Yash Chopra | |
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Yash Chopra in 2012
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Born |
Yash Chopra यश चोपडा27 September 1932 Lahore, Punjab Province, British India |
Died | 21 October 2012 Mumbai, Maharashtra, India |
(aged 80)
Cause of death | Dengue fever |
Nationality | Indian |
Occupation | Director & Producer |
Years active | 1959–2012 |
Organization | Yash Raj Films |
Spouse(s) | Pamela Yash Chopra |
Children |
Aditya Chopra Uday Chopra |
Awards | Padma Bhushan (2005) |
Signature | |
Yash Chopra
Yash Raj Chopra (Punjabi: ਯਸ਼ ਰਾਜ ਚੋਪੜਾ; Hindi: यश राज चोपड़ा) (27 September 1932 – 21 October 2012) was an Indian film director and film producer, predominantly working in Hindi cinema. Yash Chopra began his career as an assistant director to I. S. Johar and elder brother, B.R. Chopra. He made his directorial debut with Dhool Ka Phool in 1959, a melodrama about illegitimacy, and followed it with the social drama Dharmputra (1961).
Encouraged by the success of both films, the Chopra brothers made several more movies together during the late fifties and sixties. Chopra rose to prominence after his commercially and critically successful drama, Waqt (1965), which pioneered the concept of ensemble casts in Bollywood.
In 1971, Chopra founded his own production company, Yash Raj Films, and launched it with Daag: A Poem of Love (1973), a successful melodrama about a polygamous man. The name Yash Raj was formed with names standing for Yash and Rajesh Khanna. His success continued in the seventies, with some of Indian cinema's most successful and iconic films, including the action thriller Deewar (1975), which established Amitabh Bachchan as the leading actor in Bollywood; the romantic drama Kabhie Kabhie (1976) and Trishul (1978).
The period from late seventies to 1989 marked a professional setback in Chopra's career; several films he produced or directed in that period failed to leave a mark at the Indian box office, notably Doosra Aadmi (1977), Kaala Pathar, Silsila (1981), Mashaal (1984), Faasle (1985) and Vijay (1988). In 1989, Chopra directed the commercially and critically successful cult film Chandni, which became instrumental in ending the era of violent films in Bollywood and returning musicals.