Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995): Then and now

Karan Johar started his career in DDLJ donning numerous hats – as an assistant to Aditya Chopra, a costume designer for Shah Rukh Khan, acting onscreen as his friend, even styling Kajol's hair before scenes. Today, he is the head of Dharma Productions, founded by his father Yash, having helmed several blockbusters as a writer, director and producer. Johar is also a successful host and judge on television. He returned to acting in 2015 playing the villainous Kaizad Khambatta in Anurag Kashyap's ambitious Bombay Velvet.
 

1995 changed Manish Malhotra's career in more ways than one. He won the first ever Filmfare Award for Best Costume for Rangeela (1995) and firmly established himself as 'the' costume designer who created iconic looks for any film's heroine. His choice of a long green lachha kurta for Kajol in the song 'Mehendi Laga Ke Rakhna' went against the traditional style red or maroon created a new fashion trend. Nowadays, Malhotra still styles leading heroines – past and present - and has completed 25 years in the industry. His designer collections for men, women, and wedding wear are presented regularly at India's yearly Lakme Fashion Week.
 

DDLJ marked the first time that Farah Khan worked as a choreographer with Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol for the song 'Ruk Ja O Dil Diwane'. Since then, she has choreographed leading Bollywood and Hollywood celebrities and been nominated for a Tony Award for Bombay Dreams in 2004. Khan is one of the few successful female commercial filmmakers in a male dominated industry. She occasionally dabbles in acting and appears on several television reality shows.

Like Karan Johar, Anaita Shroff Adajania combined costumes and acting as part of her DDLJ experience. Adajania stuck with fashion and has become one of the top stylists in Bollywood for clients like Deepika Padukone, Kangana Ranaut and Hrithik Roshan. She is also Vogue India's fashion director, responsible for their most popular covers featuring Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Sonam Kapoor. Adajania has styled costumes for films like Dhoom:3 (2013) and Bang Bang (2014).

With her breakout role on television in Doordarshan's Shanti (1994), Mandira Bedi made her film debut with DDLJ. She continued to find success on the small screen with several other shows and later as an anchor for numerous live cricketing events. Bedi turned designer with her own line of signature saris in 2013 and had a prominent part in the Indian television remake of Fox's 24 alongside Anil Kapoor.

Sharmishta Roy had only been an art director on a handful of films before getting her big break with DDLJ. Roy, the daughter of famed art director Sudhendu Roy who also worked with Yash Raj Films, created the upscale and appealing sets of Dil To Pagal Hai (1997) and Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998). She received the National Award for best art direction for M.F. Husain's Meenaxi: A Tale of Three Cities. However, she hasn't been an art director on a Hindi film since 2007's Ta Ra Rum Pum and recently worked on Mani Ratnam's OK Kanmani (2015).
 

Before being launched in Mohabbatein (2000), Uday Chopra assisted his brother Aditya in all aspects of filmmaking on DDLJ. When his career as an actor failed to take off, Chopra turned to producing. He leads YRF's film division in Los Angeles. One of their big productions, Grace of Monaco (2014), was the opening film at last year's Cannes Film Festival. It was widely panned by critics and audiences alike. He is currently remaking Sujoy Ghosh's Kahaani (2012) for the international audience.

Parmeet Sethi fought hard to get the role of Kuljeet in DDLJ, even dressing up in character for his audition. Sethi did a few roles on television and film and made his debut as director with Yash Raj Films with Badmaash Company (2010) starring Shahid Kapoor and Anushka Sharma. He will be directing some episodes of the official Indian remake of Everybody Loves Raymond called Sumit Sambhal Lega.

Tulika Tripathi left films for the boardroom after a brief stint as Kajol's friend in DDLJ. Tripathi works out of Hong Kong as the managing director of Hudson Asia, a global talents solutions company. Her debut novel, Alice in Corporate Land, published last year, doles out career advice to aspiring job seekers through fairy tales.

Arjun Sablok has had bit parts in several Yash Raj productions over the years including one as Raj's friend in DDLJ. Sablok made his feature film debut as director of the romantic drama Na Tum Jaano Na Hum (2002) starring Hrithik Roshan, Saif Ali Khan and Esha Deol. He even directed Uday Chopra and Kajol's sister Tanisha in the box office failure Neal 'N' Nikki (2005). Sablok was named British Columbia's envoy to Bollywood in 2014 to promote film production in India.