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Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge is one of the first films to show a hero fasting on Karva Chauth for his lady love

Karva Chauth has a special place in almost every filmmakers’ heart. What better occasion to show off gorgeous saris, amazing jewellery with a bit of love thrown in? Traditionally, it’s a festival where the women abstain from food and water the entire day with the hope that doing so will increase their husbands’ lifespan. In Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, Kajol’s character Simran Singh does it for Shahrukh Khan’s Raj Malhotra, even though everyone else things she is fasting for the health of her fiancé Kuljeet. DDLJ was one of the first films where the hero too fasts with the heroine! And he even keeps it a secret from her as he doesn’t want to make a big deal out of it. That was so cute, how could you not help but fall in love with him all over again? When Simran finds out and tries to feed him, he feeds her too at the same time. And the way he forgives Simran for yelling at him with his trademark line, ‘Bade bade deshon mein aisi chhoti chhoti baatein hoti rehti hain,’ (such small things happen in big countries) well, it’s just one of the things that make Raj so endearing to women even today, 16 years after the film first hit the theatres.