Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge returns to Mumbai's Maratha Mandir

Aditya Chopra’s directorial debut Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995) had an uninterrupted run of close to 25 years at central Mumbai’s iconic Maratha Mandir single-screen theatre.

The film’s screening was only halted earlier this year when theatres were ordered shut owing to the COVID-19 pandemic. At that time, it had completed an unprecedented run of 1,274 weeks.

But with cinema halls across Maharashtra being allowed to reopen from 5 November, Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge is back at Maratha Mandir for the matinee show. The film completed 25 years of release on 20 October.

Sharing the news, Rohan Malhotra, vice-president (distribution) at Yash Raj Films, said in a statement, “As cinemas have been permitted to reopen in Mumbai, Yash Raj Films is thrilled to bring the longest running film in the history of Indian cinema, Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, back to the silver screen at Maratha Mandir, Mumbai. The film has just completed 25 years and audiences can bank on it to entertain themselves in these uncertain times by transporting them to the world of Raj and Simran.”

That’s not all. To mark the 25th anniversary of the film’s release, YRF will be re-releasing the film in foreign countries like Germany, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, USA, the UK, Canada, Mauritius, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Norway, Sweden, Spain, Switzerland, Estonia and Finland. 

DDLJ, as the film is fondly called, is the story of Raj (Shah Rukh Khan) and Simran (Kajol) who fall in love after bumping into each other on a trip to Europe with their respective friends. But Simran’s stern father, Baldev Singh (Amrish Puri), has already fixed her marriage with his friend’s son Kuljeet (Parmeet Sethi) back in India. So, Raj takes on the steep mission to make Simran his wife.