3 Films to Jump-start your Indian Cinema Education: Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995)
One of the reasons I started Scene The World was to share my love for Indian films and for South Asian cinema more broadly with those who may have little familiarity with them. At the same time, I hope to offer a different perspective to those who may have been watching Indian movies their entire life.
In the spirit of both goals, I’ve decided to compile a list of the three films (in three posts) that one could watch to jump-start their understanding of Indian cinema. Of course, three is a small number, making the task somewhat ridiculous, but that’s half the fun!
For my three, I’m featuring films that together show some of the enormous breadth that Indian cinema has to offer, as well as highlight some of the common trends and themes seen within this diversity. To start the series, I present…
Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995)
If you were to see just one movie as an introduction to Indian cinema, this might as well be it. I don’t say this because this movie has the best plot, the best acting, the best etc, etc. I say this because perhaps no film has had a more lasting mark on modern Indian cinema than this. In fact, while the movie was released in 1995, it was not fully retired from the theater until 2015. Twenty years later!
Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, or DDLJ as it is commonly called, follows the winding love story of Raj and Simran, a pair whose romance begins in Europe and fully blooms in India. And the story has it all.
It has international film locations; it offers comedy, romance, and drama; it has over-the-top (to the unaccustomed) and now iconic musical numbers; it boasts perhaps India’s most famous on screen romantic duo (between actors Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol); and a train scene that lives on in replication and allusion in a number of other films. Seriously, if you ever see a movie scene with someone running after a train (Chennai Express (2013), for example), think DDLJ.
DDLJ may not be the best movie ever made, and to be honest, if this is your first time watching an Indian movie, it may take some patience. But really, perhaps no other movie will offer a better launch pad toward understanding the allusions and themes present in many of the box-office chartbusters that have released in its wake.
So, without further ado, here is a trailer for Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge!
I’d love to hear what film you would pick to start this list! Would it be DDLJ? Something else?
Click here for #2 in the series, 3 Films to Jump-start your Indian Cinema Education.