30 years of DDLJ: This Kochi man travelled to Mumbai for a day to observe Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge

The story of how I watchedDilwale Dulhania Le Jayengeat Maratha Mandir begins with the gentle appams that Kunjappan chettan offered in his teashop close to our home in Mazhuvannur, Muvattupuzha. Each time my mom despatched me to the native store, I might purchase these gentle, cloud-like appams, which value ₹1, with the change I had left. The chutney that got here with the appam was among the finest. The dream to observe DDLJ at Maratha Mandir was sown by a bit of newspaper Kunjappan chettan used to wrap the appams in.

The information merchandise introduced ‘For the primary time within the historical past of cinema, a film accomplished 500 weeks within the theatre it was launched in — Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge starring Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol.’ I used to be accustomed to Hindi movies, particularly Shah Rukh Khan movies corresponding to Baazigar, Chamatkaar, and Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa, due to the Friday telecast on Doordarshan. I had grown to love Shah Rukh Khan loads.

Coming again to DDLJ, as a child, I had no concept in regards to the idea of per week within the lifetime of a movie as a result of I might have been barely seven or eight, however I instructed myself, “When I develop up, I’ll watch Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge at Maratha Mandir!”

I grew up; I watched DDLJ a number of instances — on tv, and watched it on CD and DVD. But I by no means forgot the promise I made myself. I even received maintain of the Maratha Mandir cellphone quantity.

Time handed, and I used to be at a Kochi movie college after I got here throughout information in regards to the movie finishing 1,000 weeks at Maratha Mandir. There was speak that it’d cease after screening the movie. When I instructed my buddies my DDLJ dream, some mocked me whereas others stated, ‘Let’s go to Mumbai subsequent Friday.’ As we made plans, it was launched in Kochi at PVR, Lulu Mall. Mumbai was forgotten; we watched and celebrated it there.

As we had been leaving the film corridor, considered one of my buddies stated, “What is so nice about it for this type of a theatre run?” That made me assume, “If a film runs in a film corridor for 20 years, there must be one thing about it. It is a marvel, and I need to expertise it at Maratha Mandir.” I refused to let it go. Time was of the essence.

Not a lot later, I used to be in Hyderabad on some work when, on a whim, I made a decision to go to Mumbai to observe DDLJ. I boarded a bus that might take me on a 24 hour journey to Mumbai. It was January 30, 2016.

Legend has it that Shah Rukh Khan instructed his buddies that he would “rule Bombay at some point”, which he does in a means. I went to Mumbai, my first and solely journey, to observe his movie.

I reached Mumbai on February 1.

Now, Maratha Mandir is in Mumbai Central, and it was not on the route of the bus I used to be on. Options ranged from taking an area or a cab. I used to be unfamiliar with Mumbai locals, in order that was out. I used to be getting fearful as a result of I didn’t know something in regards to the metropolis I used to be travelling in the direction of. That is when a fellow passenger steered I get off at Sion and take a cab; Maratha Mandir was a ₹40 experience from there. The first cabbie I hailed requested for ₹500, in order that was out. Eventually, I discovered one who agreed to take me there for ₹200, as a result of time was working out.

The present was at 11.30 am, and it was already 10 am.

This journey was not about hero worship; it was about being part of historical past. People have travelled to Mumbai, watched the movie at Maratha Mandir. This was me realising a dream. I needed to take care of fears and apprehensions of travelling solo to an unfamiliar metropolis, it was a primary for me therefore particular.

By 11 am, I reached Maratha Mandir — I stood on the alternative facet, gaping on the film corridor I first noticed within the newspaper wrapping of Kunjappan’s chettan’s appams.

The gates opened after a brief wait, and I rushed to the ticket counter. I used to be anticipating a balcony seat to value ₹50, nevertheless it was solely ₹20. As I waited to enter the corridor, I regarded on the aged DDLJ posters. Literally, romance was within the air, with some {couples} even enacting romantic scenes.

I couldn’t cease gaping as soon as I used to be contained in the film corridor; the interiors regarded like one thing out of an outdated, ornate palace. Though it was not housefull, there have been hardly any vacant seats left. Imagine, this film was in its twenty first yr!

As the film began, Amrish Puri got here on display…I sat there, wonderstruck! Maratha Mandir erupted the minute Shah Rukh Khan got here onscreen. It was like a launch day celebration.

‘Bade bade deshon important…’ Raj’s (Shah Rukh Khan) line made me smile. And ‘important aa raha hoon Simran,’ simply earlier than the interval, jogged my memory of how, years in the past, again dwelling in Muvattupuzha, I uttered the traces ‘important aa raha hoon Maratha Mandir’ (I’m coming, Maratha Mandir). By the way in which, I nonetheless have the tickets of the present even.

The movie ended and when the road ‘Come fall in love’ got here on display I leapt up applauding.

I left the corridor buzzing ‘Tujhe dekha toh ye jaana sanam…’, the (imagined) sound of Raj’s mandolin, a background rating accompanying me. I turned again for that one final have a look at Maratha Mandir, with a promise to return and ‘fall in love’.

Next cease — the railway station to catch the prepare that night again dwelling, to Kerala.

Remember that scene from Ayan Mukherji’s Yeh Jawaani Hai Diwani the place Bunny (Ranbir Kapoor) and Naina (Deepika Padukone) evaluate notes on the most effective issues in India and overseas?

Naina responds with “Maratha Mandir mein DDLJ with popcorn” to Bunny’s “Broadway pe Phantom of the Opera” … that’s what DDLJ at Maratha Mandir is for us Indians, part of our tradition.

Reese Thomas is an writer and an assistant director within the Malayalam movie trade

As instructed to Shilpa Nair Anand