How the Musical ‘Come Fall in Love’ Keeps the Magic of ‘Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge’ Alive

When cult Nineties Bollywood film Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge got its musical adaptation as Come Fall In Love – The DDLJ Musical in 2022 in the US, the Broadway interpretation came with its share of twists. For instance, the protagonist, Raj, a bumbling, hopeless romantic played by Shah Rukh Khan in the original, became Roger, an earnest American who is slowly learning to embrace Indian culture.

The musical has retained its original director, Aditya Chopra, though. Ahead of the show’s staging in San Diego in 2022, Chopra admitted that he originally conceived the story of DDLJ as a Hollywood love story of a white American man and an Indian woman. He says, “My main motivation at that time was to present Indian culture and values to a global audience.”

He added in a press statement, “Years later, as I reimagine the story as a Broadway musical, my mainstay is still the same: showcasing Indian culture to a world audience. And the most powerful way to depict a country’s culture and values is to see it from the perspective of someone who does not belong to the same culture. That is the starting point of Come Fall In Love (CFIL), the story of Indian Simran, her culture and heritage through the eyes of American Roger.”

Earlier this year, the musical had its second run in the UK with an all-new cast, except for Irvine Iqbal as Baldev, Sonya Venugopal in the ensemble and Kinshuk Sen, the latter retaining his role of Kuljeet. He plays the once rough-and-tough potential partner for Simran, who is a much more comedic figure in the musical than the film, and leads songs like “Hot and Independent and Hot.” It was a big deal, even though Sen has had plenty of experience in theater in the US (and it might help that he’s also fusion star Euphoria bandleader Palash Sen’s son).

Sen says over a call, “I really was lucky enough that Adi sir [Aditya Chopra], and our music directors, Vishal and Shekhar, really vouched for me and wanted to bring me back on this project, and that’s how I got attached, honestly. It was a very long waiting process, with visas and approvals and everything. But I’m so glad that we finally got to do it together, and I could make it to the UK.”

Kuljeet’s father in DDLJ, Ajit Singh (portrayed in the film by Satish Shah), was essayed by New Delhi-origin singer-songwriter and theater artist Ankur Sabharwal, who had moved to the UK in 2023 and sought to build on his years of experience in the Delhi theater scene and musicals.

At first bemused that he would be getting into Bollywood after moving away from India, Sabharwal says the team behind Come Fall In Love was more than convincing. “When you see the people who were doing the show, from the biggest names in Bollywood like Vishal-Shekhar, to the biggest names over here in the UK, and some from Broadway, you feel that the team is so incredible, they’re not going to do something which is half-hearted,” he says.

The award-winning creative team for Come Fall in Love – The DDLJ Musical includes Nell Benjamin, who worked on the book and lyrics for the musical (her past credits include Mean Girls with Tina Fey and winning an Olivier Award for Legally Blonde with writer Laurence O’Keefe).

Benjamin said in a video interview in May during the UK production that she was introduced to Chopra through a friend and jumped at the opportunity, being a big fan of DDLJ. She said in the video, “I think what was most challenging for me, which is one of the things I love most about Bollywood, is the tone. A lot of times in theater, you’re either doing a musical comedy or you’re doing a drama. Now I think it’s more… we’re mixing it up a little more. So I think that was the fun and tricky part—are we getting the tone right?”

Tasked with “telling the story correctly,” Benjamin credits listening to her collaborators as a means of “doing right by the original” and representing the essence of DDLJ to everyone who was familiar with it, while introducing it to new audiences. “It’s a really joyful show and it talks about bringing people together in a time when people are being forced apart and we’re setting up walls and borders and whatnot, but ultimately we all do better together,” Benjamin said.

Vishal-Shekhar composed 18 new English songs with Benjamin for the musical, with the title track “Come Fall In Love” out on streaming platforms as a glimpse of the crossover that the production aspires to. Dadlani said in a statement at the time of the song’s release on streaming, “Working on the musical has been hugely satisfying. For the Come Fall In Love title track, we wanted to arouse a strong sense of nostalgia for someone who has roots in India and, at the same time, would introduce people in the West to India’s great heritage, which is prevalent in its food, music, cinema, and culture. Nell Benjamin wrote the song as an energetic glorification of India, an India that is even more than just colors and festivals, an India that resides in her people.”

Come Fall In Love also features choreography by Tony, Oliver, and Emmy-winner Rob Ashford as well as Indian dance choreography by Shruti Merchant. Mostly, Sen hails the way Chopra took to directing a musical for the stage, a first for the Bollywood visionary. Sen admits he was particularly impressed with Chopra’s eye for detail. “He was talking about the color of Simran’s suit for one of the scenes. The way he justified why he wanted a lighter shade of blue as opposed to the darker blue, my mind was completely blown.”

The on-stage father-son pair played by Sen and Sabharwal both tell Rolling Stone India how there were not just Desi diaspora in the audience, but a larger audience drawn in by the show.

Sabharwal says, “Living in India, you don’t realize how important it is to people who are South Asians living over here [UK]. People were really moved. We had people in tears in the audience. Even in our cast, some of the South Asians, they were really moved by the whole idea that such a grand production can be held on a mainstream UK stage.” They even got the kudos of the original Raj—Shah Rukh Khan—when he dropped by rehearsals.

“What they’ve all done is almost paid homage to the original while keeping the newness and the modernity of 2025, and I think they’ve done it seamlessly,” Sen adds, pinpointing what he feels led to the musical’s success in the US as well as now at its Manchester production,

With favorable reviews across the UK as well, Sen hopes that the “simple love story” journeys to more countries. “I’m hoping and praying that the world gets to see another iteration of Come Fall In Love very soon,” he adds. Would it work if a musical about an Indo-American love story could go full circle and come back to the home of Bollywood? Sen says, “I think it can come to India and get a phenomenal response. I think people will love it. I think it’s such a good marriage of Bollywood and Broadway. I think anyone who watches it will enjoy it.”