Raj & Simran, 27 years hence

Where I think my favourite couple of the 2000s would be today

I did not watch DDLJ the day it released or even the week it released. I was 10 at the time, and it was my maternal uncle’s wedding. So we were actually kind of living the OG version of the Punjabi wedding at the time. Replete with a sangeet on the terrace, enough gol gappas to get us sick, and a bride prettier and better styled than Kajol.

Anyway, needless to add, DDLJ changed my life. But that’s a topic for another day. With YRF theatrically re-releasing the film in cinemas last week (a GREAT business decision IMO- the most popular romantic film in Indian cinema, releasing over Valentines Week, in Shah Rukh’s comeback year, this is the Comicon Shah Rukh deserves), I’ve been thinking about this film. And I found my thoughts veering towards one direction- where would Raj & Simran be today?

Would their love survive Y2K, Instagram, children, 27 karva chauths, countless London-Amritsar flights and innumerable vacations where Raj forgets to fill fuel in the car? Anyway… here’s what it seemed like, in my imagination at least.

Int, Malhotra House.

Raj is talking to his 26 year old son Kabir over face-time in his living room that’s overlooking his front yard. The practical Volvo that he traded for his 5-Series 10 years ago that he traded for his Ferrari within a year of marriage is parked in his drive-way and he can see it. Simran is sitting on a desk in the living room, her bifocals on, reading a Google sheet she’s working on, for her daughter’s new business.

“Oye Kabire, missing you ya… Finally caught you over the phone man. Listen…been 6 months since your “mental health” break in Bali after you graduated from LBS… When are you coming to see your Papa?”

Kabir is happy to see his Dad after a while… He’s been dogding his calls lately because his Dad can really embarrass him about his girlfriend, he just doesn’t get what’s appropriate and what isn’t. Even so, he knows his father means well, so he laughs indulgently, ‘Dad! It’s not a mental health break ok… its a sabbatical… You know this, I needed to find myself. Who am I outside of the privilege of my family? Why did I get to go to LBS even though my grades were bad, and Parry from school had to take up a job at Costa Coffee… Anyway… you tell me how are you & Mom”

Raj knows he’s not actually disappointed, but can’t help being dramatic, “Yaar, tum logon ki generation hi aisi hai (your generation is ruined). Do you know (with a far away look in his eyes) your great grand-father, Girdharilal Malhotra could never make it to secondary school, your grand-father Dharamvir Malhotra…

Kabir has heard this story at least 1500 times and interjects, rolling his eyes, “Dad Dad Dad…Meera and I both know this story by heart. Please don’t repeat it. Anyway Dad… I like being in Bali… its so different from home. I love the sun, I’m learning yoga… you should be happy… going back to becoming a true desi…”

Raj is now starts walking up from the sofa where he’s sitting towards Simran’s desk, brings the iPad in front of her face & says, “Desi banna hai toh India jaa na… OK OK… I get it son. I may not be uber cool but I’m at least cooler than your Mom” Simran is barely looking up from her screen, and just smiling slyly, Raj sits on the desk & ‘Anyway, what’s up with that spanish girl you were with when we spoke the last time… what’s her name… ummm… Senorita??!’

“Dad! Bye!”

Raj can’t help but chuckle. He loves embarrassing his kids. It’s the tax they pay for having the best father on earth. He looks at Simran. He’s always loved how engrossed she gets when she’s ‘organising’ something. In the 27 years they’ve been together, she has organised everything in his life. From managing the back-end of his commodity trading business, without having an official title mind you, to deciding when they will have children, to orchestrating their move to the home they have been living in for 15 years now, to deciding when he would give up his Ferrari for his BMW 5 Series “Its the practical choice” she said, to now straddling the launch of his daughter’s new financial planning app and his son’s sabbatical that is seeming more like a paid holiday than a search for self. He suddenly realises he hasn’t asked her how she’s doing in a while.

“Simran, come let’s have chai”, knowing fully well that her Indian & British roots mean that she’s incapable of declining an invitation for tea. She’d probably delay her last breath by a few minutes if she could, keeping the angel of death on standby, if there was a steaming hot cup of tea on offer.

“Raj, please let me be. I HAVE to finish this working today. Meera is banking on me to keep her app going for another 6 months till she raises, and I don’t have the heart to tell her that she doesn’t have the money. I just have to find a way to keep her going by cutting whatever costs she can… uske baad I have to go to…” stopping her mid-way and just holding her by the shoulder and lifting her from her desk, “Simran, Simran, Simran… bade bade deshon mein aisi choti choti baatien hoti rehti hain! Let me get you a cup of tea, let’s discuss how we can help her. God knows the easiest thing would be if she just took my money but (play scratching his stubble)… I wonder who she’s emulating by trying to be ‘her own person’. Definitely not me!”

Simran smiles getting up. How does this guy just not feel stressed?! What is this super power?!

“Theek hai baba but let me make the chai because you know yours is terrible!”

She walks to the kitchen, starts mindlessly brewing the tea. It wasn’t entirely true that Raj never feels stress. When their kids were born he was a bunch of nerves. But in the way that every excited man-child would be perhaps. Those 3-4 years in between when both the kids were young, and business was bad, she knows he had been very stressed at the time but he somehow had a way of just not letting that show up at home. Maybe his kids were his escape and his stress busters? She wondered how he was dealing with this empty nest that was now their home. The tea’s ready and she hadn’t noticed that he is next to her, pouring it into 2 cups. He motions towards the patio and starts walking ahead. Simran joins him…

“Listen, don’t worry about Meera not taking the money from us. Her business fundamentals are solid. You would be proud of her if you got involved but we know you don’t have the time. If this one doesn’t work, it’ll still be a lesson for her. I’m sure her next will. She needs to do this herself. I’m really not worried for her. It’s Kabir you should be worried about… I sometimes wonder if we were just too relaxed with him”.

Raj is looking at her closely, “You mean I was too relaxed with him”

“What! I’m not saying that… OK maybe you were. I mean you know you guys have this khandaani thing of letting your sons wander”

“And that, is how I met you Senorita”

Simran had just walked into it. It was tough to have a serious conversation with Raj most days. His nature was such. He just deeply believed in destiny, was never practical. How many holidays had they had that weren’t planned and where they’d invariably end up stranded on the side of the road either with no cash, or their GPS malfunctioned, or their car broke down, or he simply forgot to fill fuel. How is it that these really annoying things, did not annoy her that much? Maybe because he could make her laugh at will. Or that he somehow made everything fun for her.

Hmmm… that is what it was. As he continued talking to her about another impractical idea he had to convince his son to return from Bali, excitedly telling her about his new scheme, she found herself feeling light & laughing. At the ridiculousness, but also at the deep love. She took a punt on this guy at a very very young age. What did she know of the world? Of him? That he wore leather jackets, had mysteriously good piano skills, could either charm someone or infuriate someone, and that he made her feel safe? Her friends had married after living-in and had yet faced bitter divorces. And here she was, married to the same person for so long, steadily having improved their lives. Fulfilling her dreams of having a family, and finding new wind with helping in her daughter’s venture. All the while having this guy who not only had loved her passionately then, continued to love her in the way now, where she felt she could achieve anything.

“Imagine a life with Kuljeet!!!”

Raj stunned, turned to her, “did you say something??”

“No no, not at all… continue…”

Some love stories, do get to happy endings.

I’m glad that this one in my mind also did.