Veteran filmmaker Yash Chopra, hailed as 'King of Romance', died in Mumbai at the Lilavati Hospital Sunday, following multiple organ failure. The 80-year-old was suffering from dengue.
As soon as the news of his death came out, from Shah Rukh Khan, Dilip Kumar, Saira Banu to Poonam Dhillon and Anil Kapoor, many came rushing to the hospital. Yash Chopra was admitted to the hospital Oct 13 after he complained of weakness. However, he was later diagnosed with dengue.
He is survived by wife Pamela and two sons Aditya and Uday. While Aditya is a filmmaker, Uday is an actor. Filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt called Yash Chopra's death a huge loss to Bollywood.
"My brother Mukesh Bhatt called me at 6.30 p.m. and was crying. He gave me the news that Yashji is no more. He was very close to him. It is a sad demise and a huge loss," Mahesh said.
Yash Chopra gave romance a new meaning with films like "Daag", "Kabhi Kabhie", "Silsila", "Chandni", and "Dil Toh Pagal Hai" and his own favourite "Lamhe".
He worked with Ashok Kumar to Shah Rukh Khan and Mala Sinha to Anushka Sharma in his over five-decade glorious cinematic journey, and the title of Yash Chopra's new film, "Jab Tak Hai Jaan", summed up the ace filmmaker's philosophy - making path-breaking movies till he could. His death Sunday came weeks before the release of "Jab Tak Hai Jaan", which he had announced would be his last directorial venture. The romantic saga is coming out Nov 13, but he will not be around to see it. He had completed the entire schedule except for a song.
The film starring Shah Rukh Khan, Katrina Kaif and Anushka Sharma has turned out to be his swan song.
Chopra, who turned 80 Sep 27, was born in Lahore in 1932 and eventually came to Mumbai after Partition. In an interview some days before he was hospitalised with dengue, Chopra told Shah Rukh: "My mother said do what your heart says. She gave me Rs.200 and said my blessings are with you. Go ahead and don't worry."
He also said whatever he was because of his late brother and filmmaker B.R. Chopra, whom he assisted at the beginning of his Bollywood career.
"I'm sitting here just because of B.R. Chopra and no one else. I wanted to fly on my own wings," he said in that interview. Chopra was one of the few directors to make two superhit films simultaneously - action drama "Deewar" (1975) and cross-generational romance "Kabhi Kabhie" (1976) - both proved his versatility and his hold on the pulse of audiences.
But, like all legendary directors, no one or two films can sum up Chopra's achievements.
To the world, Chopra was known as the 'King of Romance', a well-deserved title after he created memorable love stories in "Daag", "Kabhi Kabhie", "Silsila", "Chandni", "Dil To Pagal Hai", and "Veer Zaara". To keep up with evolving audiences, he adapted new trends in each era and made most glamorous and trendy romances.
Like others, he too went through a bad patch after two of his films - "Faasle" (1985) and "Vijay" (1988) - bombed one after the other at the box office.
But after facing the setbacks, Chopra triumphed again at the box office with "Chandni".
"When I was making 'Vijay', I was making films just to be successful and not from my heart and I knew I was making the wrong kind of films. I decided to make a hardcore romantic film with nine songs and this is how I thought of 'Chandni' (1989)," he had said in an interview once.
He went on to create a new-age romance for Gen Y with "Dil To Pagal Hai" (1997), a sleek, urban, musical romantic saga that reaped gold at the box office. Then he made the cross-border romantic flick "Veer Zara" (2004) and was planing to hang up his boots after "Jab Tak Hai Jaan".
In his career, he won many awards, including the prestigious Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 2001, six National Awards, 11 Filmfare Awards and was conferred the Padma Bhushan in 2005.
Many of Chopra's romances used the beautiful alpine landscape of Switzerland. Chopra shot so many times in Switzerland that a lake in the Alpenrausch, a favourite shooting spot of his, has been christened Chopra Lake. Not only that, he became the first recipient of the title of Ambassador of Interlaken, and a special Yash Chopra Suite and Yash Chopra Train were inaugurated in his honour in Interlaken in 2011.
Chopra was one of the few filmmakers who created a cult following for his actors -- Amitabh Bachchan, Sridevi and Shah Rukh Khan - and gave audiences evergreen songs.