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Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol Reunite in London to Unveil 'DDLJ' Bronze Statue on 30th Anniversary
The stars marked three decades of 'Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge' by unveiling a Leicester Square statue — the first UK installation honouring an Indian film.
Three decades after Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge reshaped the language of Bollywood romance, Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol reunited in London to commemorate the milestone with a gesture as theatrical as the film itself: the unveiling of a bronze statue of their characters, Raj and Simran.
Installed at Leicester Square, the sculpture marks the first time an Indian film has been honoured on the UK’s Scenes in the Square trail, placing the much-mythologised couple alongside global cinematic icons.
The statue captures the duo in one of the film’s best-known poses, a tableau that has long since slipped from pop culture into collective memory. The actors arrived for the unveiling in characteristically understated glamour — Khan in a sleek black suit, Kajol in an elegant blue sari — pausing for photographs with a familiarity that belied the years since the film’s release.
Khan shared his delight on Instagram, riffing on one of the film’s famous lines as he thanked UK audiences for the recognition. Kajol, too, reflected on the long shadow cast by Simran, calling the character “a chapter that refuses to end”, one that still resonates for its delicate blend of tradition and defiance.
Both actors spoke of the film’s improbable afterlife — not only its longevity at Mumbai’s Maratha Mandir cinema, where it remains the longest-running film in Indian history, but also its influence on the romantic dramas that followed.
Directed by Aditya Chopra and released in 1995, DDLJ arrived at a moment when Hindi cinema was beginning to reimagine Indian identity for a globalised generation. Its story — part intergenerational conflict, part cosmopolitan fantasy — turned Raj and Simran into fixtures of modern Indian mythology, with lines, scenes and even props now part of everyday conversation.
The London installation, then, feels less like nostalgia than acknowledgement: a nod to a film that travelled far beyond its intended audience. As tourists and fans gather to recreate the pose, the statue stands as a reminder that some cinematic love stories, however idealised, simply refuse to age.