<i>DDLJ</i>, still playing after all these years

DDLJ, still playing after all these years
Rajeev Masand

MARCH 3: It's 11 am on a Sunday, a time when most poeple are either in bed or getting out of it. At the Maratha Mandir cinema hall at Mumbai Central, families, nervous couples and fans are queuing up for tickets to relive their romance with a film that was released five whole years ago, and whose dream run has not been shaken by anything released thereafter.

It doesn't matter that most of those waiting to watch Aditya Chopra's debut film Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge have seen it before, that since then, Shah Rukh Khan has romanced Kajol in many other films, or even that Chopra himself has moved on to other things. DDLJ has been sitting pretty in the matinee slot at the cinema hall for 171 weeks now, after opening in 1996.

Rajesh Thadani, exhibitor for the cinema, says that despite the fact that the movie has been running at his premises for almost four years now, ``It is still a profitable exercise for both the distributor and exhibitor.'' The film continues to rake in impressive collections, and Sundays are house-full. ``The total earning capacity of a film in the matinee slot is Rs 70,000 per week, and Dilwale Dulhania... is bringing in anything between Rs 40,000 and Rs 50,000 per week,'' he explains.

The theatre, in fact, seems full of people who know what to expect. ``Oh, I love this scene,'' squeals a DDLJ veteran. Couples perched in seats in the far corners cootchie-cooing nervously, while others stretch their feet onto the seats ahead. A gaggle of college-going girls gush over Kajol's pastel-coloured saris, while the boys can't seem to get over Shah Rukh's leather jacket. A 22-year-old girl says she has seen the film at Maratha Mandir over 20 times already. ``It's the youthfulness of the film that makes it worth watching so often,'' she says.

Apart from the romance, the music and the star draw of Shah Rukh and Kajol, the reasonably priced tickets may have something to with the film's enduring appeal. At tax-free rates, the tickets are priced at Rs 9 for stalls, Rs 11 for a family circle seat and Rs 13 for balcony. ``It is a very affordable way to spend an idle morning,'' observes Thadani.

For now, he doesn't foresee anything dislodging the film. ``As of now, there are no plans to pull the film out of here. One considers that option only when a film's collections fall way below the rentals, and that too only if it happens several weeks in a row. That isn't happening with this film,'' he says.