COME FALL IN LOVE

“Forget Romeo and Juliet”, they said, “We want love like Raj and Simran”

‘Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge’ released in October 1995. It has tugged at the heartstrings of the young, middle-aged and the old alike – not just when it was released but since it was released - breaking all box-office records and making it the longest running film in Indian history with 1011 weeks. 

DDLJ has been considered an ideal love story and it redefined the face of Bollywood romance with its varying degrees of drama, comedy, action and music to create a distinctive mix. It had enough plot twists not just to keep a viewer engaged for 3 hours at a stretch but to keep coming back for more.

'Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge' is not just a film. Over the past two decades - it has become a part of almost every Indian household. It is what you watch when you're happy. It is what you watch when you're feeling down. It is what you watch when you fall in love ... or out of love.

As filmmakers, we want to know what makes a movie a success. What does it take to create a phenomenon of this magnitude? What does it take to touch more than a billion hearts? It is a film that anyone can watch over and over again - we want to find out what makes it so magical even after 20 years? 

THE SOCIAL CAUSE

So far, we've got permission, rights, support and love from Yash Raj Films, the production house behind this unforgettable tale to go ahead and make this documentary. Although they will not be funding it - there is a possibility they will take over distribution if they like what we make. If that happens and if the film earns any money - The London Film School has offered to use ALL their share of the revenue to start a SCHOLARSHIP for Indian students who are extremely talented but have no means to afford a formal film school education.

PERKS

BUT WHO ARE WE?

Director | NATASHJA RATHORE

Natashja graduated from LASALLE College of the Arts, Singapore in 2012 with a B.A (Hons.) Filmmaking and a specialisation in Documentary and is currently a graduating student of the M.A Filmmaking programme of The London Film School.

She has crewed on several short films in various capacities and has directed over half a dozen short films of her own in the span of her academic career – some of which have made it to prestigious film festivals around the world.

In 2014, Natashja registered Awāra Pictures to fuel her creativity, passion and vision to produce documentary films that not only raise consciousness on various social/economic/environmental issues but also at the same time entertain and aim to revolutionise the way documentary film in general is perceived.

Producer | HINNAA SULAHRIA

Hinnaa is an American-born filmmaker, who has studied filmmaking for the past five years. She graduated with a BA in Film, from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. During her study, she was the Director of a Film Festival in Las Vegas and got scholarships for her work.

She lived right next to Hollywood, but choose to move to London, to make her path towards Bollywood and is currently pursuing an MA in Filmmaking at The London Film School.

Hinnaa is a hardworking and well-rounded filmmaker who knows her way around a set. She has worked on several sets, both academic and professional and is always up for new challenges.

Cinematographer | DANIEL ZAFER

Daniel Zafer was born and raised in London. His father was a photographer and he developed a fascination with capturing images of any description from a young age. His professional career started at ITV Productions as a runner where he progressed quickly to the camera department, shooting a variety of factual programmes. He then moved to the BBC where he shot documentaries for many years. Eventually going freelance, he continued to shoot for broadcast television whilst also filming a variety of corporate and live event work.  

In 2011 he decided to change the focus of his camerawork by enrolling at the London Film School. Graduating in 2014 with an MA (Distinction) in Cinematography he now shoots a range of commercials, short film projects, documentaries and is looking forward to shooting features in the near future.

Editor | JAHNAVI DHANRAJGIR

Jahnavi started her film editing career self taught, and then went on to get a Bachelors Degree in Screen Arts with an Editing Major from Unitec, Auckland New Zealand. After having done a bunch of student films and a New Zealand film festival entry feature – ‘The Pa Boys’ and 'Bud' a festival entry short, she grew some wings, moved to Mumbai in 2013 and got actively involved in the Indian film industry.

Since then, she has been working with editing maverick Rameshwar Bhagat and has crewed on a couple of features as Senior Assistant Editor - starting with Yash Raj Films’ Gunday (2014), moving onto Kick (2014) ,The Shaukeens (2014 ) and some international adverts . With her love for the movies, a keen eye and an infectious laugh, her sights are set far across the globe.

Sound Recordist | ZOYA MACHKINA

Born and brought up in the capital of Russia, Zoya started off her career with a degree in Journalism in 2009, working as an assistant editor in a popular lifestyle magazine, a copywriter for RBC-TV a business news channel and even a TV reporter for TV Tsentr - Russia before narrowing down to directing and producing music videos, documentaries and advertisements.

After attending the Roger Hatchuel Academy at Cannes Lions in 2011, she was inspired to take the art of storytelling a step further and pursue her passion in filmmaking. As a result, she arrived at The London Film School in 2013 and since then, she has taken on any role thrusted upon her and carried it out with utmost determination and perfection - be it sound recordist, boom operator, editor or production designer.

Her enthusiasm and zest for life, travel and experiences touches everything that she does in her professional work. She is truly a personification of the statement "Attitude is everything".

WE NEED YOUR HELP

We need a MINIMUM of £33,000 to make this film not just creatively but technically resound. The funds raised through this campaign will be used in pre-production and production. The costs will include: 

• Research 
  
• Promotional trailers and visual media
  
• Equipment Rental
  
• Insurance
  
• Travel from UK to Switzerland and India for a minimum crew.
• Trips to conduct interviews

If we exceed our 'Goal' (which we hope! so please be as generous as you can!) - the remaining money will go towards the post-production budget where HUGE costs are involved as well: 

• Editing 
  
• Colour grading
  
• Audio post-production
  
• Digital Cinema Packaging
  
• Festival Entries
  
• Print & Advertising
  

We've already taken some of the biggest steps, obtaining the license from Yash Raj Films was our biggest challenge.

That has happened – however, we have to make this film too - and we really really want to! We have a crew in place but need funds. That is our next challenge that we hope to overcome with your help.

Ideally, we'd like the film to be ready in time for the 20th Anniversary of 'Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge' i.e. 20th October 2015. It's a tight time frame and there may be some delays. But we have planned for the worst and you can be rest assured that we have a good back up system in place. 

The good news is – we have a deadline!! In order to graduate and get our degree from The London Film School - WE HAVE TO COMPLETE this film by the end of November 2015. This film will be made - come what may!