DDLJ – The movie which took my generation by storm, the movie which cut across all the segments whether it was Govinda- Karishma Fan Club or Tom Cruise/ Mel Gibson followers, the movie which made my flatmate & I be up and ready by 9:00 am on Sunday as it was being screened on the Cable. The movie which seemed so perfect.
And that belief held on till I had the misfortune of watching In the Line of Fire in 1998. Bit late in the day I know but then in 1993 I wonder any Hollywood movie went beyond the metros. Was happily watching the movie, blissfully unaware that within few minutes a scene would shatter my belief in the originality of DDLJ, please note that this term originality has been used compared to other Bollywood flicks. To my horror and utter disbelief I could see the famous “Palat Palat” being played out at Washington Monument by once upon a time Man with No Name and once upon a time Fashion Model.
To be triply sure that the scene was really copied from In the Line of Fire I watched that movie three times more. I was convinced but the end result was nightmarish. For almost a week, in my dreams I had innumerable reruns of a Remixed – DDLJ & In the Line of Fire and another Clint Eastwood movie series. Dirty Harry jumping on the piano and crooning to Kajol, SRK trying to protect the US president while playing his Banjo, John Malkovich, being the nemesis of Eastwood, crossing over to play Kajol’s Babuji and slapping Dirty Harry mercilessly, Dirty Harry thrashing Kuljitay. Oh those nightmares….
Before I lose it further here’s that scene which I have remixed just to show that how easily Clint & SRK could have changed the roles, at least for this scene.
Still the only thing for which I will ever criticize DDLJ …
