Bollywood filmmaker Aditya Chopra made his directorial debut into the film industry with one of the most romantic and unforgettable Hindi films of all times, Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge’ (DDLJ) in 1995. The film still runs successfully at Maratha Mandir cinema hall after 26 years too. The director is now carrying the success even further by making his Broadway debut with a musical adaptation of the film. It is titled ‘Come Fall in Love - The DDLJ Musical’. The director has been working on this project from the last 3 years and brought together some of the most talented team. 

Speaking on his debut in this new world, the scion of Yash Raj Films said, “Summer 1985. I was 14 and on a holiday in London. My parents took my brother and me for our first musical theatre experience. The lights dimmed, the curtains lifted and what unfolded in the next 3 hours left me speechless and stunned. Now, till then, I was a kid who was an avid movie watcher and what I loved the most was big screen Indian blockbusters. But that day what I saw on stage blew my mind. I couldn’t believe that this kind of spectacle could be created live on stage. But the most significant aspect that resonated with me was how similar musical theatre was to our Indian films. It was just not the fact that both use songs to tell the story, it was much more than that, it was the feeling they evoked which was exactly the same. The burst of colours, the heightened drama, the passionate singing, the unabashed dancing, a classic story, a happy end. It filled me with the same joy and emotions that a good Indian film does. I realised then, that worlds apart, languages apart, western musical theatre and Indian films are two long lost lovers separated in time.

Autumn 2021… I’m embarking on my most ambitious project till date. I’m reuniting two long lost lovers, Broadway Musical and Indian Films. 26 years back I started my career with a film called Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (DDLJ, what it is more famously known as). The film created history and changed my life and many others forever. But what many don’t know is that I never intended to make DDLJ in Hindi. As a 23 year old young man greatly influenced by Hollywood and American pop culture, I thought I would make a couple of Indian films and then I would be off to Hollywood and make DDLJ for a worldwide English speaking audience with Tom Cruise as my leading man. That obviously didn’t happen. DDLJ released in 1995 and became the longest running film of Indian cinema. It gave me my identity and kickstarted an amazing journey for which I’ll always be grateful.”