'Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge' is timeless: Kajol on film's 25th anniversary

The 46-year-old actor said she initially found Simran a little boring but gradually recognised the character

Bollywood star Kajol said that when the shooting of Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge was on, the team believed they were making a "cool" film together but never anticipated that the movie would go on to have an everlasting impact on pop culture.

The film, fondly called DDLJ, completed 25 years on Tuesday, and the actor said the romance between her character, Simran and Shah Rukh Khan's Raj is what makes the movie "timeless".

"I think DDLJ is timeless because everybody identifies somewhere down the line with Simran and with Raj," said Kajol in a statement shared by production banner Yash Raj Films (YRF). "I think they just like these characters a lot! They have liked them for years and years now and it's one of those things that you always like and probably will always like."

The 46-year-old actor said that she initially found Simran "a little boring" but gradually recognised the character.

"I realised there is a lot of Simran in almost everybody we know, there is always that wanting to do the right thing in someone. Lot of people don't do the right thing but we always want to do that.

"You want to get that approval, you want to get that feeling of 'you are approved of' and that 'you are doing something right' in the world. So yes, Simran was like that. I thought she was just cool, a little old-fashioned but cool."

DDLJ marked the directorial debut of Aditya Chopra and was produced by his father, veteran filmmaker Yash Chopra.

Kajol said Aditya Chopra is one such director who is driven by his "conviction" for a story.

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"I think what sets Adi apart is probably his conviction," she said of the filmmaker. "He is very, very convinced of what he is making and doesn't take on a project if he isn’t absolutely convinced about it. That really is what sets him apart. He is not willing to let go off that basic core conviction that he has in his characters and he knows them best."

While making DDLJ, the actor recalled, they had their fingers crossed that the film would turn out to be a hit and as they say, the rest is history.

“We were shooting for DDLJ and we never thought that we were making this!" Kajol said. "We just thought we were going to make a really cool film together and hopefully, it will be a hit film and we were all crossing our fingers that the music will do well etc. but I don't think anyone of us ever realised the kind of impact DDLJ would have on people when they saw it!”

The film also gave Hindi cinema one of its most iconic on-screen couples in Kajol and Shah Rukh, who later went on to star in hits such as Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham, My Name is Khan etc.

Widely credited for changing the grammar of Hindi cinema, DDLJ, according to YRF, was made at a budget of Rs 4 crore and in 1995 it collected Rs 89 crore in India and Rs 13.5 crore in overseas markets, a total collection of Rs 102.50 crore worldwide.

In today’s inflation-adjusted value, the film's collection stands at a staggering Rs 455 crore in India and Rs 69 crore in overseas territories, taking the total worldwide collections to Rs 524 crore, the production house said.