{"id":304803,"date":"2025-12-08T10:05:10","date_gmt":"2025-12-08T10:05:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/304803\/"},"modified":"2025-12-08T10:05:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-08T10:05:10","slug":"a-bronze-statue-of-two-bollywood-legends-has-been-unveiled-in-leicester-square","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/304803\/","title":{"rendered":"A Bronze Statue Of Two Bollywood Legends Has Been Unveiled In Leicester Square"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/DDLJ-Statue-Unveil-SITS-Leicester-Square1-1024x702.jpg\" class=\"img-fluid\" alt=\"a bronze sculpture depicting the two stars of bollywood film ddlj. They are shown mid-dance, recreating a scene from the film\" width=\"1024\" height=\"702\"\/><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCredit: Scenes in the Square, Leicester Square<\/p>\n<p>    Save<\/p>\n<p>Bollywood fans in London, or those planning a trip to the city, it\u2019s time to head on down to Leicester Square, pronto. That\u2019s because a brand new statue has just been unveiled in the area, honouring two Bollywood legends. Commemorating 30 years of \u2018Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge\u2019 (aka \u2018DDLJ\u2019), which is the longest-running Hindi film of all time, the Bollywood statue depicts a scene from the film, featuring \u2018King of Bollywood\u2019 Shah Rukh Khan and his co-star Kajol.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s the first statue of its kind honouring Indian cinema in the capital, and you\u2019ll find it in Leicester Square\u2019s iconic \u2018Scenes in the Square\u2018. This public exhibition sees bronze statues scattered around the area (and even perched on top of buildings), depicting cinematic and pop culture icons. Visitors can spot the likes of Paddington Bear, Harry Potter, Mary Poppins, Bridget Jones, and more. And now, it also features the Bollywood icons.<\/p>\n<p> \u2018Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge\u2019 (aka \u2018DDLJ\u2019) <\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s a fitting location for the statue; some of the film\u2019s shots take place in the square itself. The movie also features scenes in Horseguards Avenue, Hyde Park, Tower Bridge, and King\u2019s Cross Station.<\/p>\n<p> <img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-276815\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/DDLJ-06.jpg\" alt=\"Bollywood actors Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol atop an open air double decker bus in London, in a scene from Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge\" width=\"1200\" height=\"790\"  \/>Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge \u00a9 Yash Raj Films Pvt. Ltd. <\/p>\n<p>\u2018DDLJ\u2019 was released in 1995 and has grossed over $32 million worldwide. The now-iconic rom-com has been dubbed the Romeo and Juliet of Bollywood cinema. The love story follows Raj and Simran across Europe and India after beginning on a train from King\u2019s Cross Station. It\u2019s so popular that it still plays at a cinema in Mumbai.<\/p>\n<p>The modern Bollywood classic is also so popular that it was recently adapted into a stage show. \u2018Come Fall In Love \u2013 The DDLJ Musical\u2019 ran in Manchester earlier this year.<\/p>\n<p> Scenes in the Square <\/p>\n<p>The new Bollywood statue is the latest addition to Leicester Square\u2019s iconic \u2018Scenes in the Square\u2019 collection. This follows the recent unveiling of the <a href=\"https:\/\/secretldn.com\/bridget-jones-statue-leicester-square\/\" rel=\"follow nofollow noopener\" target=\"_self\" class=\"shortcode-outbound-link\" data-has-ga=\"true\" data-ga-type=\"click\" data-label=\"https:\/\/secretldn.com\/bridget-jones-statue-leicester-square\/\" data-action=\"text_cta_0\" data-category=\"click_internal\">Bridget Jones statue<\/a>, just a few weeks ago. Prior to these additions, Daniel Kaluuya\u2019s character from \u2018Get Out\u2019 joined the square\u2019s unmoving residents last year.<\/p>\n<p>Other cinematic legends represented in the sculptural trail include comedy legends, characters from children\u2019s stories, and cartoon icons. These include Harry Potter, Laurel &amp; Hardy, Bugs Bunny, Gene Kelly in Singin\u2019 in the Rain, Mary Poppins, Mr. Bean, Paddington, and DC Super-Heroes Batman and Wonder Woman.<\/p>\n<p> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-224601\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/B97I5425.jpg\" alt=\"Singin' In The Rain statue on Leicester Square\" width=\"1200\" height=\"827\"  \/>Credit: Scenes in the Square <\/p>\n<p>Speaking at the launch, Shah Rukh Khan said, \u201cDDLJ was made with a pure heart. We wanted to tell a story about love, how it can bridge barriers and how the world would be a better place if it had a lot of love in it, and I think this is why DDLJ has had a lasting impact for over 30 years now! Personally, DDLJ is part of my identity, and it is humbling to see film, and Kajol and me, receiving so much love since it was released.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Said Kajol:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s incredible to see Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge continue to receive so much love, even 30 years later. Watching the statue being unveiled in London felt like reliving a piece of our history \u2013 a story that has truly travelled across generations.\u201d<\/p>\n<p> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-349558\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Akshaye-Widhani-Ros-Morgan-SRK-Kajol-DDLJ-Statue-Unveil-SITS-Leicester-Square.jpg\" alt=\"Akshaye Widhani, Ros Morgan, SRK &amp; Kajol stood under umbrellas, in front of the newly unveiled bronze sculpture of bollywood actors from ddlj\" width=\"1200\" height=\"817\"  \/>Credit: Scenes in the Square, Leicester Square <\/p>\n<p>\ud83c\udfa5 Find out more about \u2018Scenes in the Square\u2019 <a href=\"https:\/\/leicestersquare.london\/whats-on\/scenes-in-the-square\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"shortcode-outbound-link\" data-has-ga=\"true\" data-ga-type=\"click\" data-label=\"https:\/\/leicestersquare.london\/whats-on\/scenes-in-the-square\" data-action=\"text_cta_1\" data-category=\"click_non_sales\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Credit: Scenes in the Square, Leicester Square Save Bollywood fans in London, or those planning a trip to&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":304804,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[6225,6485,6486,1120,96,8798,122144,122145,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-304803","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-artsanddesign","11":"tag-design","12":"tag-entertainment","13":"tag-exhibition","14":"tag-mainstream-cinema","15":"tag-romance-romantic","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-united-kingdom","18":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304803","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=304803"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304803\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/304804"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=304803"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=304803"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=304803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}