'Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge' clocks 23 years: Here are 9 interesting facts about the film you didn't know

Not Shah Rukh Khan, but Tom Cruise was the first choice for the role of 'Raj'. Director Aditya Chopra wanted to cast the Hollywood star, but Yash Chopra wasn’t quite excited about this.

Next, Saif Ali Khan was approached for the role, but he turned it down, after which Shah Rukh Khan was roped in.

Interestingly, it took a lot of convincing to get the Baadshah of Bollywood do the role of a chocolate boy, since he was worried of getting typecast as the loverboy

The leather jacket Shah Rukh is seen donning in the film was picked up by Uday Chopra from a Harley-Davidson store in California

The title of the film, 'Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge' wasn’t the scriptwriter or the director’s brainchild. It was suggested by Anupam Kher’s wife Kirron Kher!

Aditya Chopra had asked SRK to drop Kajol at the end of the song 'Ruk Ja O Dil Deewane'.

The director, however did not brief Kajol about the same just so he could capture her genuine reaction 

Aditya Chopra wrote DDLJ in a span of three to four weeks. Karan Johar revealed that every day, Adi would discuss the film and its core concept with him and ask for his input– but mostly, he had the film sorted in his head and was able to write it quickly

Anupam Kher actually asked Aditya Chopra why he gave the bigger role to Amrish Puri, saying he wanted to play it instead.

However, Aditya refused to give him Amrish Puri's role 

DDLJ was Karan Johar’s training ground. “I never went to film school. I never assisted on anything else. My only training ground to becoming a film director was DDLJ,” he had once said 

Anaita Shroff Adajania probably had her first stylist moment on the sets of this film. She wasn’t a stylist back then, but while shooting the swimming pool sequence, she thought that Kajol’s swimsuit needed an extra layer. The only option available was Sarojji‘s (Khan) dupatta, so they took that and wrapped it around Kajol to complete her look. 

Also, Uday Chopra and Karan Johar cut the making of DDLJ. They were locked in an edit room for days getting this done, and Karan said he felt like they were making their own film. They then got a slot from Doordarshan and aired the making of the film on TV– a first for Indian cinema

Mumbai’s Maratha Mandir theater had run 'Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge' for 19 years after its release