Have We Already Met the Person We’re Going to Marry?–Sathvy
Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge incorporates a lot of themes, some very obvious and others more subtle. What captivates me the most is the theme of fate. There are two scenes in particular that I noticed in the movie that really stood out when analyzing this theme. The first was when Simran is talking to her friend while Raj is simultaneously talking to his friend on the street about traveling to Europe. They both cross paths, not even acknowledging the others existence. This happens once again when both are trying to find the departure platform number in the train station. They cross paths, going opposite directions making the audience feel frustrated about the fact that these two characters who don’t even realize each others’ existence, are actually ‘meant to be’. This goes against the very existence of Hollywood cinema(as well as Western culture), in which the idea of ‘love at first sight’ is extremely prominent.
There is a statistic that somewhere between 70-80% of people have already met their spouse by the time they’re 16. Regardless of whether or not this is true, this is a widely known belief in the United States. However in India, this statistic is no where as relevant, because of the idea of arranged marriages. There are even times where the bride and groom don’t meet until the day before or the day of the actual wedding. However, this common belief along with the discussion of Bollywood films incorporating Western and Indian views got me thinking of whether or not the director of this film was in fact trying to incorporate this widely known Western belief into this movie. Now, many people say that this idea goes along with the concept of fate. However I believe that it goes into something much more simple, yet deeper than that. When I think of that statistic, I envision something along the lines of two people reuniting at their 10th year class reunion hitting it off and going on a date, even though they never talked to each other in high school. Or even finding out that the person you ended up marrying grew up in the same town as you, but you never met until 20 years down the road. You could have already walked by the person you are going to spend the rest of your life with, without even noticing them, just like Simran and Raj did (not once, but TWICE). Scary huh? Now I know this may seem extreme and probably very corny as well, but Bollywood thrives off these two concepts. So it gets me back to my original question of whether or not the director and writers were in fact thinking about this statistic when making this film.
With that being said, DDLJ is one of my favorite Bollywood movies, and clearly I am not the only fan. The movie, which is still running in theaters till this day, has completed 900 weeks. It is truly a movie a brilliant movie that to me, often “soothes the soul.”
http://www.dailyprimenews.com/details.php?id=5180
–Sathvy Reddy
Filed by sathvy at January 31st, 2013 under Uncategorized