Thirty years. That’s how long it’s been since Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (DDLJ) first hit the screens on October 20, 1995. Yet somehow, it doesn’t feel that old.
Still running at Mumbai’s Maratha Mandir, Aditya Chopra’s directorial debut starring Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol continues to be a pop-culture phenomenon even after three decades.
For an entire generation, DDLJ was the definition of love. It turned Shah Rukh and Kajol into household names and gave Hindi cinema a new kind of romance — one that balanced the thrill of individual aspiration and family values.
And the dialogues? They echo everywhere — from real-life conversations to social media memes. As DDLJ completes 30 years, here’s a look at some of the iconic dialogues from the film that live rent free in our hearts.
‘Agar yeh tujhe pyaar karti hai to yeh palat ke dekhegi… Palat… Palat…’
You can almost hear SRK’s voice as you read that. The scene — Shah Rukh’s Raj whispering to himself as Kajol’s Simran walks away in the Swiss Alps — is pure cinema (imagine the Martin Scorsese meme). You cannot help but clap and cheer when she finally turns. Needless to say, this dialogue has become a recurring trope in countless movies, the latest being Aryan Khan’s debut directorial series The Ba***ds of Bollywood.
‘Bade bade deshon mein aisi choti choti baatein hoti rehti hai, Senorita’
If one line had to epitomise casual dating, it would be this. Raj’s dialogue to Simran while they are lost in Europe during a vacation became one of the most quoted phrases in pop culture. Whether you’re brushing off a mistake or trying to defuse a tense moment, this line fits everywhere.
‘Jaa, Simran, jaa. Jee le apni zindagi’
Perhaps the most iconic dialogue in the film comes when Amrish Puri finally lets his daughter go with the love of her life. That moment defined DDLJ forever. It wasn’t just about Simran’s freedom. It was about a generation learning that love and respect for tradition could coexist.
‘Toh kya hua agar maine jhoot sirf tumhe paane ke liye kaha tha?... Toh kya hua? Pyaar sab kuch toh nahi hota na’
If DDLJ had one emotional gut-punch, it was this monologue. Raj and Simran’s secret love affair has been exposed before the entire family and Simran’s bauji has beaten Raj black and blue before throwing him out of the house. As Simran is unconsolable, Raj reassures her that their love will live on. And Shah Rukh delivers it with the pookie-ish charm that made him the face of romance in Indian cinema.
‘Tum mujhse pyaar karti ho? Sabse zyada. Mujhpe bharosa hai? Khudse bhi zyada’
This sequence is Hindi cinema’s love letter to romance itself. Raj and Simran’s love is put to test and Simran’s wedding to Kuljeet is pre-poned. They only stare at each other and the audience hear the dialogue in a voiceover but this exchange feels timeless. This dialogue is the go-to meme even for Gen-Z couples (who were not even born when the film released) to profess their love on social media.
‘Aao. Aao. Aao’
And then there’s bauji summoning his beloved pigeons with that one-word dialogue that’s now meme fodder. Aao, a simple one-word dialogue, is used by netizens as a GIF to describe everything from naughty innuendos to harmless responses to text messages.