End of DDLJ era: taken off from big screen after 20 years.

NEW DELHI: It’s The End, literally. Mumbai’s Maratha Mandir cinema showed Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, Bollywood’s definitive romance, for the very last time this morning, almost 20 years – after it began playing on October 19, 1995. An audience of 210 watched the final show, India media reported..

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The iconic romance between Raj and Simran will finally be taken off from the big screen after 1009 weeks of running. The Maratha Mandir show of the Aditya Chopra directed movie ‘Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge’ is being taken off the big screen...

The last show saw the last of its screen run on February 19, 2015 at the 9:30 am show. The film which featured Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol in lead roles has become an icon of romance since its release in October 2005...

The film was declared an all time blockbuster after it broke all Box Office records in India and overseas.

The film also broke the record for the longest running film in Indian Cinema.

The film is more than just entertainment. The characters of Raj and Simran have stood the test of time and have become cult characters in their own right.

Maratha Mandir managing director Manoj Desai, however, told media persons : “We have 1105 seats in one screen and out of which hardly 100 to 200 seats used to get occupied so it doesn’t make sense to run it any longer.”

The tickets for DDLJ were sold at Rs 20, Rs 17 and Rs 15 – much cheaper than the prices charged by multiplexes.

DDLJ’s 1009-week uninterrupted run makes it the longest running film in the history of Indian cinema, a record previously held by 1975 blockbuster Sholay which ran in Mumbai’s Minerva Theatre for five years.

Dilwale Duhania Le Jayenge was Aditya Chopra’s first film as director. It starred Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol, a blockbuster screen jodi who appeared opposite each other in several subsequent films and are rumoured to be co-starring again in a Rohit Shetty-directed movie...