19 reasons why we can still watch DDLJ

Why do we still love to watch Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (DDLJ), a film made 19 years ago? No, it's not just because Yash Raj Films have done a very good job keeping it away from pirates and therefore whetting our appetite for it ever more. And not just because it was the first film which showed that Indians who divided their time between Southall and the pind could be as cool as Simran and Raj, at ease in Western clothes and Indian traditions. The previous such major movie Purab Aur Paschim in 1970 showed the London-bred Indian woman (Saira Banu) as a chain-smoking, binge-drinking spoilt princess who had to be taught tradition by the tedious son of desh ki dharti, Manoj Kumar. The pardes was a pollutant, only the des was true.

So why is DDLJ still so popular, despite so many clones, most immediately Kuch Kuch Hota Hai in 1998, whose "om jai jagdish hare"-singing wife of Aditya Chopra, Rani Mukerji, who had come straight from ''Oxford University'' to the Riverdale campus of Karan Johar's fantasy?

Well, here are a few theories:

#1. It had everybody

Now powerful producer/director/chat show host Karan Johar was Shahrukh Khan's fat best friend. Anaita Adjania Shroff, stylist to the stars and wife of Homi, was the Anglicised young woman Shahrukh flirted with. Mandira Bedi, she of the spaghetti straps and put-sexy back-in-cricket, was the girl in the pind who had a crush on Shahrukh. It had two other future directors apart from Karan Johar: Arjun Sablok, again as Shahrukh's friend, who directed Na Tum Jaano Na Hum, and Parmeet Sethi, husband of Archana Puran Singh, and director of Badmaash Company, who played Kajol's betrothed. And yes, the choreographer was a certain Farah Khan.

#2. It had a Kajol in a white dress dancing in the rain

So there she was, the studious, hardworking Kajol, dancing with abandon, wearing a dress that was shorter than Amrish Puri would ever allow - this was much before Kajol discovered fashion and fitness. It was a metaphor for the film's immortal last line: "Ja Simran, ja jee le apni zindagi. Ja beta ja." 

#3. It featured trains prominently much before Narendra Modi made them cool

Much of the falling in love took place on board the Eurorail which would be the focus for another immortal romance, Before Sunrise, featuring an Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy, ironically in the same year. The ending of DDLJ takes place on a train too, as a bloodied and beaten Shahrukh waited for Kajol to seek permission to flee from her bauji, Amrish Puri.

#4. It placed Indians in the heart of London and saw the beginning of the NRI hero

Amrish Puri was a shopkeeper in Southall but saw nothing in travelling all the way to Trafalgar Square in Central London to feed the pigeons. 

#5. It had everyone's dream dad

Anupam Kher was the loveable, illiterate immigrant from Bathinda who made it big in London. He didn't mind that his son failed exams, or that he wanted to toast his failure with a holiday. "'Fail hona aur padhai na karna iss khandan ki parampara hai.'' Pops even had a secret nonsensical code language for the beta, which went like this: poochi, koka, obobi, lola (I think). It set the stage for other jokey father-son relationships that became an essential part of subsequent rom coms from Yash Raj Films and Dharma Productions and fathers who wanted their sons to live and love happily because they hadn't done so. 

#6. It saw the birth of the New Age Man

He didn't elope with the woman even when she wanted to. He didn't eat because the woman was fasting for him. He was modern enough to chill and drink beer (Stroh's no less) but traditional enough to enjoy his lassi. He was fun enough to tease the woman but serious enough to never take sexual advantage of her. "'Main ek Hindustani hoon... aur main jaanta hoon ki ek Hindustani ladki ki izzat kya hoti hai."' Ah.  

#7. It had some great dialogues.

"Bade bade deshon main, aisi chhoti chhoti baatein hoti rehti hain, senorita," anyone? How about "Agar yeh tujhe pyaar karti hai toh yeh palat ke dekhegi ... palat ... palat!"  

#8. It made the single aunt sexy

Himani Shivpuri singlehandedly made the sad single aunt a romantic possibility, with a swing of her hips. Till then older people were never given a second chance at love. But with Anupam Kher blushing around Himani Shivpuri, the ground was laid (no, no, it's not a pun) for Kher to play the principal in awe of Archana Puran Singh's fellow teacher in Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. Older people were allowed to have a heart, pulse and sex drive.

#9. Almost every subsequent rom com from Yash Raj Films was a homage to DDLJ

DDLJ was Aditya Chopra's first film as director. As father Yash Chopra became less active, the reclusive Aditya grew in power and stature in the industry, employing a series of bright young directors from Shaad Ali to Maneesh Sharma, from Vijay Acharya to Habib Faisal. What better way to impress the boss than to pay homage to his first film in every film possible? After all, the son was paying homage to his father, with the "ae meri zohrajabeen" song from Yash Chopra's iconic Waqt in 1965. The heroine whom that was an ode to, Achla Sachdev, was grandmother in DDLJ. Oh, the connections! 

#10. It sparked off the karva chauth industry

The karva chauth phenomenon got a huge boost with DDLJ and reached its apex in Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham in 2001 when Jaya Bachchan shed copious tears because she could not share in dutiful daughter-in-law Kajol's day long starvation. Such are the problems of the rich. 

#11. It fed into the big weddings fad

The fad had first been showcased in Hum Aapke Hain Koun in 1994 by Sooraj Barjatya. Aditya Chopra gave it the diaspora seal of approval.

#12. It did for churches what Deewaar did for temples

Shahrukh and Kajol spent time in a church in Switzerland - she marvelled at its beauty while he played the fool. As she prayed, he fell in love. And the trademark Yash Raj chorus played in the background.

#13. It had the best mom possible

Farida Jalal was cuddly, kind and quite progressive. "Jab ladki jawan ho jaati hai na... toh maa uski maa nahi rehti... sehali ban jaati hai." Indeed, even as she counselled elopement and lived in mortal dread of her husband, she wanted her daughter to keep dreaming. She had suffered, and didn't want the same life for her daughter.

#14. It made patriarchy attractive

Amrish Puri was the world's most backward father and seemed quite capable of an honour killing. Yet his regressive attitude was passed off as a misunderstood man who simply wanted the best for his daughter.

#15. It made landed, unemployed Punjabis feel good about themselves

Parmeet Sethi spent all day driving around aimlessly with thug like friends, shooting wild animals and wearing too tight T-shirts. In the Punjab of today, he would probably be a rich kid who sold his ancestral land, spent all his money on drugs and ended up in a de-addiction centre.

#16. It saw the birth of a great actor

No kidding. Uday Chopra had an uncredited sequence in the film as a man on a bike. Who knew that DDLJ would spawn such a gigantic talent?

#17. It continued the tradition of the hero in a hat

If Salman Khan had the friend cap in Maine Pyaar Kiya in 1991, Shahrukh had the hat with a feather - it would subsequently make a prominent appearance in Subhash Ghai's Pardes in 1997 and on Aamir Khan in Dhoom 3 in 2013.

#18. It did for mustard fields what Junglee (1961) did for Kashmir

It made the sarson ke khet the backdrop for a series of romantic movies, stretching from Namaste London in 2007 to Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi in 2008 and more beyond.

#19. It made Shah Rukh the unquestioned king of diaspora

His films struck a nerve with the diaspora who loved what scholar Rachel Dwyer calls his easy charisma and ability to be both Indian and global with equal finesse.