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Monday, October 22, 2012

A Film By Yash Chopra

Dhool Ka Phool is a 1959 Indian Bollywood film. Produced by B. R. Chopra it was directed by BR's brother Yash Chopra, this being Yash's first movie as a director, having been an assistant director in BR's earlier film Naya Daur. The film stars Mala Sinha, Rajendra Kumar, Nanda, Leela Chitnis, Jeevan and Ashok Kumar. Steeped in Nehruvian secularism, the story revolves around a Muslim bringing up an `illegitimate' Hindu child and featured classic song, Tu Hindu banega na Musalman banega, insaan ki aulaad hai, insaan banega on Manmohan Krishna, who also won the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Abdul Rasheed. Besides that Mala Sinha received a nomination for Best Actress and Mukhram Sharma for Best Story.
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Dharmputra is a 1961 Hindi film directed by Yash Chopra. This is Yash's second directorial venture based on a novel by the same name by Acharya Chatursen. It was first Hindi film to depict, the partition of India, and Hindu fundamentalism. Produced by his elder brother B.R. Chopra who was himself uprooted from Lahore, during the partition of India and established B.R. Films in Mumbai in 1956. The film dealt with issues of issue of religious bigotry, fanaticism and communalism amidst the backdrop of the partition. Two years ago, Yash Chopra had made his debut with Dhool Ka Phool (1959), steeped in Nehruvian secularism, wherein a Muslim brings up an 'illegitimate' Hindu child and featured classic song, Tu Hindu banega na Musalman banega, insaan ki aulaad hai, insaan banega, the theme was reverse in this film as herein a Hindu family brings a illegitimate Muslim child. This was Shashi Kapoor's first film as an adult actor played the pivotal role of a Hindu fundamentalist Noted actor Rajendra Kumar made a special appearance for a song as did Shashikala. At the 9th National Film Award it was awarded the Best Feature Film in Hindi.
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Waqt is a 1965 Indian film directed by Yash Chopra. It made it onto the BFI's long list of films in consideration for their top ten of Indian films award. It was produced by B.R. Chopra and starred an ensemble cast including Sunil Dutt, Raaj Kumar, Shashi Kapoor, Sadhana, Balraj Sahni, Madan Puri, Sharmila Tagore, Achala Sachdev and Rehman. It pioneered the concept of films with multiple stars, starting a trend followed by other films. The film took the top spot at the box office in 1965. The plot of this movie re-introduced the lost and reunite formula in Bollywood, originally featured in the 1943 Ashok Kumar, Mumtaz Shanti starrer "Kismat" (fate). A happy family separated by Waqt (time), goes through a series of trials trying to reunite. The film was later remade into the Telugu film Bhale Abbayilu (1969). The film contains the popular Hindi song Aage Bhi Jaane Na Tu sung by Asha Bhosle, besides the famous Ae Meri Zohra Jabeen, sung by Manna Dey and composed by Ravi and picturised on Balraj Sahni and Achala Sachdev. Waqt also showcases some of the top dialogues in the history of Bollywood movies. Raaj Kumar's Jinke apne ghar sheeshay ke hon, woh dusron par pathar nahi phenka karte (Those whose own houses made of glass do not throw stones at others) and Jani, Yeh bachon ke khelne ki cheez nahi, haath kat jaye toh khoon nikal aata hai (This is not a child's plaything. If the hand is slashed, blood oozes out) are remembered even today.
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Aadmi Aur Insaan is a 1969 Hindi film produced by B. R. Chopra and directed by Yash Chopra. The film stars Dharmendra, Saira Banu, Feroze Khan, Mumtaz, Johnny Walker, Ajit, Anwar, Iftekar, Kamini Kaushal and Nazima. The film's music is by Ravi. This is the only movie in which Yash Chopra and Dharmendra have worked together.
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Ittefaq is a 1969 Hindi movie produced by B. R. Chopra and directed by his brother Yash Chopra. The film stars Rajesh Khanna, Nanda, Bindu, Madan Puri, Iftekhar and has music by Salil Choudhury. The film became a "semi-hit" at the box office. It is a remake of the British film Signpost to Murder (1965) starring Joanne Woodward. It was one the first Bollywood movies that did not have any singing or dancing in it.
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Daag: A Poem of Love is a 1973 Bollywood film produced and directed by Yash Chopra in his debut as a producer, which laid the foundation of Yash Raj Films. It is an adaptation of the novel The Mayor of Casterbridge. The film stars Sharmila Tagore, Rajesh Khanna, Raakhee (who won her first Filmfare award), Madan Puri, Kader Khan, Prem Chopra and A.K. Hangal. The film was made at the height of the Rajesh Khanna craze and became a "super hit" at the box office.[1] The music by Laxmikant Pyarelal dominated the charts for the year. Film was later remade into the Telugu film Vichitra Jeevitham (1978) starring Akkineni Nageswara Rao, Vanisri, and Jayasudha.
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Joshila (translation: spirted) is a 1973 Bollywood thriller film directed by Yash Chopra. The film stars Dev Anand, Raakhee and Hema Malini.
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Deewaar, or Deewar (English: The Wall), is a 1975 Indian drama directed by Yash Chopra, written by Salim-Javed, and starring Amitabh Bachchan and Shashi Kapoor. Reflective of "the tumultuous politics of the early 70s" in India, Deewar tells the story of two impoverished brothers who, after their family is betrayed by the misplaced idealism of their father, struggle to survive on the streets of Mumbai. Deewaar was a ground-breaking work. It was one of a few films which established Bachchan as the "angry young man" of Bollywood cinema and Parveen Babi as the "new Bollywood woman" whose character Anita is "a liberated working girl, smoking, drinking and sleeping with her lover, defying every Hindi film heroine rule." This movie cemented the success of the writing duo Salim-Javed, who went on to write many more blockbuster films, and made them one of the most memorable writers in Hindi cinema. It is said that after the success of this film, the value of film writers skyrocketed, thanks to Salim-Javed, and they soon were being paid as high as some of the actors at the time. Deewaar received the Filmfare Best Movie Award of 1975 in addition to six other Filmfare Awards and was a "superhit" at the box office, ranking as the 4th highest grossing Bollywood film of 1975. Indiatimes ranks Deewaar amongst the Top 25 Must See Bollywood Films.
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Kabhie Kabhie (English: Sometimes...) is a 1976 Bollywood film, produced and directed by Yash Chopra, and starring an ensemble cast. This was Yash Chopra's second directorial film with Amitabh Bachchan and Shashi Kapoor in the lead roles after Deewar and was particularly noted for its soundtrack compositions by Khayyam, who won Filmfare Award for Best Music, while film lyricist Sahir Ludhianvi won the Best Lyricist Award for "Kabhi Kabhie Mere Dil Mein," the song which also got singer Mukesh, the Best Male Playback Singer award. The movie became the 8th highest grosser of the year at the Indian Box Office.
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Trishul is an Indian Hindi film directed by Yash Chopra and produced by Gulshan Rai in 1978. It is written by Salim-Javed, with music by Khayyam and lyrics by Sahir Ludhianvi. The movie was a "blockbuster" hit at the box office and one of the top grossers of 1978, along with Muqaddar Ka Sikander and Don. It was remade in Tamil by Rajnikanth as Mr. Bharath with Satyaraj donning Sanjeev Kumar's role. The film focuses on the three intertwined stories of Amitabh, Sanjeev, and Shashi.
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Kaala Patthar (English: Black Stone) is a 1979 Indian Bollywood action/drama film. It was produced and directed by Yash Chopra. The story was written by Salim-Javed. This film is the fourth collaboration between Amitabh Bachchan, Shashi Kapoor and director Yash Chopra after the hugely successful Deewaar (1975), Kabhie Kabhie (1976) and Trishul (1978). However, this film did average business at the box office. It was nominated for Filmfare awards. While Rajesh Roshan provided music for the lyrics penned by Sahir, the background score was done by Salil Chowdhary.
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Silsila is a Bollywood films of 1981 Bollywood film directed by Yash Chopra. The film stars Amitabh Bachchan, Jaya Bachchan, Sanjeev Kumar, Rekha and Kulbhushan Kharbanda, with Shashi Kapoor in a special appearance.
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Mashaal is a 1984 Bollywood film. Produced and directed by Yash Chopra it stars Dilip Kumar, Anil Kapoor, Waheeda Rehman, Rati Agnihotri, Nilu Phule, Iftekhar, Saeed Jaffery, Gulshan Grover, Alok Nath, Madan Puri and Amrish Puri. The role played by Anil Kapoor was first offered to Kamal Haasan but after Kamal Hasan declined the offer, the role went to Anil Kapoor.
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Faasle is a 1985 Bollywood film produced and directed by Yash Chopra. The film stars Sunil Dutt, Rekha, Farooq Shaikh, Deepti Naval, Raj Kiran, Rohan Kapoor, Farha, Sushma Seth and Alok Nath. The film is the debut film for Rohan Kapoor son of singer Mahinder Kapoor and actress Farha, niece of Shabana Azmi. The films music is by Shiv-Hari.This film was panned by the critics for bad storyline and editing.
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Vijay (English: Victory) is a 1988 Bollywood film directed by Yash Chopra and starring Rajesh Khanna, Hema Malini, Rishi Kapoor, Anil Kapoor and Anupam Kher in pivotal roles. Anupam Kher won the Filmfare Best Supporting Actor Award for his performance. The role played by Anil Kapoor was written originally for Mithun Chakraborty.
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Chandni (Translation: "Moonlight") is a Hindi film released in 1989. The film stars Sridevi, Rishi Kapoor and Vinod Khanna, and was directed by Yash Chopra. Chandni was a blockbuster in 1989 and is one of the most successful films of Indian cinema. The huge profits of this musical brought an end to director Yash Chopra's lean phase. The platinum success of its music was instrumental in ending the era of violence in Bollywood and bringing back music into Hindi films. The film reaffirmed Sridevi's position as the top female star of the Eighties. It also prolonged Rishi Kapoor's fading career and reassured that he was still profitable as a lead hero for its producers. The film also provided a boost for Vinod Khanna's career since he returned to Bollywood. The film also reunited Kapoor and Khanna, who were last seen together in the popular film Amar Akbar Anthony in 1977. Sridevi's white costumes became popular as the 'Chandni Look' and the songs of the film are still a rage. Though it was not the first time Yash Chopra shot a film in Switzerland, the extensive scenes shot there made it a popular destination to visit for Indians. The film won the National Film Award for Best Popular Film of that year.
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Lamhe (Translation: Moments) is a 1991 Hindi film directed by Yash Chopra and starring Anil Kapoor and Sridevi. The story was written by Honey Irani. The film was critically acclaimed, had exceptional music, and did brilliant business in UK. Unfortunately, it was not a box-office success in India. It is one of the few films that picked up the Filmfare Award for Best Movie despite its lacklustre business. It was inspired from the 1986 film Anokha Rishta starring Rajesh Khanna. Lamhe was shot in two schedules in Rajasthan and London. Over the years the film has been hailed as a cult classic and is regarded as a modern masterpiece and possibly Yash Chopra's finest film. It is also one of the biggest Bollywood hits in the overseas market and video circuit. Sridevi won a lot of acclaim for her double-role as mother and daughter, winning the Filmfare Best Actress Award and other awards. The film finds a place in the Times Movie Guide's Top 100 Indian films. It is in the Outlook magazine's list of All-Time Great Indian films. It has been cited as Yash Chopra's personal favourite of the films he has done. This was one of the last films that the famous Dr. Rahi Masoom Reza scripted as a writer. He died a couple of months after the release of the film.
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Parampara (English: Tradition) is a 1993 Bollywood movie starring Aamir Khan, Sunil Dutt, Vinod Khanna, Ashwini Bhave, Ramya Krishna, Saif Ali Khan, Raveena Tandon, Neelam Kothari and Anupam Kher. The film is produced by Firoz A. Nadiadwala and directed by Yash Chopra. Aditya Chopra wrote the screenplay for the film. The film was Saif Ali Khan's debut.The film was panned by the critics for its weak storyline, weak music and bad direction by Yash Chopra. It was a commercial flop.
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Darr: A Violent Love Story (Translation: Fear) is a 1993 Bollywood romantic psychological thriller film directed by Yash Chopra under the banner of Yash Raj Films. It is the story of an obsessed lover (Shahrukh Khan) and the lengths to which he goes to get the girl (Juhi Chawla) who is already happily engaged to Sunil Malhotra (Sunny Deol). It is the second film in which Shahrukh Khan played the role of a villain. It is considered to be one of his best performances and earned him a Filmfare Award nomination for Best Villain. In 1993, Khan won acclaim for his performances in villainous roles as an obsessive lover and a murderer, respectively, in the box office hits, Darr and Baazigar. In Khan's entry in Encyclopædia Britannica's "Encyclopedia of Hindi Cinema" it was stated that "he defied the image of the conventional hero in both these films and created his own version of the revisionist hero." Darr marked his first collaboration with renowned film-maker Yash Chopra and his banner Yash Raj Films, the largest production company in Bollywood. The film was declared a 'Super Hit' by Box Office India. Darr was later remade in Kannada as Preethse.
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Dil To Pagal Hai (translation: The Heart Is Crazy) is a Bollywood musical romantic drama, released on October 31, 1997, depicting the love lives of dancers in a musical dance troupe. The tag line is "Someone somewhere is made for you..." It was directed by Yash Chopra. It stars Shahrukh Khan, Madhuri Dixit and Karisma Kapoor, with Akshay Kumar in a supporting role. It is the second time Shahrukh Khan worked with Yash Chopra, after Darr. It was the first Bollywood movie to be shot in Baden-Baden, Germany, and in the German theme park Europa Park. The movie was the second highest grosser for the year 1997 in Bollywood. It won many awards, including sweeping most of the major categories at that year's Filmfare Awards.
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Veer-Zaara is a 2004 Indian romantic drama film directed by Yash Chopra under the Yash Raj Films banner. The movie stars Shahrukh Khan, Preity Zinta and Rani Mukerji in the leading roles, with Manoj Bajpai, Kirron Kher, Divya Dutta and Anupam Kher in supporting roles. Veteran actors Amitabh Bachchan and Hema Malini make special appearances in the film. The dialogues were written by Aditya Chopra. Set against the backdrop of conflict between India and Pakistan, this star-crossed romance follows the unfortunate love story of an Indian Air Force Squadron Leader Veer Pratap Singh, and a Pakistani woman hailing from a rich political family of Lahore, Zaara Haayat Khan, who are separated for over twenty years. Saamiya Siddiqui, a Pakistani lawyer, finds Veer in prison, and upon listening to his story, tries to get him freed. Highly anticipated pre-release, the film eventually became the top-grossing Bollywood film of the year at both the Indian and the international box office, earning over Rs. 750 million worldwide, in addition to being showcased at numerous prominent film festivals around the world. The music of the film, based on old compositions by the late Madan Mohan with lyrics by Javed Akhtar, was also successful. Upon its theatrical release, Veer-Zaara received mostly positive reviews from critics. The film won several awards in major Indian film award ceremonies, including the Most Popular Film award at the National Film Awards and the Best Movie award at the annual Filmfare Awards, among others. This film marked the return to directing for Yash Chopra after seven years, last directing the film Dil To Pagal Hai which also starred Shahrukh Khan.
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Jab Tak Hai Jaan is an upcoming 2012 Indian romance film directed by Yash Chopra, his last direction and written and produced by Aditya Chopra under their production banner Yash Raj Films. The film features Shahrukh Khan, Katrina Kaif and Anushka Sharma in the lead roles, making it the first film to pair Khan and Kaif and the second collaboration between Khan and Sharma after Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi. It is Yash Chopra's fourth film to feature Shahrukh Khan in the lead role, the former returning as a director after eight years post Veer-Zaara in 2004. Jab Tak Hai Jaan marks Yash Chopra's last directorial venture of his entire Bollywood career before his death in October 21, 2012, just days before the movies scheduled release in Diwali. The background score and soundtrack is composed by A.R. Rahman while the lyrics are penned by Gulzar. The film is scheduled to hit theaters on the six-day Diwali weekend which begins on November 13, 2012.
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1 comment:

  1. Sad news for YRF fans from all over the world. May Yash Chopra's departed soul RIP. It appears that all celebrities who go for treatment into Lilavati Hospital do not return home and families should look into this matter carefully. Seriously did not think Mr. Chopra would lose life's battle to dengue fever from a supposedly reputable hospital. Jagjit Singh, Yash Chopra and so many other celebs have breathed their last at this place, I do hope its' medical care is up to par.

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