Yash Chopra sent Boney Kapoor to convince Sridevi to do Chandni, but her mother had objections to film’s all-white costumes: ‘In our community…’

He said that he had never worked with Sridevi, but was impressed with her performance in the Tamil drama Moondram Pirai, which was shown to him by Amitabh Bachchan. Anil Kapoor then shared how Sridevi was “the top star at that time” and Chopra “didn’t know how to approach her.”

So, he asked Boney Kapoor to convince Sridevi to do the film. Anil Kapoor revealed, “He asked my brother (Boney Kapoor) to speak to her. So my brother flew down to Chennai to talk to her mother. It didn’t matter to her who Yash Chopra is who has made such great films, it was just the money.”

After Sridevi agreed to do the film, the next hiccup was her costumes in the movie. While Yash Chopra wanted to dress her in an all-white wardrobe, she thought she looked dull in those outfits. The filmmaker said, “I wanted to dress her most simply, Chandni should be pure innocence.” His wife Pamela Chopra further added, “Yash was always known as a person who dressed his actresses beautifully. He had visualised Chandni in a completely white wardrobe.” An old interview clip of Yash Chopra had him telling Karan Johar how Sridevi walked up to him and said, “Yash ji, why this all white? This is so dull.” He then told her, “I have faith in you as an actor, in your performance, if you have faith in me as a director, I like to present you as I want.” After Sridevi, her mother came to him and said, “White in our community is not considered festive at all.” At this moment, Pamela Chopra recalled, Yash Chopra told Sridevi’s mother to trust his vision and tried to convince her.

Sridevi in Chandni. (Express archive photo)

Karan recalled how once he walked into Chopra’s offices, and was surprised to see him reading the fashion magazine Vogue. “I told him, ‘Uncle this is so cool, you’re reading Vogue’, and he said, ‘Yes I am referencing costumes’,” KJo remembered. Yash Chopra added that he would cancel 50-60 costumes if they didn’t fit his vision.

Yash Chopra went ahead with his vision and the rest is history. Chandni is counted as one of Sridevi’s best works. It also starred Vinod Khanna and Rishi Kapoor in pivotal roles.