Dear Editor,
Bollywood movie producer and director Yash Chopra, 80, who gave us in Guyana so many popular movies, died on Sunday, October 21 and was cremated in Mumbai. Some of us, Guyanese in New York, were fortunate to meet him in NY a few years ago. Those of us who visited Bollywood also visited his film studio. I met him about 12 years ago in Manhattan at the release of a film.
Shri Chopra is an icon in the movie industry in India having produced and or directed hundreds of films, most of which were big hits and launched the careers of several popular stars.
Chopra-ji is often called the king of romance because most of his films focus on romanticism, love and marriage. He also produced some films that showed the dark side of Indian life focusing on poverty, the working class, and Indian patriotism (wars). It was Chopra who introduced the popular film hero Shahrukh Khan to audiences worldwide in the movie “Darr”.
Chopra began his career in the 1950s with the movie “Dhool ka Phool”, which was loved by today’s elderly Guyanese and other Bollywood movie watchers. Among his popular movies was “Waqt” which rocked box offices in Guyana starring some of the popular actors of the 1960s. His leading actors were yesteryear’s stars like Sunil Dutt, Raj Kumar, Sadhna, Sharmila Tagore, Dharmendra, Hema Malini, Shashi Kapoor, Balraj Sahni, Dilip Kumar, Sridevi, Poonam Dhillon, Ranbir Kapoor, Jeetendra and Amitabh Bachchan sharing the same screen. Virtually every leading Bollywood actor starred in one of Chopra’s films.
Critics say his best work came in “Deewar, the 1975 film that was played to packed audiences throughout Guyana. It portrayed an iconic tale of two brothers going their divergent ways but strengthened Amitabh Bachchan’s persona as a tough guy which later landed Amitabh many leading roles. Kala Pathhar also played to big audiences in Guyana. Among other hits were “Mashaal”, “Chandni”, “Trishul”, “Chandni”, “Silsila, “Dil to Paghal Hai”, “Kabhi Kabhie”, “Veer Zaara”, and “Lamhe”, with the latter rated by many as his best film.
Chopra had his own film studio called Yash Raj Films, the biggest in Bollywood and he handed over directorial stints to several youngsters he trained like Manish Sharma, Kabir Khan and Shaad Ali, and his son Aditya Chopra. Chopra’s body was reposed for viewing by tens of thousands at his film studio. Actors Amitabh Bachchan and Shahrukh Khan were by the side of the Chopra family throughout Sunday night’s viewing. Rani Mukherjee and other stars joined the family on Monday before the cremation later that afternoon at a star studded funeral with a “Who’s Who of Bollywood”.
Several actors also recalled the warmth of Mr Chopra’s personality and the easy atmosphere he created on the sets. A newspaper editorial showered lavish praises on Chopra: “His movies were well crafted, well scripted, well enacted and accompanied by melodious music. Take away Raj Kapoor and Guru Dutt, Yash Chopra is the best mainstream Hindi filmmaker we have had.”
Yours faithfully,
Vishnu Bisram