Behind the dreamy sequences of the 1995 Bollywood classic ‘Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge’ lies a lesser-known tale of grit and improvisation. Nearly 30 years later, the film remains etched into India’s cultural memory and yet its creation was far from the opulence it portrayed. Karan Johar who is now a household name was then an assistant director on the project and recently opened-up about the film’s grassroots filmmaking approach on Jay Shetty’s podcast. Sharing anecdotes from the shoot in Switzerland, he said, “We were a unit of 21 people, just 21 people making a movie in one bus. We would sit in one bus, we would drive and Adi (director Aditya Chopra) would look at the locations and say, ‘Stop. This looks beautiful. Let’s go film.’ We used to take Kajol behind a tree and make her wear a saree, and Shah Rukh would change anywhere and then come and shoot. There was no scout and we didn’t have enough money to do it back then. Everyone held equipment and walked up as if you had to shoot on a mountain top. Shah Rukh was holding equipment and Kajol was too… literally. Everyone was a team. There was no additional help or support. Today, everyone is so spoilt.” Produced by Yash Chopra, the film’s legacy owes just as much to its spontaneous shoot tactics as it does to its unforgettable songs, dialogues, and the timeless Shah Rukh-Kajol pairing.
