Using the leitmotif of pigeons, the film makes an important point about not judging others by their appearance or by where they live. In fact, the most ‘villainous’ character was the born-and-raised Punjabi gabru jawan Kuljeet (Parmeet Sethi), Simran’s fiancé who was shown as a lecherous boor. DDLJ is probably one of the earliest Hindi films, if not the first, to not demonise the NRI as ‘Westernised’, and therefore, a lesser Indian. Amrish Puri’s Bauji was meant equally to address that fear as well as the guilt of Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) for having left their homeland in search of better lives. With the opening up of markets and attitudes came the fear of forgetting one’s roots. India was waking up to globalisation at the time, and grappling with a host of questions, at the forefront of which was: What does it mean to be an Indian? One could do it smartly, nicely, in the ‘Indian’ way.
DDLJ, while adhering to many of these tropes, also showed that outright rebellion and alienating one’s family wasn’t the only way to make a point. The film was made at a time when Indian cinema was trying to return from the blood and gore of the 1980s to family-friendly dramas and romances. Many Bollywood films haven’t aged well either And yet, within those limitations and tropes, director Aditya Chopra tweaked, moulded, bent, and busted stereotypes in his own way.Īlso read: HBO pulls ‘racist’ Gone with the Wind. It was meant, above all, to be an entertainer, a purely commercial, mainstream Bollywood romance. This is not to say that other movies, even before it, did not address feminist issues in a much more direct and, I dare say, strong, manner. It’s worth remembering that this movie was made in the 1990s, so accusations about tone-deafness must be contextualised in that time period. The two don’t fall in love immediately either, they grow to know one another, see each other’s quirks, flaws, often apologise for them.Ĭritics have also pointed out that the film bows down to patriarchy - centred as it is on waiting for Simran’s Bauji to give her hand in marriage to Raj, and Simran lacking the agency to do anything without being led or permitted by a man. Raj is never meant to be perfect - he is a rake, a Casanova, and openly so.
His cruel prank was then followed by gaslighting her for having thought of him as a “ ghatiya kism ka awara ladka (a crude, good-for-nothing loafer)”.ĭilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge | Yash Raj Films Twitter naysayers do not recognise that while these scenes certainly do make one cringe, they are meant to paint flawed, but human characters. īoth scenes are obviously unacceptable now (frankly, even my preteen self in 1995 was confused as to why an Indian girl’s izzat is located in her vagina and whether Raj implied that non-Indian girls have no izzat).
He then tells her it was all a prank and that he merely put her to bed and nothing more happened, because he is a Hindustani boy, and knows the value of a Hindustani girl’s izzat and would never even dream of sleeping with her without her consent. The second contentious scene is the one in which Raj pretends he and Simran slept together after she got completely drunk one night, and she, horrified at the thought that she lost her virginity this way, starts to cry. He then goes on to embarrass her by making a production of returning her bra that he had accidentally sat on after her suitcase had burst open, and gets too close for comfort. He persistently flirts with her, even though she makes it clear she isn’t interested. First, the one in which protagonists Raj Malhotra (Shah Rukh Khan) and Simran Singh (Kajol) meet for the first time on a train in Europe. So, dear woke Indians, please stop ruining DDLJ with your 2020 vision.Īlso read: From DDLJ to Dil Chahta Hai, Bollywood has one act to thank - that one tight thappadĬriticism of the movie typically focuses on a few scenes.
And honestly, that tune lives in your mind rent-free. Most criticism of the film fails to acknowledge the many things it got right. It was a product of its time, and busted many stereotypes about the ‘Westernised’ NRI and the ‘obedient Indian wife’, that were prevalent in 1995. But even a flawed movie can be enjoyed, and DDLJ, for all its flaws, is still deeply enjoyable. Such articles have been written multiple times over the years, and honestly, it’s a little tiresome. But so were articles on how, in 2020 (hindsight, if you will), the movie hasn’t aged well, and is in fact cringeworthy, outdated and unwatchable. This week marks the 25 th anniversary of Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge or DDLJ - the longest-running movie in the history of Indian cinema, so of course, its cult dialogues and songs were shared all over our social media.