Just Mumbai Things: We Watched DDLJ At Maratha Mandir & Broke It Down For you

Watching the age-old Bollywood rom-com, DDLJ at Maratha Mandir is on every newbie in the city’s bucket list. We ticked it off by catching a Sunday show at the single-screen matinee.

The world of whirring low fans, push-me down seats that trapped unsuspecting children, and airtight popcorn packets charmed us the way it did back in the day when we were young and innocent, coming for action-packed films with our parents.

Truth be told, the first half of this 22-year-old movie in itself had us judging everything – the patriarchy, the dialogues enveloped in casual sexism, and the passing around of Simran’s fate like an unwanted fly in the room.

Ultimately, however, the mushpot in us fell for Raj a.k.a Shah Rukh’s romantic antics and had us sitting at the edge of our seats waiting for ‘Baoji’ to let Simran go and jee le apne zindagi. Would he? Wouldn’t he? With bated breath, all waited. The second she broke into a well-manufactured run, the crowd whistled and cheered like never before.

We couldn’t help but feel triumphant ourselves. That’s the power of 90’s Shah Rukh khan’s movies, when watched in an old-school setting.

By the way, you’d be surprised to know how full the show was. Despite the fact that the show has been running in the theatre for the last 22 years, runs every morning, there are people lining up as though it’s going away the next day. While there is a mixed crowd, slightly rowdy, college kids, even families – it never gets too obnoxious or unsafe. If you are wary, carry a burly friend with you {and ear plugs for the applause}.

In fact, to add to the infectious enthusiasm of it all, we even found a pair of people dressed to play the part of Simran and Raj. Coinkidinks? We think not.

Our rating of the experience comes at a high 4.5 on 5, the lack of .5 because there’s always room for improvement, less sexism and more role-playing members of the audience. Who’s up for being Simran next time? Aaho.

The shows run here every day of the week at 11.30am, with tickets sold for only INR 15, 20 and 25 {the last for the balcony}. Inspired? Buy your tickets here.