Puja Talwar for NDTV
Mumbai, May 1: Eleven and a half years ago on a balmy October evening, a film called Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge (DDLJ) had its premiere but little did the cast and crew know that they were in fact creating history.
DDLJ went on to become, not only, one of the top grossing Indian films of all times amassing Rs 200 crore at the box office, it also made a clean sweep at the award ceremonies.
Today, over a decade later the film is still running strong. Celebrating 600 weeks of success, DDLJ is the only film to run in a single theatre for more than 11 consecutive years.
What's more is that at Mumbai's Maratha Mandir it still draws a full house every weekend.
Cult film
The love story of an NRI boy and girl fighting their parents to get married started the trend of 'NRI theme movies.' DDLJ became a cult film for a generation of Indians living abroad who identified with the two stars.
A chart topper on the UK top 10, the film made Rs five crores at the international box office within a year of its release.
The SRK-Kajol magic had hit its all time high but interestingly young director Aditya Chopra had wanted to cast Tom Cruise as the lead and make it the tale of an American and an Indian.
"It was to be Tom Cruise but we changed it there was no American emotion in the film at all," said Aditya Chopra, film's director.
The popular subtitle of the film 'Come fall in love!' seems to have come true as millions of fans world have done just that.