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30 years of ‘DDLJ’: This Kochi man travelled to Mumbai for a day to watch ‘Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge’
30 years of ‘DDLJ’: This Kochi man travelled to Mumbai for a day to watch ‘Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge’
The story of how I watchedDilwale Dulhania Le Jayengeat Maratha Mandir begins with the soft appams that Kunjappan chettan sold in his teashop near our house in Mazhuvannur, Muvattupuzha. Each time my mother sent me to the local shop, I would buy these soft, cloud-like appams, which cost ₹1, with the change I had left. The chutney that came with the appam was one of the best. The dream to watch DDLJ at Maratha Mandir was sown by a piece of newspaper Kunjappan chettan used to wrap the appams in.
The news item announced ‘For the first time in the history of cinema, a movie completed 500 weeks in the theatre it was released in — Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge starring Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol.' I was familiar with Hindi films, especially Shah Rukh Khan films such as Baazigar, Chamatkaar, and Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa, thanks to the Friday telecast on Doordarshan. I had grown to like Shah Rukh Khan a lot.
Coming back to DDLJ, as a kid, I had no idea about the concept of a week in the life of a film because I would have been barely seven or eight, but I told myself, “When I grow up, I will watch Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge at Maratha Mandir!”
Reese Thomas | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
I grew up; I watched DDLJ several times — on television, and watched it on CD and DVD. But I never forgot the promise I made myself. I even got hold of the Maratha Mandir phone number.
Time passed, and I was at a Kochi film school when I came across news about the film completing 1,000 weeks at Maratha Mandir. There was talk that it might stop after screening the film. When I told my friends my DDLJ dream, some mocked me while others said, ‘Let's go to Mumbai next Friday.' As we made plans, it was released in Kochi at PVR, Lulu Mall. Mumbai was forgotten; we watched and celebrated it there.
As we were leaving the movie hall, one of my friends said, “What is so great about it for this kind of a theatre run?” That made me think, “If a movie runs in a movie hall for 20 years, there has to be something about it. It is a wonder, and I want to experience it at Maratha Mandir.” I refused to let it go. Time was of the essence.
FILE - The 1995 Bollywood love flick titled Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge or "DDLJ", as the movie is commonly known in India, is the longest-running movie in Indian cinema history and clocked a successful run of 1000 weeks at the Maratha Mandir movie theatre on December 12, 2014 | Photo Credit: INDRANIL MUKHERJEE
Not much later, I was in Hyderabad on some work when, on a whim, I decided to go to Mumbai to watch DDLJ. I boarded a bus that would take me on a 24 hour journey to Mumbai. It was January 30, 2016.
Legend has it that Shah Rukh Khan told his friends that he would “rule Bombay one day”, which he does in a way. I went to Mumbai, my first and only trip, to watch his film.
I reached Mumbai on February 1.
FILE - Indian movie buff and ardent Shah Rukh Khan fan, Jigar Desai, poses with special handmade memorabilia celebrating the 1000 weeks of screening of the popular Bollywood Hindi film 'Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge' at the Maratha Mandir movie theatre on December 12, 2014 | Photo Credit: INDRANIL MUKHERJEE
Now, Maratha Mandir is in Mumbai Central, and it was not on the route of the bus I was on. Options ranged from taking a local or a cab. I was unfamiliar with Mumbai locals, so that was out. I was getting worried because I did not know anything about the city I was travelling towards. That is when a fellow passenger suggested I get off at Sion and take a cab; Maratha Mandir was a ₹40 ride from there. The first cabbie I hailed asked for ₹500, so that was out. Eventually, I found one who agreed to take me there for ₹200, because time was running out.
The show was at 11.30 am, and it was already 10 am.
This trip was not about hero worship; it was about being a part of history. People have travelled to Mumbai, watched the film at Maratha Mandir. This was me realising a dream. I had to deal with fears and apprehensions of travelling solo to an unfamiliar city, it was a first for me hence special.
By 11 am, I reached Maratha Mandir — I stood on the opposite side, gaping at the movie hall I first saw in the newspaper wrapping of Kunjappan chettan's appams.
Maratha Mandir | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
The gates opened after a short wait, and I rushed to the ticket counter. I was expecting a balcony seat to cost ₹50, but it was only ₹20. As I waited to enter the hall, I looked at the aged DDLJ posters. Literally, romance was in the air, with some couples even enacting romantic scenes.
I could not stop gaping once I was inside the movie hall; the interiors looked like something out of an old, ornate palace. Though it was not housefull, there were hardly any vacant seats left. Imagine, this movie was in its 21st year!
FILE: Cinema goers watch the Bollywood movie "Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge" (The Big Hearted Will Take the Bride), starring actor Shah Rukh Khan, inside Maratha Mandir theatre in Mumbai, July 11, 2010. | Photo Credit: DANISH SIDDIQUI
As the movie started, Amrish Puri came on screen…I sat there, wonderstruck! Maratha Mandir erupted the minute Shah Rukh Khan came onscreen. It was like a release day celebration.
‘Bade bade deshon main…' Raj's (Shah Rukh Khan) line made me smile. And ‘main aa raha hoon Simran,' just before the interval, reminded me of how, years ago, back home in Muvattupuzha, I uttered the lines ‘main aa raha hoon Maratha Mandir' (I am coming, Maratha Mandir). By the way, I still have the tickets of the show even.
Reese's DDLJ ticket | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
The film ended and when the line ‘Come fall in love' came on screen I leapt up applauding.
I left the hall humming ‘Tujhe dekha toh ye jaana sanam…', the (imagined) sound of Raj's mandolin, a background score accompanying me. I turned back for that one last look at Maratha Mandir, with a promise to go back and ‘fall in love'.
Kajol and Shah Rukh Khan in the Hindi film "Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge".
Next stop — the railway station to catch the train that evening back home, to Kerala.
Remember that scene from Ayan Mukherji's Yeh Jawaani Hai Diwani where Bunny (Ranbir Kapoor) and Naina (Deepika Padukone) compare notes on the best things in India and abroad?
Naina responds with “Maratha Mandir mein DDLJ with popcorn” to Bunny's “Broadway pe Phantom of the Opera” … that is what DDLJ at Maratha Mandir is for us Indians, a part of our culture.
Reese Thomas is an author and an assistant director in the Malayalam film industry
As told to Shilpa Nair Anand
Published - October 21, 2025 06:39 pm IST
The Hindu MetroPlus / Hindi cinema / Indian cinema
Source: TheHindu
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