Author's Note: The following story is a blog post I wrote for my cousin Mansi's immensely popular movie blog called EatPrayLoveMovies. This post is from November 8, 2011. It deals with my opinion on three of Aditya Chopra's films:
1. Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge (1995)
2. Mohabbatein (2000)
3. Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi (2008)
Here is the post...
In Bollywood, love is a given. It is the foundation of every blockbuster. Without a love story, the characters have no motivation. No likability. No impact on the audience. And a hero who doesn't love can't save the world. He can't fight a hundred thugs without a scratch. He can't survive after taking five bullets.
A hero who doesn't know love, can't be a Hero.
And if you have lived in India in the last two decades, you may have noticed (or will notice post reading this) that the words "hero" and "love" have been moulded into one idea: Raj.
Aditya Chopra introduced the idea of Raj to the world in 1995 with Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (aka "DDLJ").
DDLJ's Raj is the ultimate lover. He will do anything for his love. But he has one condition, one ingredient that makes him Raj: he will always do the right thing. Whether that is to respect the girl's parents' wishes, or saving (read: not killing) the bad guy who is trying to steal his love from him. He is a man every women (presumably) would want. With this Raj, and with DDLJ, Chopra set up the benchmark for love stories.
So, a quick survey about DDLJ (with answers due to the one-way-ness of this discussion) :
1. Is it the greatest love story ever told?
2. Is it possible to make a better complete story (one with the right blend of action, drama, comedy, good music, and romance)?
3. Is it possible for the person who masterminded this film to make an even better love story?
The answers:
1. Yes.
2. No.
3. Yes, but let me explain.
Chopra followed DDLJ with Mohabbatein. And in Mohabbatein he changed the rules of love that were previously broken and changed by him in DDLJ.
In Mohabbatein he gave us a Raj that has lost his Simran. In fact, he never really had his Simran. Not in the reality that everyone around him lives in at least. But despite the laws of the world in this fictional story, Raj still found her again. He even devoted himself to her. And in the process he became the eternal lover. This Raj will never lose his Simran. He will never give up loving her. He will never lose because his love gives him the strength to do anything - even bring back the dead (figuratively) and change the laws of life itself.
Still, it would be a very depressing story to watch this Raj's story because the actual real events in that story are extremely sad. So Chopra gave him three students. He gave Raj three versions of Raj looking for their own Simrans. And with these new love stories Raj could not only keep love alive, but keep the idea of Raj alive.
This Raj will love till he exists, and he will exist till he loves.
That, is how Chopra made a better love story. I can say better because when two people in love stop being people and instead become constant ideas, there is no doubt that this story has the more complete happy ending.
After Mohabbatein - which released in 2000 - eight years pass by.
But something is still missing. So far, we have a story about a man who will do anything to find his love. And then a story about a man who has loved and lost but not lost his love. But, what about the story of a man who loves without asking for love? What about a man who doesn't define love as the way all the faux-Rajs before him have done in the last eight years? What about a man who sees God in his love?
Enter Surinder "Suri" Sahni, the star of Chopra's 2008 film Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi.
Suri is the man who became Raj just for his love's happiness, and in the process became something much bigger than Raj.
With Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi, Chopra dwelled into his most simple yet complex story to date. He took the task to take on the indian "arrange marriage" drama, but of course with a twist. He created a love story in an ordinary jodi, and delivered something extraordinary (paraphrasing the film's tagline). But this story did not come without its own hurdles. In order to create a selfless lover, Chopra had to disintegrate the "Raj" he defined thirteen years ago. But he did that flawlessly too, and with respect. He showed, through Suri, to Taani (Suri's wife), that every guy can't be Raj. But Raj can be in every guy.
With these three Raj's, Chopra created the complete lover. He delivered a man who loves passionately and without fear. A man who loves eternally. And a man who loves selflessly.
A man who is all the above is the Raj we have all witnessed on screen over the past two decades.
Thus completes Raj: Aditya Chopra's Love Trilogy.
Three stories. Three perspectives. Three Shahrukhs. One Raj.