The opening credits of this film credited Kiron Kher for suggesting the film's title. The words of the title came from the lyrics of a song from the film "Chor Machaye Shor" (1973). While the film came to be known simply as DDLJ by film-goers, director Aditya Chopra never used the acronym to refer to the film. Another film with the same title was released in 1980.[1][2][3]
This was Aditya Chopra's directorial debut. The film was produced by his father, Yash Chopra.
This is the longest-running film in the history of Indian cinema. It completed 1200 weeks in Mumbai's Maratha Mandir theatre in 2018. Prior to this, talks of cancelling the run were met with public outcry and barring one cancelled show, the film run continued.[4]
Shah Rukh Khan wasn't keen on doing this film since he wasn't very happy with his loverboy role in it. It took a lot of convincing on Aditya Chopra's part to get Shah Rukh on board.[5]
Aditya Chopra had written the script of his second film "Mohabbatein" (2000) before this film. He chose to write a different script for this film because he felt that he did not have the maturity to direct "Mohabbatein" at the time.[6]
Aditya Chopra was looking for a field of mustard flowers to shoot the iconic scene in which the characters played by Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol reunite. His search for such a field in Punjab turned up empty. It was then that someone suggested Gurgaon, where this scene was eventually shot.[MR26]
Aditya Chopra's idea for this film had failed to excite close associates and friends of Yash Raj Films, including cinematographer Manmohan Singh, art director Sharmishtha Roy, writer Javed Siddiqui and family friend Deven Varma. He decided to go ahead with the film depsite their lukewarm response.[MR26]
Honey Irani, who had written for Yash Raj Films earlier for "Lamhe" (1991) and "Darr" (1993), had gone to the press to express her disappointment at not having been credited in this film. According to her, she deserved to get some credit for the film's writing since she had participated in several writing sessions with Aditya Chopra and had accompanied the unit to Switzerland. Aditya refuted her claim and the matter devolved into a public spat, with Honey Irani trading barbs in the media with Aditya's mother, Pamela Chopra, who was also an old friend of hers. An embittered Irani vowed to never work with Yash Raj Films again.[MR26]
The film's dialogue writer, Javed Siddiqui, was unhappy that Aditya Chopra had an "Additional Dialogues" credit in the film, despite having contributed very little. Siddiqui never worked with Yash Raj Films again after this film.[MR26]
Jatin - Lalit had composed a title song for this film which was supposed to be used in the Antaskshari scene. However, there was a general consensus that this song would end up being compared to Ravindra Jain's "Le Jayenge Le Jayenge" ("Chor Machaye Shor", 1974), and so they decided to drop this song from the film. Jatin - Lalit would later use this song for the film "Jab Pyar Kissise Hota Hai" (1998).[7]
This was Karan Johar's acting debut. He also assisted Aditya Chopra on the film. In fact, it was Aditya Chopra who encouraged him to make "Kuch Kuch Hota Hai" (1998) when he came up with its story but wasn't keen on making it into a film. Johar went on to produce "Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania" (2014) as "an ode" to this film.[8][9][10][11]
Kishore Desai and Noor Mohamed Qureshi played the mandolins that appeared prominently in the film's songs.[12]
Song
Tujhe Dekha To Ye Jaana Sanam - The first line of this song was written by Aditya Chopra. The rest of the song was written by Anand Bakshi.
Ruk Ja O Dil Deewane - The composition of this song was based on Aditya Chopra's brief to Jatin - Lalit to compose a song like "Bachna Ae Haseeno" ("Hum Kisise Kum Naheen", 1977), but for Shammi Kapoor.[13]
Ruk Ja O Dil Deewane - Shah Rukh Khan, who had to hold Kajol up in a dance pose in the song's closing, was supposed to let her fall when the song ended. Kajol was not told about this in order to capture her spontaneous reaction.
Mehndi Laga Ke Rakhna - When Jatin - Lalit auditioned for this film, it was the tune of this song that Lalit Pandit sang to Yash and Aditya Chopra, with dummy lyrics. They had given this tune to Firoz Nadiadwala earlier and since the tune had remained unused, they decided to use it in this film. A miffed Firoz Nadiadwala never worked with Jatin - Lalit again.
Zara Sa Jhoom Loon Main - This was the only song in this film that was sung by Asha Bhosle. Yash Chopra had wanted Lata Mangeshkar to sing all the songs in the film and Jatin - Lalit had to convince him to let Asha sing this song instead of Lata. The music directors wanted her to sing at least one song in the film as a token of appreciation towards her - it was Asha Bhosle who had recommended Jatin - Lalit to Yash Chopra for this film.[14]
Ghar Aaja Pardesi - Yash Chopra's wife Pamela Chopra not only sang this song but also helped Jatin - Lalit impart a Punjabi flavour to it.
Ho Gaya Hai Tujhko To Pyar Sajna - The composition of this song was based on Aditya Chopra's idea to record a song with two different songs combined together.
