Sep 27, 2005 04:06 PM
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(Updated Sep 27, 2005 05:26 PM)
Yash Chopra is one of THE most best filmmakers in Bollywood! Whenever any of his movies are released, everyone loves his films. There is another very important person who has been in almost all of his films as well. Yes.. You guessed it, Shahrukh Khan. Shahrukh has been in almost all his movies and ever since he has started coming in his Yash Chopra’s films he has become even more famous than what he was before.
Yash Chopra is the only director of the older brigade of filmmakers who has successfully moved with the times right from his first film Dhool Ka Phool( 1959) to his latest film Dil To Pagal Hai(1997). He is even regarded today as one of the most hippest and trendiest directors of indian cinema. Though Yash Chopra has done films of various sorts, it is when he is tackling love and its various elements that he has been at his best.
Born in Jullunder, Panjab Yash Chopra began as an assistant director to I.S Johar before moving on to assisting big brother B.R Chopra.
His directorial debut was the socially significant Dhool Ka Phool, an epic melodrama about unwed motherhood. (Wherein the old muslim man brings up the boy, tells him not to adhere to any religion in the song Na Hindu Banega, Na Muslaman Banega, Insaan Ki Aulad Hai, Insaan Banega.) The film was a mojor success and took Mala Sinha to dramatic star status.
Dharamputra (1961) addressing communal harmony was not too successful despite having its moments but the multi- starrer Waqt (1965) based on the lost and found genre was his major commercial breakthrough and even went on to win himself his first Filmfare Award For Best Director.
He followed this up with a taut bold little thriller Ittefaq (1969). Ittefaq was an extremely bold film for its time. Not only was it songless, but the hero (Rajesh Khanna) and heroine (Nanda) were not even paired with one another. (He just happens to be on the run and takes shelter in her house) And, she is having an adulterous affair and has killed her husband with the help of her lover! The film is mainly shot in one house with taut editing that keeps up the suspense in the film.
Breaking away from B.R. Films, Yash Chopra launched his own production banner Yashraj Films with Daag (1973). He then entered one of his best phases with Amitabh- Deewar (1975). Kabhi Kabhie (1976), a love story across two generations, and Trishul (1978) among others.
Deewaar is probably one of the most memorable Hindi films of all time. The film is a perfect amalgamation of two older classics Ganga Jamuna ( 1961), that looks at the good brother v/s the bad brother and Mother India ( 1957)in which the mother undergoes all sorts of hardships to bring up her sons on her own. The film contains all the stock-in-trade elements of the Indian melodrama - The good and bad brother, the long suffering mother as the central moral force, divine intervention and religious symbols but what sets it apart is the taut script (perhaps the best ever Salim-Javed Script), the powerful dialogues and above all a powerhouse performance by Amitabh Bachchan as the son driven to crime - perhaps his best ever! The film is one of a series in which he plays the 'angry young man'- the lone rebel, the man seeking personal vengeance and social justice, operating outside and more efficiently than the law- A far cry from the sensitive poet of Kabhie Kabhie.
The 1980s saw Yash Chopra go through a rough patch as one after another - Silsila (1981) (trying to capitalize on the real life Amitabh-Jaya Bhaduri-Rekha triangle), Mashaal (1984), Faasle (1985), Vijay (1988) all flopped. However Chandni (1989), a love triangle with memorable music and a great central performance by Sridevi, brought him back in the reckoning.
Lamhe (1991) a beautiful and sensitive film of cross-generational love however did not go down with audiences who found it incestuous though there are many who regard it to be Yash Chopra's best film.
His last film till date Dil to Paagal Hai (1997), a love triangle with the musical theatre as the backdrop is refreshingly young and hip as it plays off against the traditional beliefs of an ordinary girl (Madhuri Dixit) that she would find true love someday. Though a huge success at the box office it was met with lukewarm critical response.
Today his son Aditya too has become a filmmaker and has kept the Yashraj Films Banner flying high first with Dilwaale Dulhania Le Jaayenge (1995), the Banner's biggest success and perhaps the best mainstream Hindi Film of the last six years and now Mohobbatien.
Overall to become a successful director, you need confidence, strength, imagination and quick thoughts! I don’t know about any other director but Yash Chopra has all of that in his directing skills! He has created a lot of wonderful films. His newest Veer-Zaara (2004) was a wonderful film as well. And one of the most magical director in the film industry, Yash Chopra.
Thanks for reading my review! I tried my best to find some good wordings to go with the sentences. Hope you liked the review! Do comment and rate! :)
Anusha Out--------->
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