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DDLJ first film in India to use behind-the-scenes as means of promoting movie: Uday Chopra

Starring Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol, 'Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge' (DDLJ) gave India a new on-screen pair to fall in love with for generations to come.

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A still from DDLJ, Uday Chopra
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It is a well-known fact that Aditya Chopra directed 'Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge' (DDLJ), is one of the biggest blockbusters in the history of Hindi cinema. 

Loved for its storyline, picturesque locales, amazing music and stellar performances by lead actors backed by powerful gigs by the supporting cast, DDLJ is a film loved by thousands till date, across all age groups.

Starring Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol, the film gave India a new on-screen pair to fall in love with for generations to come. It also went on to become the longest-running Hindi film of all time. Little do people know that DDLJ, which completes 25 years on October 20th, was also the first film in the history of Indian cinema to produce a making of a film, popularly called 'behind-the-scenes today.

Uday Chopra, who directed the making of the film, revealed in a media statement, “Adi wanted to do something that no one had ever done before in India with DDLJ. He asked me to be in charge of directing the ‘making’ and since this had not been done before, I had to pretty much invent how to go about it. Having just returned from film school in California, I decided this would be a great opportunity to try my hand at another aspect of film-making. The first thing we needed was lots of footage on set and back then S-VHS was kind of the only viable option to do it. So, apart from being an assistant on the set I also became the videographer for the BTS footage.”
 
Uday added, “I remember I would literally have a camera in one hand and the clap in the other, with a utility belt to keep all the batteries, charging cables and spare parts; I was quite a sight on set."

"The advantage, which I later discovered was that all the artists were very comfortable with me being right in their faces and this made for some really interesting and intimate shots, which helped the BTS footage tremendously. DDLJ was the first film that started a trend which is now popularly called behind-the-scenes, though back then we just called it 'the making'.”
 
DDLJ is a winner of record-breaking (at the time) 10 Filmfare Awards and the film literally changed the face of Bollywood globally. 

The film was made at a budget of 4 crores and the blockbuster, in 1995, collected 89 crores in India, 13.50 crore in overseas markets. Thus, total collections stood at 102.50 crores worldwide in 1995. 
 
Uday says, “We were the first film whose behind the scenes footage was telecast on Doordarshan. The channel made a special show out of the exclusive content that was shared with them. When the making aired, we got tons of wishes and it was a huge validation for trying to do something new for audiences. DDLJ’s BTS was an eye-opener for the industry to do the same going forward and we are proud that our film contributed to setting a new benchmark in India when it comes to marketing a film.”

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