On October 20, 1995, the cult classic of Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jaayenge, fondly known as DDLJ changed the look of Desi-NRI love stories forever. This iconic film premiered 25 years ago and has a successful 1,274-week run at Mumbai’s Maratha Mandir theater until the cinema hall was forced to pull its shutters owing to the global pandemic. 

25 years gone by and the film is still fresh in our memory. The iconic 'Raj-Simran' love story opened the doors of success on a whole new level for actors Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol, the then first-time director Aditya Chopra and cemented careers of designer Manish Malhotra and filmmaker Karan Johar who worked as one of the film’s assistant director and played a small cameo in it as well. Not just the unique love story, this film is also remembered for its fashion moments that hold relevance till today. In an exclusive interview with Marie Claire USA, the cast and crew of the film along with Bollywood’s go-to designer Manish Malhotra shared some fashion trivia from the film that will make this movie-watching experience (for the nth time) more exciting. 90s’ fam and fashionistas, are you ready with your popcorns?

WHEN ADITYA CHOPRA CUT KAJOL ONE-FOOT-LONG SKIRT TO SIX INCHES SHORT!

Recommended Read: What worked for Raj & Simran on-screen was the pure friendship we both shared off-screen: Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol on ‘Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge’

C’mon, who doesn’t remember Kajol dancing in rain to the tunes of ‘Mere Khwabon Mein’ in white separates! Here’s an interesting story behind that. Manish revealed that Adi found Kajol’s skirt too long and asked it to cut it. Although, it was cut ‘too short.’ “And suddenly the skirt, which was so much (holds hands a foot apart), became so much (moves hands six inches apart).” 

When Manish asked Aditya about what needs to be done about this situation, the latter asked him to go with the flow. “I told Aditya, “Will it look too much that she’s wearing this sexy white skirt in the rain?” He said, “You know what? She’s with her mother (played by Farida Jalal) in this song. It won’t look like that.” “We just wanted to make it look kind of, like, innocent-sexy,” Kajol added.

THE ICONIC GREEN MEHENDI OUTFIT

While deciding the costume for the song 'Mehendi Laga Ke Rakhna', Manish picked up a bright green satin fabric for the outfit. While Aditya's opinion about the choice was ‘really bright,’ Manish decided to go with it anyways. “It will look really nice. Let’s use it,” he said. Kajol added that they opted for that colour and fabric because it would look nice on-screen and would be able to shoot comfortably in it. “We didn’t think so much about what the impact (of the color) eventually would be. We all agreed that the color was going to look very nice on the screen.” 

“Nobody thought about whether it would be trendsetting or anything like that. We just wanted it to look good and shoot comfortably in it—at least, my thought was that we should be comfortable in it, she concluded. “That green got very, very famous for Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, added Manish.

THE WEDDING LOOK

For the climax scene of the film, Kajol shot for about three days in Apta railway station in Mumbai in blazing hot heat wearing an incredibly heavy outfit that was quite different from your '90s wedding lehenga. “For this outfit, I was very keen we shouldn’t do (a traditional) red; we should do gold. (Finally, we chose) one where there’s gold kota work,” said Manish.

While others told the designer that it will look very heavy, he said it won't as it was a daytime sequence.

Now those are quite some insights, don’t you think?

(Source- Marie Claire USA)