(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) Managing director of Mumbai's Maratha Mandir cinema says the movie will continue to be screened even after December 12 when it will complete a 1000-week run.
The curtains are definitely not going to come down on Bollywood’s iconic romantic film Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge (DDLJ) which has been running continuously at Mumbai’s Maratha Mandir cinema since October 1995.
Denying media reports that the film will finally be pulled out from the theatre Manoj Desai managing director of the cinema told Khaleej Times here on Tuesday that the DDLJ will continue to be screened even after December 12 when it will complete a 1000-week run.
“Why should we stop screening the film when we have house-full audiences on Saturdays and Sundays and on other holidays” asks Desai. “Even on other days we get 40 to 60 per cent audience at the theatre.”
DDLJ was released in July 1995 and is one of the most popular Bollywood films. Directed by Aditya Chopra and produced by his father the late Yash Chopra it stars Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol. Maratha Mandir one of the oldest cinemas in Mumbai has been screening the film at 11.30 every morning.
Desai says that nearly half the patrons sitting through the morning screening are visitors to Mumbai. Maratha Mandir is located close to Bombay Central station a terminus for express and mail trains on Western Railway and near the Maharashtra state road transport corporation’s main bus terminus.
Tickets are also attractively priced at Rs11 Rs15 and Rs20. Many of the movie-goers have seen the film multiple times but continue to watch it on a regular basis.
Asked about the box office collections at Maratha Mandir since the film was released in 1995 Desai says it has run into tens of millions of rupees. Earlier media reports had quoted him as saying that the theatre’s management was considering pulling out the film because of slackening audiences. The reports said that Desai would decide on the matter after consulting filmmaker Aditya Chopra who is also chairman Yash Raj Films. One of the ostensible reasons for pulling out the film was the fact that DDLJ is screened regularly on different television channels affecting its box office collections. But Desai told this correspondent that despite the numerous screenings on television it has not affected turnout at Maratha Mandir. Despite being a single-screen theatre Maratha Mandir continues to be popular.
The theatre screened Mughal-e-Azam for six years in the 1960s. The grand premiere of the film was held at the theatre in August 1960 and its foyer resembled a Mughal palace. The film’s reel was brought on an elephant and all the top Bollywood celebrities attended the screening.
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