Yash Raj Films completed a silver jubilee last year and what a year that was. Yash Chopra’s son Aditya Chopra who made his debut as a director with Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jeyenga, which was released in October ’95, went on to bust box-office records and enter the top 10 list of the biggest grossers ever. Two years later, papa Yash’s Dil To Pagal Hai has opened. The response has been overwhelming but not unexpected. A week before the release when we spoke to the manager of Gaiety theatre, Mumbai, he was confident that when the advance booking counter opened on Monday the tickets would be sold. “We’ve already started getting a lot of calls enquiring about bookings,” he admitted. In fact, he went on to say, that unlike other big banner, mega-buck entertainers no crowd-pulling gimmicks had been planned for Dil To Pagal Hai. “Not for the first week at least,” he asserted. Obviously, going by the kind of curiosity the film has generated, the exhibitors don’t think promotional gimmicks, like the stars signing audio cassettes, distributing pens, T-shirts, caps and clocks in theatre foyers and announcing prizes for the best dressed woman in the audience, are necessary for this film. 

SHAH RUKH KHAN: NO MORE LOVABLE GUY
He’s dangling precariously from a rope outside one of Mukesh Mills' many cracked windows. Black leather, sweat-streaked face and frenzied involvement. As soon as the shot is okayed, he’s bounding through the open window, conferring with action director Akbar Bakshi, script-writer Robin Bhatt, co-artistes Juhi and Farida Jalal and helping set up the next shot. Director Mahesh Bhatt is not missed. Shots are rushed through and friends, fans and journalists are kept on hold till well after 6 pm when, after wrapping up the shoot for the day and discussing the shoot for the morrow, Shah Rukh finally descends from his van.