Hello and welcome to the Witness History podcast from the BBC World Service with me, Reena

Stanton Sharma. We're going back to 1995 and the release of a highly anticipated Bollywood

blockbuster. It would become the longest running film in India's cinema history.

We had actually no idea at all. We were just a few young people who wanted to make a hit

film. That was our main aim in life. But what it has become today is a phenomena. Whatever we

did was magical and no, we cannot repeat it. That's Indian actress Kajal. She's a huge Hindi

film star and the leading lady in that phenomena, Dillwale, Duhal hernia, Lair Jahinghe, or

DDLJ as it's affectionately called. You're listening to its iconic theme tune. Kajal

starred opposite Sharat Khan, who is one of the most famous men in India known as SRK. Indian's

love and acronym. DDLJ was released in October 1995 to critical acclaim. It premiered at the

Maratham in the cinema in Mumbai. Since then, it's been screened there daily for the past 27

years, stopping only briefly because of COVID. I could not have predicted DDLJ's legacy on any one

of the days that we started shooting for the film or even when the film released. I don't think

that we can take credit for creating it. But for making it the phenomena that it is and for it to

run for so long, I would say the credit goes completely to all the people who have adopted it,

made it a family tradition and shown it to their kids and their grandkids and made it part of

their marriage proposals. Yes, the film has featured in many fans proposals. We'll hear more about that

later. DDLJ follows a group of friends as they travel through Europe. Thymran played by Kajal,

an SRK's character Raj, frolic in front of scenic mountains as they fall in love.

Roughly translated as the big hearted will take the bride, Thymran's father discovers she's fallen

for Raj and quickly moves the family from London to India so she can marry the man she's promised to.

But love struck Raj follows her there and tries to win over her parents instead of aloping with

...