Bollywood's DDLJ keeps rolling on popular demand

A Bollywood film that was ending its record-breaking 1,009-week run at a Mumbai cinema is to keep rolling after a public outcry for its continued screening.

The romantic comedy Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, which translates as ‘The Brave-Heart Will Take The Bride’, first began showing at Mumbai’s Maratha Mandir cinema on October 20, 1995 when its star Shah Rukh Khan was still a relative unknown.

The movie went on to become one of the best-loved of all Bollywood blockbusters, but following celebrations marking the 1,000-week landmark, it was decided to halt the show’s unprecedented run after a reported drop-off in audiences.

The news of the last screening however prompted a flood of requests to keep it going, said production house Yash Raj Films in a statement over the weekend.

The announcement “resulted in a spontaneous and an overwhelming outcry from the cinema-going audience, as well as dedicated fans of the movie, expressing their shock and disappointment”.

Due to the surge of requests received by the cinema’s management, “it has been mutually decided to continue the screening in the same 11:30 AM morning show,” the statement said.