Fans fall in love with DDLJ for the 1,000th time at Maratha Mandir

There was a palpable air of expectation and excitement outside the iconic Maratha Mandir theatre in Mumbai Central yesterday Fans thronged to the venue to catch the first show of Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge DDLJ as the film began its 1000th straight week at the theatreMaratha Mandir which houses more than 1000 people was sold out for the first show of the 1000th week of Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge PicsBipin KokateNow the longest running film in the history of Indian cinema DDLJ as it came to be known broke new ground when it released pitching Shah Rukh Khan in a romantic role at a time when he was known to play negative characters The NRI love story of Kajol and Shah Rukh Khan set the cash registers ringing for its production house Yash Raj Films and propelled its lead pair into stardom It has been running at Maratha Mandir ever since thenFans danced and sang along with Kajol on the screenCounting down to Friday enquiries started pouring in for Maratha Mandir asking whether tickets would be available in advance Normally tickets are sold in current bookings Foreseeing a huge crowd the theatre started selling tickets to the balcony in advance for a humble sum of Rs 20 and seats were sold out fastYesterday fans lined up outside the current booking slots and soon the stall which went for Rs 15 or Rs 17 was full as well The auditorium with a capacity of over 1000 was housefullCelebrationsThe theatre management had also spruced up its premises as the lead pair of Shah Rukh and Kajol were expected to show up for the night show The seats were repaired decorations were put up a sound system equipped with a microphone was ready for the celebrationsThe crowd showed up for the morning show expecting to catch a glimpse of the cast The manager of the theatre Manoj Pandey said ldquoThis was the first time when we started advance booking for this movie as we prefer selling current ticketsAs many kept asking us in the beginning of the week for tickets we started advance booking There has been one show of DDLJ every day and it was Yash Choprajirsquos wish to have the movie running till the 1000th week and so it did successfullyWe never aimed to earn money from this movie and hence did not increase prices of the tickets for this weekrdquo Manoj Desai managing director Maratha Mandir added ldquoThe show will continue till people want to watch it We do not intend to pull it out any soonerA huge crowd turned out expecting the actors to be present in the morning as they thought the celebration was in the morning It is in the night FridayrdquoFirst day first showEntry for the show began at 1110 am and the stream of people continued 15 minutes into the movie not that anyone was missing much having seen the film umpteen times The crowd cheers and screams overpowered the sound systemPeople danced when Kajol calls out to her imaginary lover while wearing a towel in lsquoMere Khwabon Mein Jo Aayersquo Young girls professed their love for Khan when he first entered the frame screaming his name out loudMany voiced the dialogues word to word as the actors said them out while hoping that perhaps miraculously Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol would surprise them with an appearanceThough they were to be disappointed fans nonetheless treasured the experience As Kajolrsquos screen father Amrish Puri says ldquoJee le apni zindagirdquo The fans lived a special moment in their lives