Yash Chopra created cinema for posterity and it will always be a part of Hindi cinema’s legacy

But Yash Chopra was much more than the man who made some marvelous love stories.

This was the man who gave us iconic angry young man film, ‘Deewar’ (1975) and the lost and found family drama, ‘Waqt’ (1965). With ‘Mashaal’ (1984), he presented the moral dilemma of an honest upright man who has to give in to the ways of the society and with ‘Trishul’ (1978), he gave his take on the story of Karna from Mahabharata.

Yash Chopra’s earlier works, ‘Dhool Ka Phool’ (1959), ‘Dharmputra’ (1961) and ‘Ittefaq’ (1969) are lesser known with the audience who appreciated him for ‘Dil To Pagal Hai’ (1997). But these films show a side of this filmmaker that can be best described as intelligent.

Yash Chopra made his first film, Dhool Ka Phool, in 1959.

Yash Chopra started his career under the able guidance of his brother BR Chopra. He started out by assisting his older brother and even directed his first feature under BR Chopra’s production banner. With ‘Daag’ (1973), he established Yash Raj Films, and of course, this started a chapter in Hindi cinema that is still being written.

Yash Chopra’s films are usually described as commercial but the director was way ahead of his times when it came to storytelling. His films dealt with taboo subjects like adultery, pre-marital sex and he made them mainstream enough that it wasn’t scary anymore to have a conversation about them. With ‘Silsila’ (1981), Yash Chopra cast possibly the most controversial trio of the times but instead of sensationalising it, he dealt with it in a mature manner. In an interview with Shah Rukh Khan, he once revealed that the women he had thought of casting in the film were different actors but his heart was stuck on Jaya Bachchan and Rekha. He had a conversation with Amitabh Bachchan about the same and after he got a sense that the actors were professional enough to keep their differences aside, he went ahead with the film he always wanted to make.

‘Lamhe’ (1991), which is possibly one his best directorial ventures, dealt with the issue of a younger woman falling in love with an older man, who once loved her mother. Sure this was unheard of and raised some eyebrows but Chopra wasn’t the man who tailored his art to suit the audience. ‘Lamhe’ wasn’t an instant success but in retrospect, one can see the vision of the man. He knew that cinema is meant for posterity and that is exactly how he made his films.

Yash Chopra passed away in 2012.

Yash Chopra was the director who gave India a star in form of Shah Rukh Khan. ‘Darr’ (1993) has become an iconic film as prior to that film, we had hardly seen a film where the anti-hero was the center of attention and not the hero. A dark love story in today’s times is instantly compared to ‘Darr’ and that is because Yash Chopra set a high benchmark to match up to.

Chopra directed fewer films towards the end of his career but the legacy he left behind is incomparable. The film-makers we have today are the ones who grew up watching his films and have been highly influenced by the great works of this director.

There are many directors and producers who make good films but there are few who make an impression so deep that their name is associated with cinema that has influenced a large part of our society and for that Mr. Yash Chopra will never be forgotten.