01x01 - The Boy from Jalandhar

[bunniefuu]

Hi.

-Nice to meet you. I'm Lars.
-Hi.

- Hi. How you doing?
-Hi.

No problem, lovely to see you.

Good to see you.
Hi, how are you? Where do I sit?

So 35 people to interview, huh?

Yeah. At least.

Is this okay?

How much elbow room do I have?

- You have full room.
-Full.

-Gesture as much as you want.
-Okay.

So look at you and talk.

Which accent
should I do this in now?

Should I start with,
like, an Indian accent?

- We can talk about New York.
- Yeah.

Um, we can talk about,
um, Jab Tak Hai Jaan.

I could do a British accent.

I could do the entire interview like that.

Reflection. No reflection.
Lot of reflection.

Or I can just talk like this.

I can say controversial things
as well if you like.

Couple of rumors.

Don't ask me
when Salman Khan will get married.

Give me a minute

so I run through this for a second.
The first part.

I don't know what I'm in for,
but let's go.

Hmm.

I don't have any,
like pieces, in between my teeth, right?

Clean?

We're noisy people.

Let's make sure
that we don't open the door.

Even on a film set.
This is how you just go.

Rolling?

Check five, four, three, two, one.

Yeah, now sound level.

-Sound, one, two, three.

Fantastic. Mind-boggling. Let's go.

I wanted to be an actor

since as far back
as I can really remember.

There is nothing that, uh,
fascinated me more than Hindi films.

Just picture this,
like, little, slightly overweight kid

sitting on the floor
in front of the television screen,

um, while all the kids
are playing outside, you know.

I was just engrossed,
besotted, fascinated, wide-eyed.

It was a very, very
fascinating, uh, world for me.

What are we all about?

We're an incredible, incredible place.

We're a country
of so many cultures, so many religions.

There's the colors of Rajasthan,
the rituals of South India,

the magnanimity
and large-heartedness of the north.

We're a force
to reckon in the world

as far as cinema is concerned.

We're the largest
filmmaking country in the world.

We churn out about
700 to 800 films a year.

That's a lot.

Our cinema is as much
a part of our lives in India

as much as you wake up
in the morning and brush your teeth.

It's just an inherent part of Indians.

They are fanatic about two things.
One is cricket and one is movies.

Films that come out
of India are completely unique to India

and to our ethos and to our culture.

And they don't try
to be like anybody else.

Hindi films
are known worldwide

for their music,
for their dancing, for their vibrancy,

for their ability to tell a story
through a beautiful melody as well.

There's beauty in the cinema
the Indian filmmakers have stuck to

vis-à-vis music.

Or keeping it still like a musical format.

I think song and dance
is so unique to India,

which is unbelievable. Like, people…

Most of the people in the West,
they don't understand what's happening.

"Why are they singing,
and are they really singers?"

I mean, they don't understand the concept
of lip-synching or playback singing.

Like, in the West,
if you're singing, you sing for yourself.

That doesn't happen in India.

We have
a very old culture.

I mean our culture
is really more than 4,000 years old.

You know, plays and theater
have been part of our culture

from the dawn of time,
so we know what we're doing.

I think Indian culture has a lot,

you know, in terms of
style and luxury and art.

Whether it's our textiles,
whether it is our jewelry,

whether it's the lifestyle
of the prince and princesses,

the maharajas.

The way the West
perceives Indian cinema,

it's not about sadhus, it's not about…

-Snake charmers.
-…uh, snake charmers.

Not about elephants, and cows running.

We have come a long way.

Today, because
we have to term them as something,

we term them as a drama, or a romance,
or an action film, or a comedy,

but actually we have everything in it.

Our movies are like our food
and our thalis.

There's a little bit of everything in it.
Every emotion and every style.

And that's what our audiences like.

You can't play
with the emotion of 1.32 billion people.

That's like every seventh guy
in the world is an Indian.

We've very strong emotions.

After sex, cinema is the only best
form of entertainment in the world.

For Indians at least.

I come from
a very lower middle-class family.

Television was hardly existent.

There was one channel.
Um, the state-owned channel.

And it showed a movie every Sunday.

That also we would go
and watch in our neighbor's house

who had a television,

and who would, uh, graciously allow
all the kids to come and sit on a dari.

The good thing was there was
no advertising between the films.

My dad used to look
at the Times of India

and decide which movie we're gonna watch.

Only if it's a good review.

Doordarshan had started showing
some black and white films

and those used to fascinate me.

We would go
to a movie theater rarely.

Um, once a year, or something like that.

Going to theater
was a very big thing.

You went when it was an occasion,
or it was a big film.

You know, there used to be
black marketing of tickets.

Guys, very under your breath,
walking and standing next to you

and saying, "Dus ka panch,
dus ka panch, dus ka panch."

Which is like, "Five rupee ticket for ten,
five for ten, five for ten."

So it used to be a big high.

I'd ride back on my cycle,
tell Mom, "I've managed."

Even that was a big thing, to manage
a ticket for a big release or whatever.

This year's special presentation

with the top 23 stars…

When I was growing up,

that there was the first
multi-starrer film.

Sadhana. Raj Kumar.

Shashi Kapoor.

Which meant that
many actors, famous actors were in it.

It was made by a gentleman
called Mr. Yash Chopra.

And, uh, it was called Waqt.

But in those years,
directors were not public figures,

actors were public figures,
stars were public figures.

So there were two, three names,
uh, which used to circulate around

as great filmmakers,
or good filmmakers, or big filmmakers.

Actually, I'll be honest. It used to be
people who make big films.

They just looked big and beautiful.

But Mr. Yash Chopra was one of the guys
that you didn't miss a film of.

And if it happens to be with
an Amitabh Bachchan or Rajesh Khanna

then you didn't miss it at all.

I watched the masters.

I watched vintage Raj Kapoor.

Guru Dutt, Bimal Roy
and all those beautiful movies.

But it was Yash Chopra's cinema
that caught my eye.

You absolutely know
that a filmmaker has made a huge mark

when you call his cinema
a "school of cinema."

He's done drama, he's done action.

He's done every kind of film.

But for me Yash Chopra stood for romance.

Whether it was Kabhi Kabhie
or Chandni or Silsila.

For me, Chandni and Lamhe
have to be my all-time classics.

Because those are the two films I
grew up watching and I was mesmerized.

Something that stands out
in his films is a sense of grandness.

And not just in the way scenes were shot,

but also at a thematic level.

His films talk about eternal love,
there's bit of destiny thrown in.

The way that Yashji portrayed
his heroines was so dignified

and graceful, and layered.

The heroine always wore
something lovely in chiffon.

And it was always that happy,
Punjabi family, well-to-do.

He kind of showed
a lifestyle, glamour,

and I was really,
really fascinated as a child.

I would wonder, "Do people really go
to a 5-star hotel to just have coffee?"

You would expect
great music, iconic music.

Everything is glossy,
and frothy, and beautiful.

I think most cinema today
that is made in the commercial norms

is all cut from the same cloth
that Yash Uncle started.

I saw people
that looked beautiful,

women looked stunning,
the men looked handsome.

And I just watched it transfixed.

I just became obsessed
with watching his films.

And I felt that "Who is this man
who is constantly responsible

for mesmerizing me as a child?"

Yash Chopra was from Jalandhar.

Five brothers and a sister.
And he was the youngest.

They were from a very humble background.

They weren't really one of those
fancy type of rich people, you know.

They were simple people.

B.R. Chopra was the eldest.

Yash looked at him,
not only as an elder brother,

but even as a father.

Because there was a big age gap
between the two of them.

And Mr. B.R. Chopra
was the one who made it.

Because he was
the educated person in the family.

He made it somehow as a journalist,
then he became a writer,

then he started making films.
Then he came to Bombay.

Bombay sees the first script
of the Independence Day celebrations

as Lord Mountbatten bids farewell
to the first British troops to leave India

since the transfer of power.

I think the partition
really had a deep impact

on everybody's psyche.

The Indian peninsula
has been divided into two nations,

India and Pakistan,

each of them self-governing states
within the British…

It's not an easy thing
to be a democratic republic

after 10,000 years
of being something else altogether.

Government buildings
in New Delhi all aglow,

to mark the 10th anniversary
of India's independence.

Prime Minister Nehru recalls
the progress made by the nation

in ten years of democratic government

and holds high hope
for the future of India

and her 380 million independent citizens.

Yash Chopra's
elder brother, B.R. Chopra,

started making films in the early '50s.

And I think Yash definitely
looked up to B.R. Chopra.

He was a big name.

He had started working with big stars
including Ashok Kumar, Dilip Kumar.

B.R. Chopra was not just
a very prominent filmmaker,

but he was also a filmmaker

who was really driven by ideals, you know.

Who shared with Nehru
and other political leaders at that time,

this idea of using cinema
as a tool for nation building.

It wasn't something
just for entertainment.

Film Industry, moving pictures,
play an enormous part today

in influencing directly
or sometimes indirectly,

the thinking of human beings.

So when Yash Chopra enters
B.R. Films and that wave of optimism,

he can't help but be swept by it.

Yashji came to Bombay
and started to assist within B.R. Films.

When Yashji was working for B.R. Chopra,
he was a salaried person.

He was no partner or nothing like that.

Yashji became
an assistant on a very famous film,

which is now considered
a classic, Naya Daur.

And, uh, his brother,
B.R. Chopra, must have seen

great potential
in his younger brother and said,

"Okay, he could direct a film."

So in 1959, Yash Chopra makes
his debut film, which was Dhool Ka Phool.

A very message-oriented film.

My goodness!

Which is an examination
of "What does an illegitimate child mean?"

It was a remarkable
film, not just for its timing,

but also for its sensitivity.

It was made by somebody, who in his head,

did not differentiate the Punjab of India,
from, uh, the Punjab of Pakistan.

Both the states, both the countries
in which he spent his formative years in.

And this is quite
evident in the kinds of film

Yash Chopra made early on.

You don't know history.

They wrecked a thousand temples
and made mosques.

But they still couldn't succeed.

Hinduism is so strong
they couldn't wipe it out.

What religion are you harping on about?

There has been so much bloodshed
in the name of religion.

His second film, Dharmputra,

is a very direct take
on Hindu fundamentalism.

India was partitioned.

Also, it talks
about the trauma of partition.

In this darkness,
except for the fire

and the screams…

But he was somebody
who had a poetic take to things, you know.

A certain kind of predisposition
for softness in emotions

and that you can see.

Four years later, he makes this
pretty grand, opulent film called Waqt.

It's as much of a high
society entertainer as it can be.

The kind of film that has inspired
the likes of Karan Johar, you know.

And it kind of set a dominant
kind of filmmaking grammar,

at least in terms of production design,
at least in terms of story line.

You're still lost in the past.

Waqt was a blockbuster.

And, uh, I think he was really taken in
by the charms of the film industry.

He was a born filmmaker.

And, you know,
they are these god-sent people who are…

It's… it's in them.

And he flowed with whatever
was happening under the B.R. camp.

He was quite happy with that environment.

Till before he got married.

Actually, we met
for the first time, early in 1970.

He had come to Delhi
to take the examination

for the Film Institute of India.

And he was supposed
to be there only for one day,

but he missed his flight the next day.

So these friends of ours
who knew him also

came over to invite me for dinner

and take permission from my parents.

That was the rule at that time.

But I had already met him
once before, and said no.

Because I found him a little strange.

Like, he would not hesitate
to say the wildest thing.

And I was in a cotton dhoti,

not made up, nothing,
no hair done, nothing.

I said, "If you want me
to come like this, I'll come."

I am not going to dress up
for someone I didn't even like.

So I went, and strangely enough
I found him very attractive

because he had in his mind decided
that he's not interested in me.

And I had also decided in my mind
that I am not interested in him.

And the next thing I knew,
his brother and his sister-in-law

were flying in to Delhi to meet me.

I got married.

I went on my honeymoon.

And on my honeymoon,

I just thought that after directing
five films at B.R. Films…

I thought it's high time
I should fly on my own wings.

He has always been
under the umbrella of his brother.

First when we
came to Bombay after marriage,

we were staying with them.

One day, Yash got up and said,

"Look, we're shifting out of this house."

B.R. Films treated the
Kardar Studio employees to a lavish feast.

I had the shelter,
the protection of my big brother…

…with Producer B.R. Chopra.

…under the banner of B.R. Films.

After the dinner,
B.R. Chopra and Yash Chopra

were presented with flowers
by well-wishers.

I had no business sense.

I was not a newcomer as a director,
but I was a newcomer as a producer.

I was so scared
about what's going to happen.

So he said,
"Am I taking the right step?"

I said, "What do you feel
right inside you?"

"Are you taking the right step?"

Somewhere my inner self was saying,
"Either now or never, you have to do it."

His brother
was not very happy, mind you.

Because he would lose
one talented director from his company.

Gulshan Rai, then the distributor
of B.R. Chopra,

and he was a big financer also,
he called Yashji.

Gulshan Rai
was a really big shot in those days.

I mean, he was the most powerful
distributor and financier.

He came to me.

"I hear you want to produce a film."

"Any amount of money,
whatever terms you want, I'm with you."

Mr. Gulshan Rai
was so generous, so wonderful.

He had faith in me as a director,
as a businessman or as a man.

We started
with one room, 10 by 20.

And that is where Yash Raj Films was born.

After having made five films
under the B.R. Films banner,

Yash Chopra decided
to branch out on his own.

So in 1970,
Yash Chopra creates Yash Raj Films.

And a year later in 1971,
makes the first film for the banner,

this drama called Daag.

Daag had Rajesh Khanna,
who was a very big name,

Sharmila Tagore and Rakhee.

They were three big stars.

The film Daag, when it was complete,

all the distributers came to see the film.

They said, "Wonderful, wonderful."

But in a very subdued way.

And Mr. Gulshan Rai
told me in a very subtle way,

"It may not do well."

And now it's my test as a producer.

If the picture doesn't do well,
people will say,

"Yash doesn't know anything."

For many nights he didn't sleep,

before the release of the film.

And then of course,
Yash's first film was a hit.

And then, he didn't believe it
when it was declared a hit.

He was probably
the most modest person in the world.

Like, if he got an award,
or an honor or something,

first thing he would tell me,

"Do you think I really deserve this?"

I said,
"Yes, you must go and get it."

You can't help but feel excited
on Yash Chopra's behalf

in the early '70s.

He's not just a young producer,
he's a young husband, he's a young father.

And he's somebody who is looking forward.

Now contrast that to the country
that he finds himself in.

The Pakistan Army
commenced its operation

to discipline the Bengali people.

Long live Bangladesh!

The government of
India could not remain a silent spectator.

Situation is leading the two countries
to a point of no return.

All the great promises
of an independent nation…

Pakistan launched
a surprise air-strike

on Indian airfields
in the western command area.

…those grand promises of independence,

all of that was sort of souring.

We had, first,
the events in Bangladesh,

leading to the stream of refugees.

Then the w*r, and then…

There was corruption, there was
anarchy, in parts of the country.

Mujibur will win!

Mujibur will win!

And then of course, Emergency in 1975.

The Allahabad High Court

found Indira Gandhi guilty
of electoral malpractices.

When the Emergency was enforced,

Indira Gandhi's government
assumed dictatorial powers

and crushed all dissent.

Thousands of media persons
were jailed and the judiciary was…

In 1975, you have the Emergency,

which gives a set of Draconian principles

and it locks down the country.

For two years,
the press has no freedom at all.

-And in that climate, there is a backlash.

And the backlash comes
in the form of the Angry Young Man,

which is modelled, to near perfection
by Amitabh Bachchan.

Overnight, the hero changed,
the face of the hero changed.

Hand over the briefcase… or else…

Okay.

I'll forget this briefcase
full of gold, Raj Singh.

But I won't forget you.

Here you go.

Amitji was playing this Angry Young Man

who's not the "squeaky clean"
kind of a hero.

He would be a rebel,
he would be someone who is a criminal…

The nozzle
is aimed at your brains.

…but whose heart is on the right side.

This isn't your plate,
it has my name written on it.

Who are you?

And Amitabh Bachchan
became the voice of the common man.

He became their hero,
their role model that they rooted for.

Cinema at that point of time
was only Amitabh Bachchan.

Everything was about him.

It was, like, invariably a ritual.

Like, if we went out
to watch a movie as kids,

we'd come back home
and re-enact parts of that movie.

We never understood
the emotional sub-text.

That's something we
never thought about as kids.

For us it was,
"Oh, my God, this is so cool."

Abhishek and I
used to play together as kids.

And the common fight between us was

who's going to be Amitabh Bachchan?

And he was like, "I'm his son."

I said, "You can't
every time be Amitabh Bachchan."

Because we were crazy fans.
Like, at that point,

he was the superstar, right?
Everybody wanted to be him.

At Indiana University,

where I'd gone to do
my under-graduate in media studies

thinking I'd get a job in Chicago,
New York, as a copywriter.

And in my second year, uh,
I was late to register for classes,

there was one seat left and it happened
to be Acting I for non-majors.

And on the first day,
the instructor asked us

to just get up and perform something.

You want to say a poem,
you want to dance, just do it.

So I was like, "Okay. Uh,
got to do something I know how to do."

I… And I knew the words
of the monologue from Deewaar.

Your rules and your principles.

What good are they?

Your principles cannot feed you, Ravi!

I started performing
in front of the class

and there was an African-American student,

there was a Korean student,

there were people who didn't understand
the Hindi language at all.

We grew up
on this footpath together.

But you got left behind and here I am.

Today, I have buildings, properties,
bank balance, bungalows, cars.

What do you have?

I have my mother.

And they were like…
Like that.

You know? And I went for it.
Like, I was like…

Because there is also no other way
to deliver this monologue, okay?

You can't speak about Hindi
cinema without speaking about Deewaar.

Deewaar was the template
of the Angry Young Man.

I think what
Yash Chopra created in Deewaar

catapulted Mr. Bachchan
to being who he became.

A lot of people thought
Deewaar is an action film.

In Deewaar, there was only one fight.

Otherwise that was a film of family drama.

Two brothers, mother.

My early memory of Yashji
is in his flashy sports car

driving down Marine Drive.

And Yashji was always looked upon
as this new-age young director

who was wanting to make different films.

Salim-Javed suggested that
Mr. Yash Chopra should direct Deewaar.

Now Yashji, by that time,
had established himself as a director

who worked more in beautiful sceneries,

objects and the beauty of nature.

But Deewaar was very rugged.

And one wondered whether he would accept
to do something like this.

Yashji never lost his mind
towards nature and towards romance

even when he was doing
a film like Deewaar.

So there is a shot
where I've decided to go and take revenge

and I've put up my revolver,
and I'm looking very intensely.

And the camera shifts
and goes to a bouquet of roses.

I said, "Hey, Yashji,
this is a very intense scene."

"We're talking about b*ll*ts
and things like that."

"Why are you
going to a bouquet?"

"It looks nice."

I think marriage
and becoming a father

had a significant influence

on, uh, Yash Chopra's filmmaking life.

As it would do to perhaps to any director.

And you get the sense
that there's the personal

that's beautifully melding
into the professional.

We don't call the wife
the better half without reason.

Pam was somewhere in the background,

but all her thoughts, her thinking
were always in the foreground.

Pamji was a big contributor to Yashji's,
uh, success in the initial years.

Especially when he started off on his own.

She was a world woman.

Educated, intelligent, articulate.

The kind of importance
Yashji had on the set,

Pam Chopra had off the set.

She's an automatic organizer. It's in her.

She was the one who made sure
that everybody knew everybody

and everybody kept in touch
with everybody.

Music is my passion, actually.

Yash knew that, and invited me
to attend the music sitting.

And slowly I became a part of that group.

My mother had
a really good sense of music and song.

We have this gadda room,
you know, in our house,

which was like the music room.

And it was specifically created
for a creatively inducive environment.

I remember as kids playing outside

and we heard these songs going on inside

and my mother and father would be
going through different pieces of music,

trying to figure what fits,
what doesn't fit.

Working with a lyricist.

And I think the credit
of getting Punjabi music into the films

was partly Pam Chopraji's.

Till today it's such an integral part

and all the hit songs
which we all dance to today

are having a Punjabi background.

I think once my father got married,

he was very interested
in my mother's point of view.

So he would always ask her, you know,
what is the woman's perspective.

And I think you will see that change
in his movies post-marriage.

Having a partner by his
side who's a keen, intelligent mind,

I think, started to imbue his films,
not just with a certain kind of softness,

but also with a very keen awareness
about his female characters.

In fact, she's the one
who's written the story of Kabhi Kabhie.

Tomorrow,
new leaves will sprout.

And new flowers will blossom.

Fresh new footsteps
will leave their mark on new grasslands.

After every successful film,

a director wants to try something new.

I think Kabhi Kabhie

in a way, it was an art film.

An experiment in romance.

I just
want to be happy in life.

But it was the biggest
star cast possible at that time.

So people thought
I'm making a very commercial film.

We shot for Deewaar for several months.

Within ten or 15 days,
we started Kabhi Kabhie.

The switchover from something
so aggressive and so dark,

suddenly to shift to an environment

which is full of flowers
and mountains and snow,

it was a very adventurous switchover.

But the ease
with which he just adapted to that

was just quite remarkable.

Kabhi Kabhie is a story of a young poet.

He falls in love with a woman.

What's your name?

Pooja.

But her parents get her
married to another person, an architect.

My wedding gift for you.

And Amitabh Bachchan
is pretty heart broken.

So Amitabh Bachchan quits poetry,

he gets married to another character
played by Waheeda Rehman.

Strange, isn't it?

Then the film cuts two decades later

and dives into the lives
of the younger generation.

Kabhi Kabhie was a picnic.

I mean, I think Yashji had
the whole script in his head.

-Hmm.
-But he never made us feel what's going…

We were just having fun.

We were playing games,
and we were eating and just joking.

I didn't even know what I was doing.

I mean, he was… You wanted
my role in the movie, remember?

No, mine is a different story altogether.

When I was approached
for Kabhi Kabhie,

I didn't want to do the film

because I felt if they gave me
Neetu's role, I would do that.

-He wanted to reverse the roles.
-Reverse.

But Yashji said, "That's the girl's role.
How can we give that to you?"

I said, "You make it into a male."

Then why did you say
that I have another mother?

I don't have another mom.

You know,
perhaps I was a little childish,

I do not know what the reason was.

But then came my uncle,
who sat me down and, you know--

-Shashi Kapoor.
-Made me understand.

Shashi Kapoor
and Yashji made me understand.

They convinced me, took me to Srinagar,
they shot about 14, 15 scenes

-in that one day I was there with them.

Then I was stuck
in the continuity in the film.

Not that, you know, I was going…
And I said, "Oh, my God, now I'm stuck."

But now, when I look back
in retrospect, I feel that

how stupid, how silly I was.

What a lovely role he had.

I would've missed out
on such a wonderful film,

which is probably,
you know, few of the very

lovely romantic films
we have made in this country.

One of the most memorable things
about Kabhi Kabhie

is that it really empowers
its female characters.

The narrative of Kabhi Kabhie
was driven by a woman.

Yes?

Because it was the main
mastery role. That led the narrative.

My name is Pinky.

The film is very clear-eyed

about the agency
that the female characters have.

Who is this?

Not just
making decisions for themselves,

but owning up
to their decisions, their losses,

their happiness, joys,
and things like that.

I will not
make you suffer anymore.

I promise.

Kabhi Kabhie is extremely nuanced,

and extremely complex

and the things it's saying
about a relationship, about marriage

is very different
from traditional notions of women

and fidelity, and what…
You know, "You can love only one person."

Are you happy?

Yes, I'm happy
from the conventional point of view.

These were mature scenes,
they were modern scenes.

They are scenes people avoid.
But I have put it. These are the scenes.

These are the… In fact, this is life.

Sometimes my heart tells me

life could have passed
in the shade of your long tresses.

And I think
Kabhi Kabhie also reintroduced

a vulnerable,

gentle Hindi film hero
that needn't be so macho all the time.

This is when
Mr. Bachchan stopped being

the incredible force,
and the Angry Young Man that he was.

He made some brilliant films.

But by the time I was growing up,
he was making the cinema,

uh, which perhaps a young guy
wasn't so, uh, inclined towards.

There were lovely, beautiful women and men

and talking romance, and poetry.

My mom loved them, my sister loved them.
Everybody around us loved them.

Me, to be really honest, I'm like,
"Why is Mr. Bachchan playing a poet?"

"Why can't he beat up people?"

Did you ever sit back
and analyze why your film went wrong?

Why it didn't meet up
to commercial expectations?

At this point of time,
Indian cinema had a sea change.

There were only action films being made.

There was not much of room
for any kind of social or romantic films.

People didn't give it a chance,
didn't want to see it.

They wanted to save their money
to see a big star

who's gonna be doing an action film.

- Beat them!
-Come on!

The '80s,
you know, with the onset of VCR,

was really just a low point.

Middle-class people
just stopped going into theaters.

I remember we used to
hire a VCR and a color TV

and we used to watch films on VHS tapes.

Just playback all the programs
that you've missed.

There used to be a boy
who would come to your door

with the pirated cassettes,
you know, in his bag.

And he would just give you the film
probably on the same day or the day after.

The group who can afford a VCR,
which is to say middle-class families,

they start to desert theaters.

And what that contributes to is

a change in class composition,
in the audience.

A group of audience that is pejoratively
described as "the front benchers."

We started deriving from
the cinema made in the south.

We became a bit of a wannabe movement
at that point of time.

So there was a lot of color,
and kitschness.

The '80s were
normally a time of excess

and I don't know if it was my favorite
decade in Indian cinema.

The kind of cinema
that came out in the early '80s

was, uh, cinema that
I personally didn't like.

And as a person
who belonged to a film family,

I would want to see better cinema
coming out of the film world.

But Yash Chopra was so different
from everything made around him.

And that's why he met
with some failure in that phase,

uh, because I think his aesthetics

weren't going with the grain
of India that had become.

I think in that environment,

uh, somebody with
the sensibility of Yashji

was probably just flailing around,
trying to figure out

what hits, you know, what connects?

In every director's life,
a time comes when he gets confused.

He doesn't know what to do.

I made three films.

One film from my heart,
and still I say it's from my heart,

-Silsila.
- Silsila.

It worked very well.

I'm very proud of that film.

But it didn't come to the box office
as was expected.

Mashaal didn't come up to the expectation.

That liquor belonged
to my friend. I want the cost.

Otherwise I'll rip you in half,
you idiot scrap seller!

It affected all our careers.
Yeah. That film didn't do well. Yeah.

It was a setback.

Unfortunately,
Faasle also tanked.

And Yash used to
take it all very personally.

Especially when a film
that he really loved didn't do well.

He used to get very low, very depressed.

Not want to meet anybody,
or talk to anybody or anything.

And then, of course, he had to make a film

which is kind of an ensemble,
like a multi-starrer.

And like a rehash of all his old films.

He said, "Let me make
a hardcore commercial film

with song, and dance,

and, uh, little bit of sex
thrown in here and there."

"And bikini shots and conflict scenes."

I made a very calculated
commercial decision.

-Hmm.
-I can't say this film was from my heart.

I think during
the making of the film,

I could feel that he was not feeling,
uh, creatively, uh,

you know, enjoying the process.
Even I didn't enjoy it.

I think none of us
were enjoying the process.

At that time I was making Vijay.

I thought, "What am I doing?"

What am I doing?

Where has
the softness inside me gone?

So when I was
sh**ting sometime in Vijay,

he told me, "I want to make this film.
And it's a love story."

Our industry had reached
the saturation point of violence.

I said, "Okay. Now I'll do
the biggest gamble of my life."

"Whatever happens."

"I won't make a film with formula,

with calculation,
with this one, this one, that one."

"I'll make a film which touches my heart."

- That was Chandni.
-I started Chandni.

- Where is Chandni?
-I don't know where she is roaming around.

The topmost star
at that time was Sridevi.

I had never worked with Sridevi.

I had seen one film
which impressed me very much.

- Yeah.
-Amitji showed me the movie.

And I was very much impressed
by her performance.

You shouldn't talk
while eating.

He was so low in his, uh…

You know, he didn't know
how to approach her.

So he asked my brother
to go and speak to her.

So my brother flew down to Chennai
and spoke to her mother.

And, uh, it didn't matter to her

who is Yash Chopra,
who has made such great films.

It was just the money, you know.

Chandni benefitted from Sridevi,

uh, more than Sridevi benefitted
from the film at that time.

Because, I mean,
she was a real big deal, you know.

I just remember one day.

One very prominent critic told me,

"How come you're making this movie?"

He says, "Vinod Khanna is in the movie.
And there's no action."

"There's no highlights in the movie."

If you think a fight is a highlight,
I feel a song is a highlight.

It's a bigger highlight because

a song remains with you
after you go out of the theater.

Yash was always known as a person

who dressed his actresses beautifully.

I remember walking into the room
once, while he was reading the Vogue.

I said, "Uncle, wow, you're
reading the Vogue? That's so cool."

He's like, "I'm referencing costumes."

I sometimes cancel 50, 60 costumes
if they don't come in my vision.

He had visualized Chandni

in a completely white wardrobe.

I wanted to dress her very simply.

"Chandni" means purity,
means whiteness, means innocence.

So she came to Yash and she said,

"Yashji, what is this white?"

"It's so dull."

I said, "Sridevi, I have faith

in your talent
and performance as an actress."

"If you have faith in me as a director,

I'd like to present you as I want it."

And the mother came.

"Yash Chopraji, white in our community
is not considered festive at all."

So Yash said,

"Listen, Mummyji."

"This is my vision."

Somehow he managed to convince her,
but she was not completely convinced.

There was no money,

they had taken this bank overdraft
and they were making Chandni.

It was like a last-ditch effort.

I know for a fact that Yashji knew
that if this film doesn't work,

he was going to, uh, close shop.

Because he knew this was his last b*llet.

Do you remember
the first time you saw Chandni?

Yes, I remember. It was the premiere.

At the end of the screening,

I was taking leaps of love.

Like, at my reaction. I had gone crazy.

I was already ready to watch that film
all seven days of the next week.

But I walked out to such a tepid
and such a lukewarm reaction.

"It's too long, there are too many songs."

"What's it really about?"

"Who's gonna get it?
This isn't a commercial film."

And I was like,
"Why aren't people getting it?"

One of the distributors rang me up.

He doesn't want to release the picture.

He wanted to leave this film.

And I remember that
we were in a hotel corridor

and the first report of the film
not doing well had come.

And the walk
from the elevator to his room, I could…

From the moment
he came out of the elevator,

he was a different man.

When Chandni premiered,

a lot of messages
passed through the country.

"Another flop is coming.
Don't give them theaters."

He was very
demoralized in those days.

He said, "I don't know, I had dreams,

but I don't know
if I'll be making films now."

Then we heard reports that,
mixed reports, it's maybe not doing well

or some people have not liked it,
and this and that.

So I remember
being a part of that conversation

and feeling the, uh… jitters.

But as destiny has it, Chandni had worked.

Ladies and gentlemen,
big hand to the multi-talented team

who has made Chandni.

And then, there was no looking back
for Yash Chopra.

The film had just
picked up, and gone crazy.

The north had taken to it.
The music had become a blockbuster album.

It had gone against
what the entire trade had predicted.

Oh, my God, like,
she was just so fantastic and beautiful

and vulnerable,
but she was still so womanly.

Like, every woman wanted to be Sridevi.

She was, I think, the epitome of
I would say grace, beauty, performance.

She was just everything
that a Hindi film actress needed to have.

You see a lot of
beautiful actresses, who are good actors,

good with their craft.

But having great comic timing is a rarity.

And Sridevi was blessed with that.

It was the first movie,
according to me,

which opened the doors for romance.

It did. We're still all reaping
the benefits of that phase.

It was actually a newer language.

You know, she broke into this dance,

which was a projection
of the predicament in her mind.

And I was just,
"What is this? This is like new."

It was that sort of heightened
romance that only he could envision.

You know, throwing rose petals on a woman
from a helicopter, you know.

What are you doing?

And it paid off,
it was a humongous hit.

After Chandni, people started

coming back to cinema
to see romantic films.

Suddenly we saw the whole concept changing
from action to romantic.

Oh, my God, romantic films are in.
Chandni has become a huge hit.

And, you know, romantic films are in now.

The cinema that Yashji gave us
is a cinema of aspiration,

it's a cinema of hope.

It's a cinema that just sort of
makes you feel that you can dream.

He brought Switzerland back on the map.

We got Switzerland.

At that time,
few of us had the disposable income

to go to Switzerland and see these things.

And so, we travelled vicariously
through these movies.

And it is our great honor to now dedicate

suite number 250 for you, Mr. Chopra.

Switzerland should be indebted
to Mr. Yash Chopra

for the rest of their lives,
which they are.

It's indeed a great pleasure
and great honor

to have director Yash Chopra…

They have a suite under his name,
they have a train under his name.

In the bus, I was traveling
from Geneva to Gstaad,

and the bus driver
was introducing as if we are tourists.

"You'll be passing a lake.
This lake is called Chopra Lake."

-Little knowing Chopra is sitting…
- That it was named after you.

-The ambassador of Interlaken.

Thank you.

Then I'd like to thank
all my stars, technicians, workers

who have worked with me
for so long, such a long time

to achieve this success
and this new life to Yash Raj Films unit.

You get the sense that Yash Chopra
and the production house itself

is rising from the ashes.

That it has started to come into being.

Uh, there are
different other changes. Even at…

Both at the personal
and the professional level.

This young man called Aditya Chopra
has, uh, has just begun his career.

Did you have an inkling
that Adi would grow up to be a director?

Uh, of course.

That wasn't even a discussion.

I mean, that was just…
I don't even remember thinking about it.

'Cause you just knew that Adi was…
That's all, his world was cinema.

I was sure that,
uh, that he would be a filmmaker.

But I think he's gone much beyond that.

I think he's not just a filmmaker now.

I think he's, uh, he's a creator
of cinema in a larger sense.

He's on the forefront of our industry.

I… I tried to interview Adi
when I first started

and of course that didn't go anywhere.

What is the deal?
Why is he so reclusive?

Anti-social? I've no clue.

I have a clue, but I'm not going
to tell you that.

He's very, very private.

He hates going out,
he hates, uh, promoting his own movies,

he hates it.
He just wants to be left alone.

I… I think, uh, Adi is very clear.

"I want to write a story,
and I want to make a film."

"When I'm not writing a story
or making a film,

I want to help others write a story,
and make a film as a producer."

Don't be so shy, now come on.

Adi, come on.

Don't be so camera-conscious, okay?

How do you feel, Adi?

Adi! Aditya Chopra,
the great director.

The one and only genius
of Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge

is right now limping out the door.

Is Adi going to talk to you or no?

Would it, uh,
surprise you, if I told you that

he shot with us extensively,
like, he gave us--

What?

-He'll be on camera?
- Yeah.

What are you saying?

Wow!

He's never given…

That's a big one. That's a big one!

Adi even came to my wedding,
like, covering his face.

Will Aditya Chopra
finally make a public appearance?

The reclusive director Aditya Chopra…

Aditya Chopra…

Aditya Chopra is very shy

and does not like to be clicked
by paparazzi.

Has Aditya finally decided
to be photographed?

I can't believe it.

I can hardly believe that
he actually sat in front of the camera

and expressed himself.

He hates it.

What was his last interview,
like, 20 years ago? I don't know.

Jeez!

You should…
You should sell that for a lot of money.

I would buy it off you.

It's… it's the beginning
of a new era then, I think.

It's a new chapter in life.

Well done, guys, congratulations.

I think, that, that… Wrap.
Interview's done.

Okay, let's go, guys.