”?
Shah Rukh Khan’s as Raj Malhotra, the reason why Raj was chosen was that apparently, Aditya Chopra had named after the famous actor Raj Kapoor.
The movie was named by someone from outside the team
The name of the movie was suggested by Kirron Kher, acclaimed actress and wife of Anupam Kher. Anupam Kher played the role of SRK’s father in the film.
Debut of Mandira Bedi in Bollywood.
Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge has a lot of firsts. The film gave rise to the television actress Mandira Bedi. She played the role of Parmeet Sethi’s sister. In the film, she ends up falling in love with Raj, who is actually in love with Simran.
On-screen Debut of Karan johar.
Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge also marked the onscreen debut of the filmmaker, Karan Johar. His brief stint was to play SRK’s friend in the movie. Karan was also one of the assistant directors in the movie.
The last scene was changed by SRK
As per the original script, there was no fight scene at the end, however, Sharukh Khan insisted on a fight sequence between him and Parmeet Sethi at the railway station. Aaditya Chopra was happy to comply and as it turned out that the fight scene added the much-needed action flavor to the end of the movie.
“Mehndi Laga ke rakhna” song was not meant to be in DDLJ
Jatin Lalit had originally composed the song “Mehndi laga ke rakhna” for Akshay Kumar starrer “Khiladi”.
25 wonderful years to an amazing movie and we are sure that the fans will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the movie also with same enthusiasm.