The iconic film completed 21 years recently…
It’s the best modern day love story India has produced. Such has been its influence that even Aditya Chopra, its director, is kind of spoofing it in the promos of his next film, Befikre. We list down reasons as to why we love the film even after all this while…
1. Scott Jordan Harris, writing for Roger Ebert in 2014, called it "one of the world's favorite films", and said it plays as a masterful soap opera, with one of the best screen couples ever seen. We totally agree.
2. Raj and Simran as the archetype for opposites attracts lovers. She was an introvert for whom her father’s word was final. He was an extreme extrovert who considered his dad as his best friend. They met, sparks flew and continue to fly despite all these years.
3. Shah Rukh Khan as Raj Malhotra the conformist rebel: Raj starts off as something of a brat but later transforms as Prem from Barjatya films, willing to let go of his love and not hurt the feelings of his elders.
4. Kajol as Simran Singh who loves her Bauji more than her life: She may be from London but is more sanskari than Alok Nath, who thankfully wasn’t a part of this film
5. Karan Johar in his delightful cameo. He may not be there most of the film but there was something endearing about him even back then.
6. Farida Jalal as the mother who cared. For a change, we didn’t have a screen mother who cried incessantly and talked about ghar ki izzat. She actually advises her daughter to run away with the man she loves and we kinda dig that even now.
7. Mandira Bedi as the good-girl-next-door. She lost her heart to a guy who wasn’t to be hers. The fact that she didn’t become all vampy and bitter speaks of director Aditya Chopra’s belief in human goodness.
8. Amrish Puri as a super strict father. The film shows him to be a shopkeeper in London but Amrish Puri was someone who retained all the archetypical qualities of a Punjabi patriarch even in Britain. He may have been far from his pind but his pind always remained inside of him.
9. It started a trend of designer films. Everyone upped their production budget after that, making sure the cast wore trendy designer wear, shooting the songs in exotic locations and making everything light up like Christmas.
10. “Bade Bade Deshon Mein Aisi Choti Choti Baatein Hoti Rehti Hai…” how many times have you used this dialogue in real life? Even Obama used it during his India visit in 2015.
11. Because hanging around at train doors in search of that elusive someone became a cool thing. It still is.
12. Whenever you go to Switzerland you have to go the points where the film was shot.
13. EU rail got the best boost ever from the film and everyone who has seen the film dreams of touring Europe in such trains.
14. The whole pind scenes. Even if one isn’t from Punjab, we still feel nostalgic about the idyllic village life as seen in the film.
15. It’s awesome score. All the songs, be it Mere khwabon mein jo aaye to Zara sa jhoom loon main were massive hits. Kudos to composers Jatin-Lalit.
16. Mehendi laga ke rakhna has become our go to songs during wedding parties.
17. Because it’s the only Hindi film on which the The British Film Institute (BFI) commissioned a book on.
18. Because Maratha Mandir have been running it for close to 20 years and still have a 11:30 show of it.
19. t’s one of three Hindi films in the film industry Bible, 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, the others being Mother India (1957) and Deewaar (1975)
20. Anand Bakshi won his third Filmfare Best Lyricist award after 14 years for the song Tujhe dekha toh yeh jaana sanam…
21.It won 10 Filmfare Awards, a record at the time.