KADAMBARI SRIVASTAVA
Nostalgic Notes :
The Dilwala, the Dulhania, and the improvisation of love
Ho Gaya Hai Tujhko – Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge
Growing up, DDLJ has been a part of many young women’s
fantasies; with Raj and Simran’s story setting multiple
standards and Shah Rukh Khan rocketing to a glorious
standard of bing the King of Romance. Nearly 25 years later,
we may not perceive it as perfect a love story now as it was
projected to be then, but there was something magical about
it in the way it brought two opposites together, in a love that
was just meant to be. And a huge part of it was the beautiful
music by Jatin-Lalit. Who can forget those melodies? Be it
Simran letting herself go in the peppy Mere Khwabon Mein,
or Raj teasing her away in Ruk Ja O Dil Deewane, or even the
drunk symphony of Zara Sa Jhoom Lun Main, every tune of
DDLJ was meant to entice the romantic inside us. Never did
one feel that it is breaking the narrative or bogging it down.
One such beautiful song from the movie is Ho Gaya Hai
Tujhko. The song is even more special in the way that
both Raj and Simran part ways here, probably to never see
each other again, with a slow realisation of love seeping
in. Here are two souls who never wished to fall in love;
one who never understood it and another who had given
up on it for an inevitable future. Yet, they were there. The
song was magical, but even more magical is a small scene
anecdote surrounding it that we are going to share.
Remember how Simran asked Raj his address, for she wanted
to send him her wedding card, and wanted him to attend as
a good friend? And Raj being Raj, just looked her in the eye,
smiled, said ‘No’, and walked away, leaving her baffled with her
thoughts, and a simmering in her heart. And then started the
iconic song which escalated that feeling to yet another level,
for them on the screen and for us off it. What if we tell you
that was not how it was supposed to be originally? Well, yes.
On one occasion when the movie had completed 23 years,
Shah Rukh Khan was posed with the question, as to what
was going in the head of Raj at that moment, what made
him say that? It was then that he revealed that he had
improvised the scene inadvertently and that he did what
he felt Raj would do. Originally, as per the directions of
Aditya Chopra, Raj was to just give a shy nod of acceptance,
without giving away any hint of his feelings. Come to think
of it, now it is almost impossible to think of any other
reaction other than the original one which made its cut.
Nevertheless, SRK made the improvisation, and the scene
made way for the iconic song which tugs at our hearts even
now, one that perfectly sums up the feeling of falling in love.
While the music of Jatin-Lalit and the words of Anand Bakshi
did their trick, it was this scene which perfectly made way for
it, and just like the movie, it will stay in our hearts forever.
The
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