• "Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge" is one of the most successful Indian films in history.
  • It's being adapted for Broadway, but with a white male lead.
  • Some "DDLJ" fans are calling it an example of whitewashing in the entertainment industry.

The beloved Bollywood movie, "Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge," is being adapted for Broadway — but some fans are accusing the production of whitewashing.

The original "DDLJ," as the film is affectionately called by fans, follows two young Indians, Raj and Simran, as they fall in love during a vacation through Europe with their friends. But Simran's father has arranged a marriage match for his daughter back in India, which the couple must grapple with.

The "Romeo & Juliet"-esque movie was the highest-grossing Indian film when it was released in 1995, and is the longest-running film in the history of Indian cinema. Critics praised the movie for how it portrayed issues of social and generational conflicts in Indian culture.

The Broadway adaptation, "Come Fall in Love – The DDLJ Musical," features a similar plot. But this time, Simran falls in love not with Raj, but with Roger "Rog" Mandel, a white American man.

Shoba Narayan has played Princess Jasmine in the Broadway version of "Aladdin," Eliza Hamilton in "Hamilton," and Nessarose in 'Wicked." Foto: Noam Galai/WireImage

"Come Fall in Love" will be directed by Aditya Chopra and produced in association with Yash Raj Films, the original film's director and production company. It also features many Indian-American cast and crew. The musical's opening night is set for September 14 in San Diego's The Old Globe theatre.

But some members of the South Asian community are pushing back against the adaptation's replacement of its male lead, decrying it as "absolutely and absolutely unacceptable."

One Twitter user called the adaptation a "cliche story line of *brown girl grapples with their cultural identity and falls for white guy.*" 

 

"So it's a white savior story now?" another Twitter user wrote.

"Why whitewash an Indian story?" a user tweeted. "I hate this so much."

 

Broadway has a long history of casting white actors as characters of color. Musicals like Lin-Manuel Miranda's "In the Heights," "Hairspray," and "Once on This Island" have similarly been criticized of whitewashing.

A large part of the problem lies in the lack of diversity among actors, directors, writers, and producers, according to experts. A 2021 report on racial representation on New York City stages found that white actors took almost two-thirds of all available roles during the 2018 to 2019 season. Nearly 94% of producers and directors were white, the study found.

Read the original article on Insider

Dit artikel is oorspronkelijk verschenen op z24.nl