Associate choreographer Shruti Merchant joins composers Vishal Dadlani and Sheykhar Ravjiani (popularly known as Vishal and Sheykhar) to discuss bringing the beloved Indian film Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (DDLJ) to life in a whole new way.

What are your memories of the original film? What drew you to this project?

Shruti Merchant: The film released in 1995, and as an 11-year-old girl, I have a vivid memory of my parents bringing home an autographed DDLJ clock, which they had won while watching the film among hundreds of people in a cinema hall. DDLJ is not just a film, it’s an experience. The amazing chemistry between Raj and Simran, the picturesque Euro trip with friends (no parents invited), the classic melodies and tunes that bridged the emotions and iconic dialogues—those are a few memories that make it a timeless classic that you want to keep watching again and again. Bringing India’s national film, an epic love story, to the stage is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that I would never want to miss.

Vishal and Sheykhar: DDLJ is not so much just a film, it’s more a modern cultural standpoint in India. This is a story that has defined romance for more than just one generation of Indians. We’re excited by the opportunity to tell the same story in an entirely new language and idiom, with entirely new music, to an almost entirely new audience. The idea is not to translate the film, but to craft an even more inclusive, global retelling that brings us all together in the commonality of human emotion.

Shruti, you’ve choreographed for both film and theatre. What are the differences between the two media? Is there one you prefer?

SM: The main difference is the relationship between the artists and the audience. Films are about moving images, theatre is about moving emotions. However, both offer story told in a dramatic form, and that’s what I love the most: telling stories through music and movement. The majority of my work is in theatre, but I enjoy seeing it through the camera too at times.

Vishal and Sheykhar, is this your first theatrical musical? How is the process different from working on a film?

VS: Yes, this is our first theatrical musical, and it really is an entirely different world from the 75 films and 350 songs we’ve composed. When we work on a film, we go from script to idea to recording to finished product. Here, everything breathes. The music is alive. It changes form, almost as if the story is composing or arranging it to suit each character and each scene. We’re really enjoying the collaborative nature of how everything, from each line of dialogue to the movement and choreography, affects the way a song is constructed. Working with all of that as it grows is something we are loving thoroughly and learning a lot from.

What would you like an American audience to take away from this piece?

VS: That at our cores, there is no difference between people, cultures, or generations that can’t be overcome by love. That love makes us stronger, brings people together, and sometimes brings the world to India and India to the world.

SM: I would want our audiences to come and celebrate a love story of two cultures. Come and experience a love story of two worlds. Come fall in love!