Mumbai: Directed by Aditya Chopra, one of the most iconic movies in the history of Hindi cinema, Dilwale Dulhaniya Lejayenge (DDLJ) starring Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol, 25 glorious years on October 20. While social media was flooded with the wishes, actor Swara Bhasker criticised Shah Rukh Khan’s character in the film. According to her, the movie makes stalking seem romantic.
While many social media users praised the movie for being iconic and real, a section of netizens took a dig at the film for being problematic in its depiction of a romantic hero and Swara Bhasker acknowledged that DDLJ has its flaws while agreeing with one of the users.
DDLJ makes stalking seem romantic: Swara Bhasker
Swara Bhasker who had initially posted on Twitter with stills from the film that read, ‘Find a guy who looks at you the way Raj looks at Simran!!!!’, couldn’t help but agree when a user pointed out the flaws of Shah Rukh Khan’s Raj as a romantic hero.
A Twitter user listed down a few problematic behaviour of ‘Raj’ aka Shah Rukh Khan in DDLJ. Listing them down, he asked why women love creeps?
He wrote, ‘Raj does the following to Simran: 1. Lie that he raped her as a joke. 2. Tears her clothes in public (accidentally, but who pulls a woman by the back of her dress anyway?) 3. Forces her to dance, and in the process gropes her and feels up her bare back Why do women love creeps?’
Swara Bhasker agreed to his points and wrote, Sadly u r are right.. I mean abt what all Raj does.. This is precisely the power of #Bollywood right? It makes stalking seem romantic. And we all are influenced by it – sometimes in the form of nostalgia & sometimes despite our own best intent. We all need to learn & change 🙂 :).”
While DDLJ’s content might be up for debate, the Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol starrer is the Bollywood’s longest running film in a theatre.
25 years of DDLJ
Marking the 25th anniversary of ‘DDLJ’ featuring on October 20, Tuesday, a bronze statue of Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol was unveiled at Leicester Square in London. Apart from bringing a new wave of cinema that highlighted NRI sensitivities on the Indian screen, DDLJ gave us one of the Bollywood’s best onscreen pair-SRK and Kajol.