Category Archives: Yash Chopra Blogathon 2012

Veer-Zaara: The Eternal Love Story of this Century

He is the King of Romance, the knight in shining armor who through his rose-tinted lens redefined the meaning of “Bollywood wala Ishq” and the man who gave Hindi films gloss, glamour and a free trip to Switzerland . Yash Chopra is not a person but the term used to define the Celebration of Love a la Bollywood style. Jab Tak Hain Jaan in many ways is anticipated to be the joyous end to that journey of eternal love that he made us believe , existed. However, for me the true culmination of that ethereal timeless “Yash Chopra” magic will always be his last release “Veer Zaara”.

Continue reading “Veer-Zaara: The Eternal Love Story of this Century”

Dharamputra – the travails of religion…

What is Religion? Wikipedia says that “Religion is a collection of belief systems, cultural systems, and world views that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values”. What is faith? Depending on the religion, faith is belief in a god or gods or in the doctrines or teachings of the religion. For some, faith is also about not believing in anything. However, more than knowing these definitions, what’s crucial is to know how we develop our respective faith or religion? How do we manage to ignore the immanent disparities within our own value system? If not, have we moved on to a level where we can keep our bigotry aside and discuss the topic?Continue reading “Dharamputra – the travails of religion…”

Veer-Zaara: The Star-Crossed Lovers

The movie begins with these magical word, penned by Javed Akhtar and  narrated by the maverick director Mr. Yash Chopra himself and creates the mood that stays till the end of the film- lyrical & nostalgic.
Continue reading “Veer-Zaara: The Star-Crossed Lovers”

Deewaar: Rise of the Angry Young Man

In the mid 1970’s India was going through changing times as far as the socio-political scenario was concerned. The days of the emergency which lasted for 21 months only went on to bring in a lot more discontent into the system. The common Indian who till then hardly raised his/her voice now started feeling the suffocation getting a bit too much to handle and the frustration was only creeping in all the more.
We do know that life imitates art and vice versa and cinema is art too. Indian Cinema has also more or less kept in tune with the socio-political happenings in the Country. So no wonder that Bollywood started slowly but surely moving away from the weepy romantics ( handled with ease and elan initially by Rajendra ‘Jubilee’ Kumar and later by Rajesh Khanna ) and light musical entertainers ( no one could get it as good as Shammi Kapoor ) to films reflecting the angst of the common Indian.Continue reading “Deewaar: Rise of the Angry Young Man”

Dil To Pagal Hai- Old Love in New Bottle

“Someone somewhere is made for you” promised Madhuri in the brilliantly done opening credits of Dil Toh Pagal Hai. I believed in her, still do. The spell that was cast in 1997 in the dark theatre in Bhubaneswar, refuses to wear off till date. So does the freshness of this Yash Chopra directed love triangle that gave Bollywood love a new definition and a makeover.

Dil To Pagal Hai (1997), came at a time when Bollywood was undergoing a sea change. A churn was on in the way films were made, the way they were received and the people who were watching it. DTPH is perhaps the best example of how mainstream Hindi cinema blended to manage new tastes while still not alienating traditional likes.Continue reading “Dil To Pagal Hai- Old Love in New Bottle”

Lamhe – a love beyond forever…

He (Viren) was treading the desert – traversing its barren lands like the aimless wanderer who knows the oasis isn’t what he is searching. Yet, he moved on, like the purple of the sky that melts inexorably into stygian hues and awaits the incandescence of orange to break its gloom. Feared he was open to open the panes of his life, for the entrant had never been happiness, but despondency had knocked many a time. But when he finally peeped through the slightly ajar window, he saw an angel (Pallavi) dancing in the rains, oblivious of his admiring gaze.Continue reading “Lamhe – a love beyond forever…”

Chandni : Eternal Moonlight

“Her heart was a secret garden, and the walls were very high“.
-William Goldman, The Princess Bride

Chandni is not just a character from this movie, but she is a character who has been residing in Yashji’s thoughts for a long time. What culminated in this movie was the effect, but the cause of it can be found in his earlier works. Yashji is not a writer, I do know that. And this implies that Chandni is not a character that he has created. And yet, the character kept coming back to him, again and again. It was more like the character found him, rather then he going after the character.Continue reading “Chandni : Eternal Moonlight”

Daag : First Movie Under Yashraj Banner

Only when you want to fly so badly that you give up being a caterpillar, is when you can become a butterfly. That’s exactly what must have been going on in Yashji’s mind. He had directed five movies under the shadow of his brother Balraj for BR Films, and now he was itching to start a production house of his own where he could make movies of his choice. And Daag was the first movie of Yashraj Films.Continue reading “Daag : First Movie Under Yashraj Banner”

Darr-The Revisionist Hero

What would you define a Hindi film Hero as? A do-gooder, with the heart of gold. A man with the sexual charisma only found in Kamasutra, the heroism of Greek gods, the strength of a thousand elephants together and the intellect rivaling the best on human minds. He who can do no wrong, for whatever be the circumstances, he is always righteous.He for whom The End is always happy and merry.Continue reading “Darr-The Revisionist Hero”