Yash Chopra—romancing Camera

`Love is my weakness and portraying it through camera is my strength` -Yash Chopra.

Yash feels depicting love in his movies has helped him stay young and dynamic. Romance is the key to his beautiful world. His whole persona revolves around the mysticism of love and emotions. Arguably he can be named India`s most successful confluence of creativity and administrative genius - as he dons his two hats - as a director and a producer.

His early years

Yash Chopra was born on 27th Sept 1932 in Lahore, to an accountant in the PWD of the British administration in Punjab. He was the youngest of eight children and was largely brought up in the Lahore house of his second brother, BR Chopra who was then a film journalist, but subsequently turned into India`s greatest filmmaker, known for his films on social themes and later for record-breaking TV serial, Mahabharata.

Yash Chopra migrated to Bombay just weeks before partition in August 1947. A large part of the Lahore-based Punjabi film industry also migrated and BR used his contacts among these people to set himself up as a leading director in Bombay and soon became an independent producer. He made some of the greatest classics of the Indian cinema, including `Ek Hi Raasta`, `Naya Daur` and `Sadhana` among others.

Debut in Bollywood

With a career spanning over five decades, he has been associated with almost 35 films, most of which have created box-office history. He started out as an assistant to his brother and went on to direct 5 very successful films for his brother`s banner B.R.Films.
BR gave Yash Chopra his first directorial opportunity in Dhool Ka Phool (1959), a story of a woman betrayed by her lover and the subsequent fate of their illegitimate child. The film argues that it is the parents who are `illegitimate` not the children. This big box-office hit and its music remain popular till today.

He made another four films for BR, notably 1965`s Waqt. Setting many other trends, it was one of Indian cinema`s first multi-starrers, a mode which became increasingly popular among the producers during the 1970`s where films had three heroes, three heroines and several villains. An unusual moview was Ittefaq (1969), a suspense movie based on a Gujarati play, depicting the events of a single night, shot in a month on a low budget, and one of the few commercially successful Hindi movies, which did not have any songs.
In 1970 Yashji married Pamela Singh whom he described as a lady who has been with him through ups and downs of his personal as well as professional life. Later he was gifted with two children whom we know today as Aditya and Uday Chopra.
Formation of Yash Raj Films

Yash Chopra founded Yash Raj Films in 1971, setting himself up independently from BR. From 1973 he produced many of his own films but also made films for Gulshan Rai`s `Trimurti Films`. His first film for Rai, Joshila (1973), an action-oriented movie fared only averagely at the box office, but his first independently produced film `Daag` (1973), a melodrama about a man with two wives, was a huge success. He then made a number of classics with Amitabh Bachchan, scripted by Salim-Javed, notably `Deewaar` (1975) and `Trishul` (1978) were his greatest hits and are popular even today. These movies set the trend for the late 70s and 1980s, establishing Amitabh as the biggest star of all times in India, in his role as the angry young man, showing also the rise of the writer as star, in particular Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar. Under this banner he has produced many films. Some of the prominent ones are `Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge`, `Mohabbatein`, `Mere Yaar Ki Shaadi Hai`, `Saathiya`, `Bunty aur Babli`, `Hum-Tum`, `Fanaa`, `Salaam Namaste`, `Dhoom 1-2`, very recent `Bachna Ae Haseeno`, the upcoming `Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi` and the first of its kind animated `Roadside Romeo` starring Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor who lend their voices to animated characters. This is the beginning of a collaboration of Yash Raj Films and Walt Disney, which is again the first of its kind.

Dull years in life

In the early 1980`s Yash Chopra made two more action-oriented films, which although won critical acclaim, fared only respectably at the box-office: Mashaal (1984) and Vijay (1988), the latter often seen as a remake of Trishul and his only film which has ever lost money, a romantic family melodrama, Faasle (1985), unkindly dubbed `Kabhi Kabhie Part II` and was considered cinematically his worst movie to date. The reasons for this lean period in Yash Chopra`s work was largely the result of action or violent movies, which became popular as Amitabh-style movies. Yash Chopra`s action movies of the 1970`s had been hugely successful but they were part of the Salim-Javed, Amitabh Bachchan corpus and mostly Gulshan Rai productions. Yash Chopra`s movies at this time seem to be going back to the way of his earlier successes.

Romance through characters

As a director his specialty has been romance. He possesses a rare aesthetic knack of making his films look larger than life. His hallmark has always been the presentation of his screenplay embellished with gorgeous locations, snow-capped mountains, lakes, rivers and beautiful women draped in the most gorgeous costumes amidst fields of flowers. He paints his visual imagination on screen by generating love and romance, which inevitably happens to his characters. Yash Chopra is reputed to make his characters look the most gorgeous in his films whether he works with a newcomer or a well-known star, they have never looked so appealing. His exceptional sense of music creates magic and gives life to his characters. Musical scores from his films have become the largest selling albums in Indian film history.

Beautiful shooting locations

Yash Chopra was one of the first directors to shoot his films out of India. His favourite shooting spots are in Switzerland, Holland, Germany and the United Kingdom. In fact, a lake in Switzerland has been unofficially named `The Chopra Lake` because of the way he has used it in films. Yash Chopra has been honoured by The Swiss Government for rediscovering Switzerland and was presented a special Award by Ms. Ursula Andress on behalf of the Swiss Government.
Films directed by Yash Chopra

Dhool Ka Phool 1959
Dharamputra 1961
Waqt 1965
Aadmi aur Insaan 1969
Ittefaq 1969
Joshila 1973
Daag 1973
Deewar 1975
Kabi-Kabhi 1976
Trishul 1978
Kala-Pathar 1979
Silsila 1981
Mashaal 1984
Faasle 1985
Vijay 1988
Chandni 1989
Lamhe 1991
Parampara 1993
Darr 1993
Dil to Pagal Hai 1997
Veer-Zaara 2004

Yash Chopra-The genius himself

As a producer he has lent the largest canvas to his films. He has never fought shy of adventuring into bold and controversial themes. Yash Chopra is probably one of the finest filmmakers of the industry. He knows his craft and is best at his work. Yash has been at the top of his profession for forty years. He is arguably India`s most successful director of commercial films. His position in the Hindi film industry is unique. This year he is turning 76 and at his birthday we can pray that he keeps making beautiful movies for us. In short he is the only film-maker whom the older generation proudly blesses and the younger generation looks up to for blessings.

May God Bless You!