In 1995, on October 20, a new Bollywood film arrived during the festive season of Diwali. There was enough fanfare around it, while nobody expected it to reshape the syntax of Hindi cinema forever. Aditya Chopra’s directorial debut took the nation on a virtual trip to Europe and later to Punjab’s gorgeous mustard fields. The film was Dilwale Dulhania Je Jayenge, mononymosly known as DDLJ.
For a generation of Indians whose sole idea of vacation was a trip to Vaishnodevi with the extended family, a Eurail journey with friends was fascinating. As for the latter, the film twisted the machismo in ‘ghar mein ghuske maarenge‘ to ‘ghar mein ghuske pyaar karenge’.
The film consolidated the stellar pair of Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol, who went on to do many more successful films like Kuch Kuch Hota Hai and Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham.
Below are ten reasons why DDLJ still matters three decades on.
1. A love story for post-liberalization India
By 1995, India was changing fast. The economic liberalization had opened doors to new ideas and big dreams to Indians with purchasing power. Beauty queens from India, Sushmita Sen and Aishwarya Rai, had brought home top pageant titles and global spotlight from the beauty and fashion labels. International brands began to hire Indian celebrities as their local ambassadors.
In this transformative phase, the average Indian began to get access to Western food, clothing, music, television, and international travel. At the same time, family values and cultural rituals still mattered. DDLJ captured that precise tension.
You see it everywhere in the film: longing for foreign landscapes and modern experiences, but also scenes that insist on family values, Karwa Chauth, and bauji’s blessings, to name a few. The film handed viewers a template of wanting the West without losing India. That double craving made the movie feel personal and urgent to an entire generation.
2. Raj and Simran as perfect cultural archetypes
Raj and Simran are simple on paper but complex in effect. Raj is the sensitive, effort-taking hero who is emotionally available and energetic. Simran is raised with Indian values yet shaped by a Western upbringing. Her choice to fall in love becomes the real act of rebellion, although she never gets real agency in her own story. The men – be it her father or her lover – are busy (kind of) transferring her ownership from one to another. Raj does it softly and sensitively, but the pre-climactic scene reveals a generational normalcy. Simran, on the other hand, just wants to escape the scene without controversy, which is something Raj wouldn’t agree to.
This way, DDLJ’s characters, although problematic for today’s morals, are built to be both aspirational and recognizable. For Gen X, the couple was a dream that combined romance with respectability. For later generations, they became shorthand for Bollywood idealism even though the objectionable characterizations were often challenged.
3. A new kind of hero
Pre-DDLJ heroes were often angry, rebellious, or tragic. After its success, filmmakers saw how powerful a sensitive, humane male lead could be. The Raj template encouraged screenwriters to explore heroes who could cry, joke, woo, and respect.
Shah Rukh had already shown range in earlier films, but DDLJ made the romance king a cultural institution. He could be playful and heroic without reverting to macho violence. Audiences saw a hero who would go to extraordinary lengths for love and still respect family. That model shaped how heroes were written for the next decade.
4. A legendary DDLJ soundtrack
A Bollywood soundtrack is not an accessory. It is the film industry’s bloodstream, especially until the 2010s. Seven songs, each with its own life, ran on All India Radio, MTV, Channel V, FM, and later on streaming platforms such as Spotify and JioSaavn. Tuned by Jatin-Lalit and written by Anand BaTujhe Dekha To and Mehndi Laga Ke Rakhna are anthems at family functions, public processions, and road trips to date. Back then, a single hit song might drag audiences to theatres. DDLJ gave the industry a whole album of hits, helping the film to live in public memory long after its theatrical run.
5. The NRI dream given a safe, Indian face
DDLJ made Europe look doable and desirable for Indians while keeping characters rooted in Indian language, food, and rituals. Likewise, the film gave NRIs a mirror: you could study or live in London and still keep your Indian identity intact. That mattered emotionally. The locations became aspirational but not alien. There are almost no significant native British characters in the story. We only see Indian men and women – Karan Johar, Anahita Shroff, Arjun Sablok, and gang – who keep the film firmly in an Indian social world transplanted into a foreign landscape. The result was an attractive fantasy of Indianness overseas.
The characters spoke almost only in Hindi, and even the attire occasionally broke the mould from swanky designer wear to tastefully desi. That’s why you see Simran dressed in what must be a jagraata favorite outfit in the middle of Switzerland.
The film also wished to protect the concept of a woman’s virginity, and there’s a lengthy scene dedicated to it. Through this, Aditya Chopra establishes his leading man as a safe zone for a woman to be around. On today’s date, in cinema or otherwise, a man like him has a high chance of getting friend-zoned or bro-zoned.
6. Romance with sanskar
Aditya Chopra resolved a tricky contradiction. How do you show young love that feels modern without alienating conservative audiences? The answer was subtle: the girl falls in love; her rebellion is emotional and private. The boy does not elope; he fights to earn parental approval. This way, the film places the burden of change on the hero. That bargain was revolutionary at scale. It allowed audiences across all ages to accept the romance without feeling that cultural norms were being erased.
While Baby Boomers in India often got married via Telegram and the like, without ever seeing their prospective partners in advance, Aditya Chopra (a Gen X representative) consolidated the ideal for his generation. In a refreshing addition, Chopra presents Anupam Kher as Raj’s loving single father who never set any rules for his child.
7. The coming-of-age of parents
One reason DDLJ became evergreen is its cross-generational design. It offers something for everyone: the family patriarch finds comfort in values, the mother in family unity, the youth in romance and adventure. The film carries drama without moderate melodrama and emotion without being extreme. That made it a rare film that families could watch together and still leave the theatre satisfied.
While Simran’s parents (Amrish Puri and Farida Jalal) were regressive due to their indoctrinated beliefs, the coming-of-age of the mother is given a solid arc by the writer. From uttering absurd lines like, “Sapne dekho, zaroor dekho, par unhe poora karne ki shart mat rakho” to giving her jewelry to the couple to flee, Lajjo (Jalal) is a symbol of love and evolving times. Simran’s father, Baldev, is remembered to date for his final line in the film, “Jaa Simran jaa, jee le apni zindagi…” which is everything that Raj had craved all along.
8. A benchmark for future love stories
Aside from the scenes, DDLJ is filled with beautifully imagined romantic scenes that would go on to become pop culture regulars. The iconic “palat” scene, for instance, was an instant hit and is remembered and emulated even by the TikTok generation.
Post-DDLJ, films began to blend romance with family drama and aspirational travel. In the years that followed, many filmmakers borrowed parts of the formula: the European song sequences, the family confrontation resolved with dignity, the hero who grows rather than dominates. Even in terms of plot points or aesthetics, the number of films that unintentionally copied or paid homage to DDLJ was countless.
You can spot DDLJ’s fingerprints in movies from Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani, Chennai Express to Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania and many more.
9. Social ripple effects beyond cinema
Beyond what we saw in later films, DDLJ reshaped the tastes and behaviour of fans in real life. Switzerland and European honeymoons got the visibility they did not have before. For those who couldn’t afford it, sarson ke khet became an unexpected symbol of romance. To date, Punjabi farmland scenes remain tourist postcard imagery.
Fashion, choreography, and even relationship expectations began to echo the film. It became normal for both spouses to observe the Karwa Chauth fast as a symbol of equality. Films rarely change travel choices and wedding playlists; DDLJ did both.
10. Industry transformation and lasting legacy
DDLJ did more than win box office. It catapulted Yash Raj Films to become a top-tier film studio. Their aesthetic standards shaped a cinematic language that filmmakers still sample. The production house also became a learning ground to some of the finest talents to later burst into Bollywood superstars – Ranveer Singh, Anushka Sharma, Parineeti Chopra, Vaani Kapoor, Ahaan Panday, and Aneet Padda, to name a few.
Moreover, if anybody needs proof for the film’s longevity, it still plays daily at Mumbai’s Maratha Mandir at 11 am.
This way, DDLJ can easily be termed the Indian romance film with the finest legacy. It captured a nation that wanted modernity without losing itself. The film endorsed a model of love that was brave yet gentle. Thirty years on, it keeps teaching audiences and filmmakers how to fall in love and how to capture it on screen, balancing desire with duty and values.
Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge is now streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
