The Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol starrer, Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, is all set to complete 25 years in Hindi cinema on October 20. Actor Uday Chopra, who was an assistant on the set, recalled how the film started the trend of Behind The Scene (BTS) videos in Bollywood.
DDLJ, as the film is popularly known, marked the directorial debut of Uday’s elder brother Aditya Chopra, known as Adi in Bollywood circles.
“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 filmmaking,” Uday said.
He added: “The first thing we needed was lots of footage on set and back then S-VHS was the only viable option. So, apart from being an assistant on the set I also became the videographer for the BTS footage!”
Uday shared that he would literally have a camera in one hand and the clap in the other, with a utility belt to keep batteries, charging cables, and other spare parts.
“I was quite a sight on the set! The advantage, which I later discovered was that all artists were very comfortable with me being right in their faces! This made for some really interesting and intimate shots, which helped the BTS footage tremendously,” he recalled.
“DDLJ was the film that started a trend which is now popularly called BTS or Behind The Scenes. Back then, we just called it ‘The Making’,” informed Uday.
Released in 1995, the film is directed by Aditya Chopra. The story revolves around the characters Raj and Simran, who meet during a trip across Europe and fall in love.
