Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge

Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge is a 1995 Hindi musical romance film written and directed by Aditya Chopra and produced by his father Yash Chopra.  Released on 20th October 1995 with Shahrukh Khan and Kajol in lead roles.  The film was shot in India, London and Switzerland.

Plot

The plot revolves around Raj and Simran, two young non-resident Indians who fall in love while on vacation through Europe.  Raj tries to win over Simran’s family to get married, but Simran’s father has long since promised her hand to his friend’s son.

Raj is raised by his liberal father Dharamveer Malhotra, while Simran is raised by strict and conservative parents Baldev Singh and Lajwanti.  Simran always dreams of meeting her ideal man.  Her mother Lajjo always warns her that dreams are good, but they don’t always come true.

One day Baldev received a letter from his friend Ajit, who lives in Punjab. While Ajit wants to fulfil the promise he and Baldev made 20 years ago that Simran would marry his son, Kuljeet, Simran is disappointed because she does not want to marry someone she has never met.

One night Raj enters Baldev’s shop to buy beer after closing time and when Baldev refuses Raj grabs a case of beer, throws money on the counter and runs away.  An infuriated Baldev calls Raj a disgrace to India.

In the meantime, Dharamveer agrees to let Raj go on a train trip across Europe.  Simran asks Baldev to let her see the world before marriage and she ends up going on the same train with her friends.  The two meet on the trip.  Raj constantly flirts with Simran much to her irritation.  The two miss their train to Zurich and are separated from their friends but travel together and become friends.

During the trip, Raj falls in love with Simran, and when they part ways in London, Simran realizes she is in love with him as well.  At home, Simran tells her mother about the boy she met. Baldev hears the conversation and becomes enraged.

In the meantime, Raj tells Dharamveer about Simran and that she will soon get married.  When Raj says he believes Simran also loves him, Dharamveer is shocked.  When Raj visits her house to woo her and Baldev the neighbours inform him that they have sold their house and moved to India. Dharamveer encourages him to go after her.

Baldev is reunited with his relatives and also his friend Ajit in India.  A miserable Simran and Chutki dislike Simran’s fiancee Kuljeet because of his arrogance. Simran pines for Raj, but her mother tells her to forget him because Baldev will never accept their relationship.

Raj arrives outside Simran’s house the next morning and the two reunite.  She begs him to elope with her,  but Raj refuses, saying he will marry her only with Baldev’s consent.   Baldev befriends Kuljeet without revealing his relationship with Simran and is soon accepted by both families. Later on, Dharamveer also arrives in Indi and becomes friends with Simran and Kuljeet.  In the end, Lajjo and Chutki discover that Raj is the boy Simran fell in love with in Europe.  Lajjo also tells Raj and Simran to run away but he refuses.

After discovering a photograph of Raj and Simran together in Europe, Baldev slaps and humiliates Raj and tells him to leave. Kuljeet who is angry that Raj loves Simran arrives with his friends and attacks Raj and Dharamveer at the railway station.  Despite Raj’s refusal to fight back, his father is struck by Kuljeet when trying to save his son causing Raj to gain the upper hand in his fight against Kuljeet and his friends.  The fight is soon stopped by Baldev and Ajit, and Raj boards the train with Dharamveer.

Simran arrives with Lajjo and Chutki but Baldev prevents her from joining Raj.  After Simran begs Baldev to let her go, he realizes that nobody loves his daughter more than Raj, so he lets her go and she runs and catches the train.

Cast:

Shahrukh Khan as Raj Malhotra

Kajol as Simran Singh

Amrish Puri as Chaudhary Baldev Singh

Farida Jalal as Lajwanti ‘Lajjo’ Singh

Satish Shah as Ajit Singh

Achala Sachdev as Simran’s grandmother

Himani Shivpuri as Kammo Kaur

Anupam Kher as Dharamveer Malhotra

Mandira Bedi as Preeti Singh

Pooja Ruparel as Rajeshwari ‘Chutki’ Singh

Anaita Shroff Adajania as Simran’s friend

Lalit Tiwari as Simran’s Uncle

Karan Johar and Arjun Sablok as Raj’s friends.