Happy Birthday, Yash Chopra! Born today in 1932 as Yash Raj Chopra, this Indian film producer and director worked primarily in Hindi films, and was known for his Bollywood films. He is credited with opening the international market to Indian cinema.
Chopra was born in Lahore, British India, into a Punjabi Hindu family in British India (now Pakistan). He was the youngest of eight children, the oldest of whom was almost thirty years his senior.
The eminent Indian director and producer of Bollywood films and television serials Baldev Raj Chopra (known professionally as B.R. Chopra) was one of his brothers.
Chopra was largely brought up in the Lahore house of his second brother, B.R. Chopra, then a film journalist.
Years later, Chopra went to Jalandhar in 1945 to continue his education. Originally, he pursued a career in engineering.
However, his passion for filmmaking led him to travel to Bombay (now Mumbai), where he initially worked as an assistant director. After this, he worked for B.R.
In the late 1950s, Chopra received his first directorial opportunity. This was for the 1959Indian Bollywood black and white drama film 'Dhool Ka Phool'('Illegitimate Child').
The film, produced by B.R., was well received by critics and became the fourth highest-grossing film of that year.
Encouraged by their success, Chopra made another hard-hitting social drama feature in 1961. It was one of the first films to depict the Partition of India and Hindu fundamentalism.
The film was later awarded with the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi. Unfortunately, theatrical screenings of the film were disrupted by violent demonstrations.
These were in response to the film's raw depiction of the partition riots and related sloganeering and hence became a box office flop. Afterwards, Chopra avoided making political films.
Four years later, Chopra's collaboration with his brother continued in the form of the three-and-a-half-hour 1965 Indian Bollywood drama film 'Waqt' ('Time'). Featuring an ensemble cast, it became a commercial and a critical success.
The film is acknowledged as a "found film" of the "lost and found" genre. 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 1970s.
It also began the now obligatory style of depicting wealth and social class. For this film, Chopra received his first Filmfare Best Director Award.
In the late 1960s, Chopra directed the 1969 Indian Bollywood Eastmancolor suspense thriller mystery film 'Ittefaq' ('Coincidence').
Based off of a Gujarati play, the film was shot in a month and on a low budget. Upon release, it was deemed unusual by critics.
It one of the first Hindi films which did not have any songs or an interval. It was eventually declared a semi-hit at the box office and won Chopra his second Filmfare Best Director Director Award.
In 1971, Chopra founded the independent Yash Raj Films, terminating his creative collaboration with B.R.
Two years after, his first independently produced film was the 1973 Indian Hindi-language musical/romance drama film 'Daag: A Poem of Love' ('Stain').
The film was based off of an adaptation of English novelist, poet and Victorian realist Thomas Hardy's 1886 psychological fiction novel The Mayor of Casterbridge: The Life and Death of a Man of Character.
After this, Chopra directed a number of classic cult films starring Indian film actor, film producer, television host, occasional playback singer and former politician Amitabh Bachchan. These were written by Indian screenwriting duo Salim-Javed.
Of these, the most notable was also the film of which Chopra is best known for directing.
This was the three-hour 1975 Indian crime/action drama film 'Deewaar' ('The Wall'). It is often considered a ground-breaking cinematic masterpiece.
The film tells of two brothers: Ravi Verma (Shashi Kapoor) and Vijay Verma (Amitabh Bachchan).
Told in flashback, the two siblings, over time, head for a showdown when one becomes a policeman, and the other, a criminal.
It was 'Deewaar' and Chopra's prior cult films that set the trend for the late 1970s and 1980s, establishing Bachchan as the "angry young man". For 'Deewaar', Chopra won his third Filmfare Best Director Award.
According to his personal life, Chopra had married Bollywood playback singer, screenwriter and film producer Pamela Chopra. They had two sons together, the most notable being Indian filmmaker Aditya Chopra ('The Brave Heart Will Take the Bride').
The founding chairman of the film production and distribution company Yash Raj Films, Chopra was the recipient of several awards.
Today, Aditya was interviewed for an NDTV article. He said: "He (Yash Chopra) did not know how to run a business. All he had was a strong belief in his talent and a dream to be self-reliant. That conviction of a creative man backing nothing but himself and his art, gave birth to Yash Raj Films."
A genre defining director, star-maker and a studio mogul, Chopra has been instrumental in shaping the symbolism of mainstream Hindi cinema across the globe.
Popularly known as the ‘King of Romance’ for his string of hit romantic films spanning over a five-decade career, Chopra had truly redefined drama and romance onscreen.
However, his greatest repertoire of work was the fifty plus films made under the banner that he launched - the banner that stands for the best of Hindi cinema.
Chopra had been active from 1959–2012.
#borntodirect
#YRF50
@yrf
@bollywoodnow
@CinemaHindi
@ndtv
@TimesofIndia
@hindustantimes
@Britannica
No comments:
Post a Comment