It has been 30 years since the release of Aditya Chopra's iconic romance drama Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, starring Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol in the lead roles. On the special occasion, it is worth looking back at one of the most popular scenes in DDLJ. As Simran (Kajol) departs, Raj (Shah Rukh) tells himself that if she is in love with him, she would turn back and look at him, and she eventually does. It is Raj's test of her unspoken love and, in a way, of their fate as well.
Interestingly, Aditya Chopra took inspiration for it from a similar scene in Clint Eastwood's 1993 film In the Line of Fire. In that film, as Rene Russo's character walks away from him, Eastwood's character says, "If she looks back, that means she is interested." While the scenes are similar, they come in different contexts of the respective stories. While Raj's line is a cinematically romantic one, Eastwood's character says the same thing as more of a casual observation regarding a woman he just met.
However, in his book Aditya Chopra Relives Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, the director admitted that the Eastwood scene inspired the 'Palat' moment. The filmmaker said that the moment got registered in his mind while watching the Eastwood starrer and that it occurred to him while writing the romance drama.
