Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995)

Here's a fun musical, and the first Bollywood film I've ever seen!

Plot: Girl is betrothed to a guy, but falls in love with someone else.  Father is enraged when he finds out, so he moves the entire family from their home in London to India.  Girl's lover follows her to India to win over her father's approval.

Songs: Yes, I understand the film is 3 hours long, but that's mainly because of all the songs in it.  The songs are upbeat and poppy, and are very catchy.  They're one of the best things about the movie.

 I had to make sure I kept the subtitles on and actually read them during the music numbers, because the lyrics of the songs actually push the plot along and tell us a lot about what's going on.  Otherwise I would be like this:

Romance: Yes, take away the songs and this is a cheesy romanctic comedy.  This movie, however, is a cheesy romantic comedy musical.  It's different.  A lot of stuff about honor is touched upon in the film. Such as our girl, Simran, and guy, Raj, don't even kiss during their time together (I don't think they allowed this in Bollywood films a while ago, and this was 18 years ago).  Also even though Simran begs him, Raj refuses to elope.  He wants to have her father's approval so he can marry her properly.  We wish the best for Simran and hope she doesn't have to marry her betrothed (who obviously has to be the worst jerk in the world, which makes Raj look even better).

Raj tells his father that he loves Simran and so he books a train for the three of them to escape.  Raj is still bent on winning over her father, and succeeds in getting her mother's approval.  Even she tells them they need to elope.  Finally, her father discovers that Raj and Simran still love each other and all hell breaks loose.  It's obvious he really doesn't like Raj.  Raj and his father are waiting for the train, and Simran's betrothed arrives with his gang of friends to beat the crap out of them. What ensues is a terribly hilarious dance-fight. Awesome.

Simran's mother takes her to the train station so she can leave with her true love, Raj.  However, her father also arrives and grabs her arm tightly and will not let go no matter how much she begs and cries.  As the train pulls away, we worry that she will not be able to get on.  Then, at the last minute, her dad lets go!  He tells her to run to her love. What caused this sudden change of heart?  Absolutely nothing!  It's a romantic comedy, there doesn't need to be a reason!  So the lovers end up together and are happy.  The end. I'll give this film a 7/10.