What makes Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge so magical? An upcoming DDLJ documentary demystifies the enigma

Ja Simran ja jee le apni zindagi…

It may have been 2 decades since you first heard Chaudhary Baldev Singh (Amrish Puri) utter these words to his daughter Simran (Kajol), who yearns to unite with her love Raj (Shah Rukh Khan). But even today, this famous dialogue from Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge has the power to make anyone ‘Come Fall In Love’ all over again.

The eternal magic of DDLJ will never fade away. It doesn’t matter whether you watch this movie within the four walls of your home or within the historic walls of Mumbai’s Maratha Mandir, DDLJ still remains one of Indian cinema’s iconic films.

And now, some awesome news for every DDLJ fan. Believe it or not, there’s going to be a full fledged DDLJ documentary, which aims to demystify the enigma of the movie and the fascination around it.

Wondering what the documentary is all about? Why don’t you hear it from the horse’s mouth itself! 

The brain behind the documentary, Natashja Rathore, a student of the The London Film School, is attempting to take her viewers on a cinematic sojourn that will reveal the never heard before stories of this cherished love tale. Starting their journey from London to Switzerland and finally to India, Natashja and her team bring together the people who’ve played a pivotal role in the making of the film and also those who’s lives the movie has touched.

Folomojo spoke to Natashja Rathore and here’s what she said about the movie that redefined the face of Bollywood romance.

Q: What prompted you to make a documentary on DDLJ?

A: Although I grew up with this film and watched it several times, I cannot say that I am a crazy fan-girl. I am, however, fascinated by the pop culture icon that it has become over the years. Also, having spent 2 years in London, there are a lot of themes that were explored in the film at that time that I can suddenly relate to now. Coming from a community that is into ‘serious’ filmmaking, Bollywood is something that the west finds fascinating and exotic. So, one of my major reasons for making this film is to take Bollywood to the world in a way they understand and at the same time introduce Bollywood to to the format of a feature documentary.

Q: What is the documentary all about and why should one watch out for it?

A: Apart from documenting just the cultural impact that the film had across the globe, the documentary also delves into the aspects that made it so popular, why it flourished the way it did and what it means to be an Indian. I personally am not very fond of many talking heads in a documentary, so you can expect something that is cinematic and poetic to an extent.

Q: Have you tied-up with Yash Raj Films for this documentary and to what extent are they involved in the production of your documentary?

A: This is the first time a production company the size of Yash Raj Films (YRF) is involved in a project that is at an academic level. We’ve had their full support from the very start with rights, permissions and archives. However, we don’t want them to fund this because we don’t want this to be a self-indulgent YRF production and neither do they. So we decided to make it on our own and on our terms. The London Film School is dedicated to churning out quality productions each year that make it to prestigious A-list festivals and win awards and we want to be part of that LFS tradition.

Q: What kind of challenges have you been facing?

A: We are filming this documentary with the most sophisticated technology available right now and the major hurdle has been the funding. When we launched our crowdfunding campaign in March, we got a lot of likes and visits to the page. It got coverage, but no one really contributed. We were banking on the fans to fund this film, but in an interesting turn of events, 96% of the funds came in from people who have nothing to do with the film, people who hate Bollywood and people who cannot stand SRK! But they supported us because they trust our artistic vision and although we managed to gather only £2,000 out of our pledged £33,000, the kind of people who have come forward to support us have really given us a lot of motivation.

Q: Where are you planning to screen the documentary and will it have a theatrical release in India?

A: As of now, YRF holds the sole rights for distribution of this film, so our fate for commercial success rests in their hands. Apart from that, as I mentioned earlier – irrespective of the commercial angle, we are going to follow the LFS tradition and premier it at film festivals.

Q: Do you have any special post-release plans?

A: We want to use the profit to start a scholarship for Indian students at The London Film School because private film school education is exorbitant, a lot of us have struggled a great deal to pursue our passion and we want to make it easier for the next generation of talented filmmakers from our country. Unfortunately, the industry is wired with a completely different mindset and as a result so far – no one has expressed any interest in funding us.

Q: Do you have any other movie documentary in mind?

A: I have a whole lot of dreams and plans. My dad always says, “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail”. So, there are plans, but my main plan right now is to make the best film that I can possibly make and give it all my attention. The rest will follow.

We leave you with a glimpse of all the enchanting moments of DDLJ, through Natashja’s eyes!