Bollywood's king of romance Yash Chopra passed into the ages on Sunday evening. From capturing the picturesque locales of Switzerland to starting the trend of multi-starrers and dealing with bold, unconventional subjects, Chopra's directorial journey was nothing short of legendary.
Dinesh Raheja salutes a man who lived his life like his last movie, Jab Tak Hai Jaan.
Dinesh Raheja salutes a man who lived his life like his last movie, Jab Tak Hai Jaan.
As the veteran filmmaker turns 80 today, movie critic Sukanya Verma lists her most favourite scenes from Yash Chopra films.
Here is an excerpt from one of Yash Chopra's last conversations.
'Today, Shah Rukh is sitting so high up that it will have to be something really spectacular for him to jump up and say, "Hey, yes, let's make this film!".'
Several stars will walk down the ramp showcasing clothes inspired from Bollywood fashion on the late filmmaker's birthday on September 27.
Despite a few flaws in the film, Yash Chopra distinguishes himself.
From Rekha to Vidya Balan, the film fraternity turned up in large numbers to say goodbye to Yash Chopra.
The Sound Of Music director Robert Wise captured some interesting moments during the making of Yash Chopra's Mashaal.
The decision was taken at a flash-meeting held at the Yash Raj studios last week.
'I played five different versions of Woh Subah Kabhie Toh Aayegi for Raj Kapoor, only to be greeted with a totally blank reaction.' 'Thereafter, for 40 minutes, he disappeared, leaving us baffled.' 'But when he emerged, he couldn't stop appreciating our efforts!' 'He said Sahir Ludhianvi's writing was sheer poetry and since all my five tunes were equally wonderful, he would leave it to my discretion to chose the final tune.' 'What could be greater appreciation for an artiste?'
Nine Bollywood divas and Shah Rukh Khan walked the ramp to pay tribute to Yash Chopra on his 81st birth anniversary.
After being known as 'Yash Chopra's yet untitled film' for the most part of it's time under the public eye, the SRK-Katrina starrer has got a name!
'Some time back, music was just noise.' 'Producers wrongly think item songs sell better.' 'Audiences are intelligent, they accept whatever you give, but that doesn't mean you can fool them.'
'Don was declared a flop because not many people turned up.' 'Luckily, Khaike Paan Banaraswala became a big hit.' 'Word of mouth publicity led to the film becoming a big hit from the second week on.'
Because of Mukesh's much-hailed association with Raj Kapoor, it is often overlooked that the singer has also scored hits with almost all major heroes. On Mukesh's 102nd birth anniversary on July 22, Dinesh Raheja recalls some of his classic songs.
'Even if I had the backing of a big corporate house, which I don't, in today's market, I wouldn't want the responsibility of making a Rs 300 crore-Rs 400 crore film.'
The who's who of Bollywood got together to doff their hats at the iconic Raj Kapoor and celebrate his birth centenary on December 14 with a lot of fanfare.
Though Zanjeer is credited as Amitabh's breakthrough film, it didn't immediately enthrone him. Rajesh Khanna countered with a huge hit in Daag that year. But Deewar upended audience's cinematic taste and filmland hierarchies at the very start of 1975. Bachchan emerged as a one man industry, the angry young man who could regulate the thermostat of the entire film industry, recalls Dinesh Raheja.
'Aditya Chopra thought the climax was too cliche but he still wanted to end the film on that note. He was adamant about it.' Cinematographer Manmohan Singh takes us behind the scenes of Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge.
As Independent India turned 76, so did the ethereal Raakhee I know better than most, says Subhash K Jha.
'We didn't create the Angry Young Man persona for Amitabh Bachchan.' 'We created the Vijay persona and then Amitabh Bachchan fitted into it.'
Yash Chopra's wife Pamela Chopra passed into the ages on the morning of April 20, and film folk made their way to her residence to condole with the family.
'...it was for a very, very big lead actor.' 'I looked at it and saw how beautiful she was. I was like, there's no chance I'm getting it.' 'I auditioned for it and as luck would have it, they were looking for someone like me.'
Writers and creators are telling more authentic stories based in states and cities that we may not have seen much of in mainstream media, such as Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, and Madhya Pradesh. Or ones that we have some mistaken notions about like Punjab, Delhi, Haryana, Bihar, Tamil Nadu, highlights Vanita Kohli-Khandekar.
As much Preity would like to be relieved of everyone's ebullient expectations of her, truth is few have fizzed up the silver screen like she has.
Sukanya Verma quizzes you to find out just how much you know about the movie legend who turns 70 on October 10.
Angry Young Men misses some important elements of the Salim-Javed story including an understanding of the duo's creative process. In fact, the two men do not even appear together in the same space in the series.
'If I'm playing Shah Rukh Khan's role, then of course, I would have loved to do it.'
Watching the dancing queen groove is such a satisfying experience that even a bad movie cannot come in its way.
The Roshans is somewhat like leafing through a glossy coffee table book full of trivia -- no depth, but such a shiny collection of memories, observes Deepa Gahlot.
'Do films today even have the courage to question the establishment?'
'One person says let us move ahead, the other doesn't want to.'
'Our analysis of success, like failure, is so reductive and so one dimensional that we don't look at the bigger picture.'
Yash Chopra's wife Pamela Chopra passed into the ages on the morning of April 20, and film folk arrived at the Chopra residence to offer their condolences.
'I didn't want to do a highlight reel with greatest hits of Yash Raj Films.' 'I wanted to do an actual story.'
