DDLJ turns 30: How many billions did SRK-Kajol's classic make?

 Goodness, it has been 30 years of ‘Palat…palat…’, with every second film making a reference to the monologue. Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge—or DDLJ, as every Bollywood fan casually calls it, is turning 30 at the end of the year. It has been three decades of Raj, Simran ruling the screens and defining the 90’s as the romantic era of SRK.

Released in 1995, DDLJ marked the directorial debut of Aditya Chopra, who had big shoes to fill—literally and figuratively—being the son of legendary filmmaker Yash Chopra. The movie follows our duo, Shah Rukh Khan as the smarmy Raj and Kajol as the spirited Simran, two non-resident Indians who meet on a European vacation, and made everyone else who watched that film wished that they could just hop on a train and find love, sigh.

Shot across lush locales in India, London, and Switzerland between September 1994 and August 1995, DDLJ showed us a world before Instagram filters. Mustard fields, Swiss Alps, what more did we need?

And to talk money, the film raked in an estimated Rs 102.5 crore, (that’s Rs 524 crore in today’s money), according to Yash Raj productions, making it the highest-grossing Indian film of 1995. It didn’t just charm India; overseas audiences loved it too, with Rs 13.5 crore (Rs69 crore today) coming from abroad. And while Hum Aapke Hain Koun…! might top the inflation-adjusted charts for the ‘90s, DDLJ’s cultural impact is set in stone

Awards: Naturally. Ten Filmfare Awards, including Best Film, Best Director, and Best Actor/Actress, plus a National Film Award for Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment. The soundstrack is still full of party starters: ‘Mehndi Laga Ke Rakhna’ to ‘Mere Khwabon Mein’, and Tujhe Dekha Toh.

Three decades later, DDLJ is still running—literally. Mumbai’s Maratha Mandir theatre has been screening it continuously since its release, making it one of the longest-running films in cinema history. Given that it is 2025, the film hasn’t been spared criticism, perhaps a little more brutal than necessary at points, with filmmakers and actors trying to justify rather questionable actions.

But hey, that film won’t ever grow old. So, here’ to 30 years of DDLJ.