New Delhi – Can a film age like fine wine, mellow and satiny smooth, be recalled wistfully whenever you think of romance, yet sit uneasily with contemporary times?“Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge” is that contradiction – a much loved film cast in a conservative-patriarchal mould but one still finding takers in this age of swipe right and swipe left.

“Come fall in love” was the tagline of the Shah Rukh Khan-Kajol starrer that released 30 years ago on October 20, 1995. And people did. They still do, some rekindling an old romance and others perhaps starting one.

The love story, about two London-bred youngsters who fall in love but won't get married until they get parental consent, marked the directorial debut of Aditya Chopra. Unfolding in lush Swiss meadows and snow-capped mountains and moving to Punjab's mustard fields, it went on to become one of the greatest hits of Indian cinema and is still being screened in Mumbai's Maratha Mandir.

Out of sync in the age of dating apps like Tinder, Bumble and Hinge, the story centres around Raj, a carefree, rich boy who falls in love with Simran when they meet on a European holiday.

Simran is enjoying the last bit of teen freedom before she travels to Punjab to marry a man she has never met and one her strict father Chaudhary Baldev Singh has chosen for her. Lovelorn Raj follows her there with the promise to win over her father.

Couples, young and old, come to the theatre even today to watch the romance, sepia tinted maybe but still fresh and gentle, said Manoj Desai, executive director of Maratha Mandir.

On weekdays, about 70 to 100 people come to watch the movie in the 11:30 am show. On weekends, the number goes up to 200-300, according to Desai.

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