Maratha Mandir brings down curtains on DDLJ after 20 years

The romantic moments between actors Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol, portrayal of a strict father, revelry around Indian wedding and a fun train journey in "Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge" (DDLJ) will be missed by moviegoers as the iconic movie made its final curtain call Thursday at famous Maratha Mandir here - after two decades.

Manoj Desai, owner of G7 Multiples and Gaiety Galaxy and the managing director of Maratha Mandir told IANS: "Yes, it's true that we have pulled down the show. Today (Thursday) morning show was the last show of DDLJ at Maratha Mandir."

"The morning show which was the last show of DDLJ had an audience of 210," he added.

The film, which won 10 Filmfare Awards, including best film, best actor, best actress and best director at the 1996 edition of the ceremony, had been running uninterrupted at this single-theatre cinema hall at its usual playing time slot of 11:30 am.

The film, which was first screened at Maratha Mandir in October 1995, was undergoing its 20th year of uninterrupted run at the iconic cinema hall. It also holds the record of the longest running film in the history of Indian cinema.

When asked about the reason behind closing of the shows of the film, he said: "Earlier we had lots of audience to watch this film that included people from abroad. Now there is hardly any audience coming in.

"We have 1105 seats in one screen and out of which hardly 100 to 200 seats used to get occupied so it doesn't make sense to run it any longer."

The normal tickets cost of this film was Rs. 20, Rs. 17 and Rs. 15 at the hall, drastically lower than what the multiplexes charge.

However he says now the other fresh films will get extra screens.

"Earlier because of DDLJ the other films does not used to get all the screens now it will be a benefit for fresh films which now can occupy the shows which was earlier occupied by DDLJ," said Desai.

Produced by the late Yash Chopra, the film marked Aditya Chopra's debut as a director.

The film was termed as a refreshing change for cinema lovers with all ingredients of a Bollywood masala potboiler -- love, romance, comedy, action, melodrama, thrills, songs and dance -- put together cohesively to tell a story of the victory of true love.

DDLJ has a simple story -- a fun loving London-bred Punjabi boy Raj (Shah Rukh) meets an NRI simpleton Simran (Kajol) during an European holiday. Love blossoms between them, but winning over the girl's conservative family is not a cakewalk for the hero, who then makes every effort to take his 'dulhania' (bride) with him.

The film also featured Amrish Puri, Farida Jalal, Anupam Kher and Mandira Bedi.

(Uma Ramasubramanian can be contacted at uma.sagit@gmail.com)