'Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge' is one of the most loved Hindi movies. However, its making was a different story. Aditya Chopra's collaborators reflect on how demanding the director was on set.
Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge is considered as the longest-running film in Indian cinema. Even after 27 years, it continues to be screened at the Maratha Mandir Theatre in Mumbai. The Hindi musical romance was Aditya Chopra's first project, and he left no stone unturned to ensure the film was a masterpiece.
Filmmaker, Aditya Chopra has always been a private person. Despite his appearance in the Netflix documentary series, The Romantics, he still remains a recluse. Aditya has the reputation of never being seen in public, which has led to people joking that he does not even exist. However, despite his private nature, his colleagues in the film, Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, starring Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol, openly called him a 'dictator'.
The DDLJ Making of The Film was shared by the Yash Raj Film's YouTube channel, where the mythical late choreographer, Saroj Khan, recalled an instance when Aditya Chopra nearly fired her from the film for being late. She shared that she had landed a day late for the shoot, and Aditya was on a call with his father, screaming at him that he would throw Saroj out. Luckily, Saroj landed on time, and the shoot continued. She stated:
"Adi was about to throw me out of the picture. I landed one day late, and they were about to take the first shot of the song, where Kajol is in a black gown, and she’s wearing a black suit. He was shouting and screaming and telling his father, 'I'm going to throw out Saroj ji'. Anyhow, I landed on time, before he threw me out."
In the same video, Aditya Chopra's brother, Uday Chopra, revealed Aditya would say that nobody knew what was going on in his mind. He recalled an incident where Saroj Khan was telling him that he was messing up a song, but he did not listen to her. Uday added that their father was not thrilled by how Aditya wanted to shoot the climax. He shared that Manmohan Singh, Saroj Khan, and his father, Yash Chopra, were all the best in their fields and would tell Aditya if he was doing something wrong. Yet Aditya would only go with what his gut told him. He stated:
"Saroj ji was telling him, 'Adi, what are you doing? You’re messing this song up'. Even parts of the climax, dad wasn’t very excited about the way he wanted to treat that climax. Saroj ji, Man ji, dad, they were all the best in their fields, and they were telling him he’s doing something wrong, and he still didn’t listen to them. He would just listen to his gut. It’s Saroj ji’s greatness that she came to the house one day and said, 'I was wrong, you were right'."
Shah Rukh Khan also shared some insights about the making of DDLJ, and he revealed that there were some technical staff and senior members present on the sets. They would, out of concern for the debutant director, advise something, but Aditya would refuse to listen to them and say that he would not know what mistakes he made, so if something goes wrong, it should be his mistake so that he can learn from them. Talking about the director Shah Rukh Khan shared:
"We had some senior members on the technical staff. And they’re all good-thinking, lovely people. They meant well, for somebody’s first film. He would say, 'No, I don’t want to do it because I don’t think it should be done like that'. I would say, 'But why take a chance? It’s your first film, maybe these people know better than you and I'? He said, 'No, then I would never know what mistakes I made. If I go wrong, it should be my wrong'. He was very clear that he wouldn’t do something he didn’t believe in."
What are your thoughts about Aditya Chopra's decisions while making Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge? Let us know.
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