Aditya Chopra Relives... (Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge: As Told to Nasreen Munni Kabir)

Great book.

Excellent , wife is a life long fan so over the moon!

Good books and great service from company.

There are many interesting anecdotes that are given in his book and I take this opportunity to share some of them here:(a) Whenever Director Aditya Chopra speaks of the movie he calls it as “Dilwale” and not “DDLJ”. Title being too long with passage of time “Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge” became “DDLJ” amongst the masses. Not that Aditya has any objection or gets offended with this but for him it’s like a nickname someone else has given to your child. It’s just that he has always referred to the film as “Dilwale” and continues to do so. It was Kirron Kher who suggested the movie’s title.(b) With “Dilwale” Director Aditya Chopra wanted Raj and Simran to be seen as lovers that many people would always aspire to be. If we observe this romantic movie not even once did Raj or Simran said “I Love You” to each other. On the contrary it was pretty evident they both have fallen in love with each other. In the scene where Simran invites Raj for her wedding Shahrukh says, “Main Nahin Aaunga” (I won’t come for your wedding). When a girl invites you for her wedding it’s very unlikely a guy would refuse the invitation. It was in fact Raj’s style to convey it to Simran “I Love You” hence I won’t come to be part of your vibrant wedding celebration.(c) The dialogue where we see Shahrukh saying Palat Palat Palat was something Director Aditya admits to have copied the same from Clint Eastwood 1993 thriller titled In the Line of Fire. The shooting for this was scheduled at King’s Cross Station in the evening and weather was cold in there in London. So Aditya Chopra who was wearing the brown jacket lent the same to Shahrukh which can be seen in this movie in the “Palat” scene.(d) The entire screenplay was written in twelve days. The filming of DDLJ took place over sixty-seven non consecutive days. The whole movie was made in a budget of three crore rupees. For many years Dilwale was the most successful Indian film abroad. With the profits earned with Dilwale it allowed the Chopra’s to buy land in Andheri West where the Yash Raj Films studios stand today.(e) The mahurat shot in this movie was Simran’s introduction. While for Amrish Puri (Baldev Singh’s) shop they wanted to do the shoot at Southhall. However, on the day of the shooting there was massive crowd gathered who had come to see the shooting making it impossible to complete the shoot. The scene was later filmed in a petrol pump station shop on some motorway.Not that I have covered all the anecdotes here but I am positive for all the fans of “Dilwale” reading this Aditya Chopra’s book full of interesting anecdotes would be indeed enlightening. Reading the anecdote and then watching the movie again would be a different experience all together. Come Fall In Love. When Raj met Simran Love Was Never The Same . . .

Loved this book! Loved hearing Aditya's voice in making the movie and hearing all the tidbits. He is an amazing filmmaker. Worth the money I paid for it!

This stunning 136 page book takes us into the mind of the then 23-old Aditya Chopra, whose first epic movie, Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge was a complete blockbuster and that has run for twenty continuous years. Aditya Chopra narrates to Nasreen Munni Kabir with absolute clarity, his thoughts, inspiration and the making of this epic tale of love and drama. If you love Shah Rukh and Kajol as much as me, the stunning color photographs both from the movie and behind the scenes are an absolute delight. And there was a deeply poignant thought on feminism on page 66, where Aditya Chopra states, “If women are allowed to choose, it's because they are allowed to "choose". But who gives us men the right to "bestow" this "choice"? Who are we to give them a sense of identity?” – Kudos!

I got it during an offer run on Amazon for 500rs.. but the book is fab.. it has anecdotes which are supercool .. also it has photoes of orignal script written by Aditya Chopra and orignal contracts of SRK and Kajol! Must have memorablia!P.S. I got it autographed by Kajol last time I met her at an interview shoot. She got an instant smile after looking at the book! :)