Yash Chopra, touted as Bollywood’s very own king of Romance, contribution to Indian cinema is no doubt exceptional. The way he wove human emotions into a story could be felt easily on the silver screen. He was of a belief that he doesn’t make romantic films rather he makes films on human relationships.
Be it Kabhi Kabhie (1976), Silsila (1981), Chandni (1989), Lamhe (1991) or Dil To Pagal Hai (1997) and Veer-Zaara (2004), his bouquet of work says it all.
The filmmaker was married to Pamela Chopra, and the couple has two sons, Aditya Chopra, and Uday Chopra. Yash Chopra died of Dengue on October 21, 2012, in Mumbai.
On 87th birth anniversary of Yash Chopra, here’s looking at lesser-known facts about the legendary filmmaker:
- Yash Chopra made his debut as a director Dhool Ka Phool (1959). His elder brother BR Chopra used to produce his films earlier.
- He named his production house Yashraj films that started in 1973. The first production was late Rajesh Khanna starrer Daag. It is said that the raj in Yashraj was for Rajesh Khanna.
- He shot so many films in Switzerland that one of his favorite shooting spots, a lake in Alpenrausch, has been renamed Chopra Lake. Switzerland’s Jungfrau Railways started a train after Yash Chopra that was also launched by him.
- Initially, he roped in Smita Patil and Parveen Babi for Silsila (1981) but then he expressed to Amitabh that he wanted to have Jaya Bachchan and Rekha on board for the film. Big B told him they should discuss the idea with the two actors and when approached, both Jaya and Rekha agreed.
- Reportedly, Yash Chopra is the one who encouraged Javed Akhtar to pursue writing lyrics and he helped Akhtar star his career as a lyricist with Silsila.
- Veer Zara was originally titled ‘Yeh Kahaan Aa Gaye Hum’ after the famous song in the film, Silsila. Then he thought Veer-Zaara suits the story of the film that released in 2004.
