Come Fall in Love - the DDLJ Musical
- Joan Davies
- 1 day ago
- 3 min read
Updated: 10 hours ago
Book and Lyrics by Nell Benjamin;Â Music by Vishal Dadlani and Sheykhar Ravjiani
Yash Raj Films
Opera House, ManchesterÂ
29 May to 21 June 2025 2 hours 10 minutesÂ
New musical Come Fall in Love - the DDLJ Musical starts life at Manchester's Opera House (part of ATG's Manchester Sees it First campaign) prior to a (not yet set) UK tour.
The show is based on the film Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (the DDLJ of the title), one of the most successful Bollywood movies of the last 30 years. High expectations, then!
It’s a story of culture clashes: East and West, youth and age, tradition and modernity, freedom and obligation, but essentially it's a simple love story. I don’t think I’m giving anything away by saying that
love triumphs. It’s Romeo and Juliet without the tragedy, sending the audience home in a joyous mood.
The show’s downbeat opening casts a sombre note. Baldev (Irvine Iqbal) runs a corner off-licence facing daily racial baiting. In the opening song, So Far, he mourns the distance from home and his culture, but commits to life in the UK to support his family and their future. It’s a powerful performance, setting the scene and allowing a strong contrast with the eventual joyous ending.
Baldev’s daughter Simran (Jena Pandya) is the apple of his eye, a high achiever, but destined for an arranged marriage to Kuljit (Kinshuk Sen), the son of a family friend in India.
On graduation, Simran persuades her father to allow her a month-long trip through Europe before committing to the marriage. On the tour she falls for Rog (Ashley Day); she knows him from Oxford, but he's not really a friend. They are poles apart, apart from their intelligence, but a sincere love develops.
Back home again, and bound by the importance of family loyalties, Simran agrees to the arranged marriage and leaves for India. Rog follows, joining his mother, Minky (Kara Lane) on a lavish trip.
Act two, in India, is a blast of all we expect from Bollywood: energy, colour, dance upon dance, romance, flirtation and jubilation, balanced by a beautiful song about a mother’s pride in and love for her daughter.
The choice to write 18 new songs for the musical allows a more modern style to creep in - possibly a slight disappointment for some of the movie’s more avid fans.
Performances are strong throughout. Jena Pandya easily gains audience sympathy and dances and sings beautifully, though some of the notes she’s given encourage a slightly harsh tone at times - fortunately not enough to diminish her overall sweetness.
Ashley Day as Rog is simply brilliant. He convinces as an unpleasant, entitled customer encountering Simran‘s father at the off-licence, convinces again as a bright but unengaged, arrogant student, and excels with a gradual embrace of the wider aspects of the new culture he faces. His dancing in act two is superb.
Between them, cast members successfully navigate the contrast between caricature and honesty in their portrayal of characters beloved of Bollywood fans.
While the first act is probably over-long and could do with a little more excitement, the second act is abundant and joyous. The ensemble work and choreography are superb, and Bollywood is briefly alive on Quay Street, Manchester - to a rapturous reception.
More info and tickets here
