He made us fall in love with life. With his films, his songs, his heroines. More importantly, he himself was in love with life. A story goes that once Yash Chopra’s eyes fell on a nazm (Urdu poem) by Sahir Ludhianvi. Called ‘Kabhi Kabhie’, it talked of the union of two souls. So besotted was Yash Chopra with the nazm that he decided to make a film around it. The result was a film with the same name.
Rekha and Amitabh Bachchan in Silsila. | Photo Credit: The Hindu Archives
It was no mean task. Yash Chopra had just helmed Deewar, an action-packed tale of two brothers going their own ways. It had a silver jubilee run. And combined with the heady success of Zanjeer and Sholay, it gave Amitabh Bachchan an action hero image. But here he was, playing a desultory lover in Kabhi Kabhie, a film whose songs came from Sahir Ludhianvi’s heart, with timeless music by Khayyam. Against the trend of the 70s Hindi cinema, Kabhi Kabhie worked its magic at the box office. It changed Yash Chopra’s image too. After all, he had started his career with Dhool ka Phool (1959), the story of a Hindu child brought up by a Muslim man. Long after the film had its opening run, it continued to be a regular presence in the morning show slot for the next two decades. Chopra had started his innings as an assistant to I.S. Johar but came into his own when his brother B.R. Chopra turned a producer with Dhool ka Phool. It was followed by Dharmaputra. Again, it was a brave recap of Partition days. Then came Waqt, arguably the first film with an ensemble cast.
At the height of Rajesh Khanna’s superstardom came Daag. The film left its imprint on the hearts of cinegoers as they jived to ‘Ab chahe maa roothe ya baba’, and Yash Chopra smiled all the way to the bank. Always willing to push the envelope, he gave his image a neat twist with Deewar.
A still from Kabhi Kabhie. | Photo Credit: The Hindu Archives
Any other filmmaker would have been happy to repeat the formula. Not Chopra, who surprised us with Kabhi Kabhie. He followed it up with Doosra Aadmi, Trishul and Kala Patthar, all three were a departure from the soft, sentimental romance of Kabhie Kabhie. While Trishul was a super hit, Kala Patthar did not exactly set the box office registers ringing. So, Chopra went back to songs and romance with Noorie. The film worked its magic, thanks largely to Khayyam’s music. A distributor in Delhi recalls, “ The film was a surprise hit. At Ritz, which had been booked for only four weeks, the film completed a silver jubilee.”
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Shashi Kapoor, Amitabh Bachchan, and Nirupa Roy in Deewar. | Photo Credit: The Hindu Archives
Virtually all his films had lilting music. For proof, just go back in time to ‘Ae meri Zohra jabeen’ in Waqt, ‘Chal kahin door nikal jayen’ in Doosra Aadmi, ‘Gapooji gapooji gam gam’ in Trishul besides the lovely tracks of Daag, Deewar and Kabhi Kabhie, and you get the picture of a man who knew his music, his poetry. He got some of the best works of Sahir Ludhianvi as a lyricist, and Khayyam and Rajesh Roshan as music directors. He convinced Javed Akhtar, till then known as one half of Salim-Javed dialogue writer duo, to try his hand at lyrics for Silsila. His powers of persuasion bore fruit in the form of ‘Dekha ek khwab to ye silsile hue’ and ‘Yeh kahan aa gaye hum’. The film starred Amitabh with his real life wife Jaya and his rumoured girl friend Rekha. Again, only Chopra was able to convince Jaya to act in the film where initially Parveen Babi was pencilled in to play Rekha’s part.
Silsila was Chopra's high, one that he failed to touch again with films like Faasle and Mashaal. Then he surprised us all again with Chandni in 1989. The film took Sridevi’s career to dizzy heights but it was again Chopra’s ear for music that stood out. He got Shiv-Hari to give it their best shot, but had relatively lesser-known male singers Babla Mehta, Jolly Mukherjee and Vinod Rathod to sing for it.
Sridevi and Anil Kapoor in Lamhe. | Photo Credit: The Hindu Archives
Chopra wasn’t done yet. He tried something new with Lamhe. Many deemed it to be an incestuous love story. It failed, So, he went back to the drawing board and gave us the story of a besotted lover in Darr. The film gave Shah Rukh Khan his lasting image as an angry, heady strong lover, ready to go to any extent. A few years later, when Chopra turned a producer, he gave Shah Rukh a little more love, lots more wit and humour in the epic Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge. The film ran for 25 years at Mumbai’s Maratha Mandir.
As a filmmaker, Chopra had a long innings, the only thing better than his longevity being the class of his movies. And the person he was. In an industry where bonds are only as strong as the film’s box office collections, he struck an abiding friendship with Sahir Ludhianvi, both were from Punjab. It was the same with Khayyam, Javed Akhtar and Amitabh Bachchan. But there was one name not always given credit for his success. That was Pamella Chopra, his wife, who wrote the lyrics of songs like ‘Ghar aaja pardesi’ (Dilwale Dulhaniya...), ‘Main sasural nahin jaungi’ (Chandni) and ‘Sada chidiya’ (Kabhi Kabhie). This alliance was for ever, much like Yash Chopra’s love affair with cinema.
