Twitter Is Not Happy With The Cast Of ‘Dilwaale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge’ Broadway Musical. They Have A Point!
I still haven’t watched Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge in Maratha Mandir and the cast announcement of its broadway musical is here. Well, that in no way has a connection. But the point is that Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge AKA DDLJ has made a very special place in the hearts of the Indian audience and that’s one of the reasons why the film still has a show slot in Maratha Mandir. Also, the reactions to the broadway announcement of such an iconic film are, of course, inevitable and the fans will never settle for any compromises on the “Raj and Simran” jodi. As soon as the cast of this broadway was announced, the Twitterati was indeed quick enough to express their dissatisfaction with it.
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The DDLJ Broadway Musical is being created by the original maker Aditya Chopra and in an absolutely new avatar. The musical of this blockbuster romantic tale will be known as Come Fall In Love- The DDLJ Musical and the lyrics of which will be penned down by Nell Benjamin. Aditya Chopra has finally released the cast of the show. The leads include Austin Colby who will play Raj Malhotra’s character but with the name “Rog Mandel” and Shobha Narayan will be our Simran in the musical.
Now, here is where Twitter is finding the cast problematic. Post the announcement, the Twitter users took to their respective handles to call out the white casting for the role of Shah Rukh Khan’s character. The Twitterati thinks that the decision to cast a white man for this role will clearly take away the natural essence of the film. Twitter is flooded with people questioning such an unsuited choice of the makers.
Y’all here how in the #ddlj broadway revival they are having a white man play #SRK…going from Raj to Rog (like Roger)
— Sid (@Sidravi011) July 27, 2022
What's even the point of doing the show now, because it's definitely not for the audience who grew up watching the movie and are still listening to the songs. So disappointing!! #ddljbroadway #bollywood
— Avantika Panda (@avantika_panda) July 27, 2022
I just read that DDLJ is being made into a broadway musical & a white man is playing the role of Raj Malhotra as “Roj Mandel”
Apparently it was originally supposed to be an Indo-American story with Tom Cruise as the lead before it was rejected & SRK got the part…
What the fuck?— Crash Bandicoot (@ffs1230) July 27, 2022
Me watching the DDLJ broadway show after they whitewashed Raj pic.twitter.com/aSduqs6Toa
— hugeasmammoth.films | WGA/SAG Solidarity! (@hugeasmammoth_) July 28, 2022
Me when I see the casting for Raj for DDLJ on Broadway pic.twitter.com/6BLhrLYLzH
— raimah hossain (@raimah_h) July 28, 2022
https://twitter.com/Ad0reeRii/status/1554121740875227136?s=20&t=DYp1-kSNFXZnGVnWa4Lu3w
https://twitter.com/apparitionnow/status/1554169380246011904?s=20&t=DYp1-kSNFXZnGVnWa4Lu3w
One of the users also said that this could be a good chance for a South-Asian representation on a broadway stage, but it rather became a missed opportunity.
How do you make a Broadway adaption of Bollywood's most popular and iconic movie, still running in theaters till today and cast a white man as the male lead. This could have been an amazing opportunity for
representation of South Asian people in mainstream Broadway. #DDLJ https://t.co/onfK4juwDU— Avantika Panda (@avantika_panda) July 27, 2022
Also Read: Twitter Cannot Stop Talking About The Verbal Fight Between Smriti Irani And Sonia Gandhi
Well, they do have a point!
Fans of DDLJ will remember how the original idea for DDLJ was to cast a Hollywood actor in Raj’s role, which eventually was played by Shah Rukh Khan. And while we cannot imagine any other Raj, there were stories about how Tom Cruise was being considered for the role and what not.
In a quote shared with Hauterrfly, Aditya Chopra talked about revisiting his original plan. He said, “26 years later I’m going back to my original vision of the story of DDLJ, a love story of an American boy and an Indian girl, a love story of two cultures… two worlds. But this time the medium is not cinema but theatre. 26 years later I will be directing DDLJ all over again but this time as an English language Broadway musical for a worldwide audience. I’m terribly nervous and incredibly excited. I’m a hardcore cinema guy, I have never done theatre in my life and here I am trying to pull off the craziest ambition of my life. But what is giving me confidence is the fantastic team that I have. Each one of them is a master of their field and their brilliance and expertise are going to make this a fantastic show.”
Now, we can only wait and watch the reaction of the audience when this much-awaited musical finally drops!
