I was five years old when I first saw Raj romance Simran in the beautiful and oh, so very romantic locations of Switzerland. It was love at first thought for me. The idea of a love so passionate. I think it ruined my expectations from my own love story by setting my standards exceptionally high. I have spent the last 20 years looking for my very own Raj. DDLJ celebrated its 20th year of release recently and in the last 20 years I have seen the movie at least a 100 times. DDLJ has remained in my heart embedded in there since I was a young five year old girl who had no idea about romance and it still remains there, 20 years later.

Over the years my idea of romance has changed (hopefully evolved) but my love for DDLJ remains steady. What do I love so much about DDLJ? To start with, THE story. *sigh* Does it get any dreamier? A NRI following his lady love from London to a small village in Punjab, winning the heart of her very stuck up father and getting his dulhaniya eventually. What exactly about the story do I love? The idea of how love should be. Breaking all barriers to make sure that you win your love and on the same hand making sure that your love story is acceptable to your families too. Finding a lover who would fight for you and yet bow down in front of your family, is so dreamy. What else makes this movie so special? SRK. He plays the role of the very charming and dreamy Raj, effortlessly. SRK is and will always be the ‘king of romance’. With his 50th birthday around the corner, all I can say is that SRK is like wine, gets so much better with age. Also, the music. ‘Tujhe dekha toh ye jaana sanam’ has been almost like a love anthem for romantics and ‘Mehendi laga ke rakhna’ is played in all weddings till date. How can I leave out the dialogues? You know a movie is awesome when people remember dialogues from it even twenty years later. From ‘Ja Simran jee le apni zindagi’ to ‘Bade bade deshon mei aisi choti choti baatein hoti rehti hai, senorita’ to ‘Agar woh tujhse pyaar karti hai, Raj, toh woh palat ke dekhegi. Palat, palat, palat!’ Dialogues that we have repeated through the years in various filmy situations. And finally, the locations. Be it Indian or European, Aditya Chopra chose perfect settings for perfect moments in the movie. The barn. The mustard fields. The bridge. The railway station. The terrace. The Church. *sigh* *more sighs*

After watching this movie, it has been my dream to first, run through a mustard field towards, well, ideally SRK but yeah, any guy who makes me want to run towards him. LOL. Second, run towards the outstretched hand of my lover while trying to board a moving train. Yes yes, I sound retarded. Yes yes, if you know me at all,  you know that running isn’t one of my favorite activities but this is what this movie does to me. It makes me dream. It makes me want to believe in true love. It makes me a romantic. It makes me believe in the power of true love. It makes me want to believe that my Raj is out there somewhere. It makes me want to believe that I’ll have my own DDLJ story once I meet him. And that I will have my happily ever after. After all, dilwale dulhaniya le jaenge.