Pooja Ruparel aka Chutki on DDLJ at 30

Pooja Ruparel charmed audiences as 12-year-old Chutki in Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge. She is now an actor and stand-up comic. When she tells us she is watching the film at the iconic Maratha Mandir, we have to know more.

How does it feel that it’s still playing?

Pooja Ruparel: Surreal… sad, and yet grateful beyond words. This is the first time I went to Maratha Mandir in 30 years. I had always planned to go, especially with my mum, but never made it — so this time, I bought a ticket in her name and went to watch DDLJ.

It was surreal to see people coming from Ahmedabad and Rajkot every year. Their continued love for this piece of cinema, made 30 years ago, is almost like a religion — but one of love. The songs communicate the emotion, and the actors are like messiahs delivering the message.

It was also sad in ways I cannot put into words, because the ones I do it all for — my parents — aren’t there physically. Yet, I feel their presence and pride all the time. To share it then with the raw lifeblood of this phenomenon, the die-hard fans, felt like something I will never cease to cherish and be grateful for.

Pooja Ruparel
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

Thoughts when you watched it now?

Pooja Ruparel: Seeing it now, 30 years older, I find it more beautiful than I remembered. It’s nuanced, so well written and conceived. The characters are rich, and so many themes are handled delicately.

I love SRK’s comic timing — it deserves more credit. His character transitions so authentically. Kajol is so natural and believable as Simran; she really wins your heart. I also love all the cameos from luminous actors — they bring so much flavour to the film.

Chutki post-Raj and Simran?

Pooja Ruparel: She would love the way her didi travelled the world and Chutki would perhaps become a stand-up comic. She shows all the makings of one in the film, and her tagline would have to be “come fall in love again and again.”

Chutki would probably come home each year with someone new — in contrast to her sister — and Bauji would lose all his hair keeping up with how much she’s making them grow and change in their golden years! Hahaha.