Bollywood film: Iconic Indian movie ends record 20-year run

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Cinema goers watch Bollywood movie "Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge" (The Big Hearted Will Take the Bride), starring actor Shah Rukh Khan, inside Maratha Mandir theatre in Mumbai December 12, 2014Image source, Reuters
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The film is one of the most popular in Bollywood history

An iconic Bollywood movie had its final showing at a Mumbai cinema on Thursday after a record-breaking uninterrupted 1,009-week run.

Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, a romantic comedy, was first shown in 1995.

Translated as "The Brave-Hearted Will Take The Bride", it follows two Indian expatriates living in Britain and their travails as they fall in love.

The cinema where it was being shown decided that, almost 20 years on, the film is no longer commercially viable.

Featuring Indian stars Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol, the movie is one of the most popular in Bollywood history.

The two expatriates featured in the story fall in love on a trip to mainland Europe, despite the young woman being betrothed to a man in India.

But eventually they managed to convince their families to allow the union to go ahead.

Image source, Reuters
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The Maratha Mandir cinema in Mumbai first showed the film in October 1995

Image source, Reuters
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Last year the movie set a record for 1,000 continuous weeks of screening

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The film's stars, Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol, are two of the biggest in India

Image source, Getty Images
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The actors were relative unknowns when the film was released, but are now household names

The film trounced all other Bollywood records for long-running films.

It is so widely regarded that US President Barack Obama quoted one of its lines during a speech in India last month.