[choreographer] …three, four, five, six, seven, eight.
One two, three, four…
[imperceptible]
[gripping music playing]
[Amitabh Bachchan] Around '93, I used to keep getting letters
from all the big studios like Warner,
saying, you know, "We want to meet up with you."
And I used to think it's some kind of a joke
because why would such a big production Hollywood company want to meet me?
I was just a non-entity.
[imperceptible]
[Amitabh] And I just shared this information
with a lawyer friend of mine, uh, who is an American, and he said,
"Look, you know, there's no harm in going and meeting them."
So I accepted one of their letters and I went across to Warner Bros.
And for almost two hours,
this executive didn't allow me to speak at all.
He gave me an entire lowdown
of the Indian film industry.
He knew every detail.
How we make films,
what are our economics, what are the commerce,
what are the kind of stories we make, who the actors are, the whole system.
I was shocked.
And I came back and, you know, confided in my friend,
"Look, I went there and this is what happened."
He just said one word, he said, "Mr. Bachchan,
you need to go back to your country because the Americans are coming."
[opening theme music playing]
[interviewer] What do you think about the term "Bollywood"?
I've never liked [laughs] the fact that it's called Bollywood.
[interviewer] How do you feel about the term "Bollywood"?
-[laughs] -[chuckles]
[interviewer] The word "Bollywood."
I don't like it.
Hate it.
No, I don't like that word. [chuckles]
I'm assuming the "B" comes from the older name of Mumbai, "Bombay."
Because there's a Hollywood, there's a Bollywood.
Only thing I hold against it being called Bollywood,
is it doesn't include the rest of Indian cinema,
which is as important and even more.
Bengali cinema, Telugu cinema,
Tamil cinema, Malayalam cinema, Punjabi cinema.
I think you've to understand the disregard
that most film people have for it
is, uh, if they know the origins of it.
A derogatory piece written about our films
and how they felt we were a poor version of Hollywood.
Do I feel it's derogatory?
[lively music playing]
[Saif Ali Khan] I didn't like it initially,
but I… I realized then that a lot of names,
uh, start off as being a bit of an insult that actually stick.
I mean, I didn't realize the "Impressionists"
was also a derogatory term.
I, personally, don't see it that way,
but I know a lot of people do and I know especially Mr. Bachchan does.
So when I'm around him, I never say "Bollywood." [laughs]
Whenever I say that term, "Hindi film industry,"
I know there is a, like, a comet of that word "Bollywood"
coming in my mind.
But I just don't want to say it.
But I like the term "Hindi film industry." I think it has…
It's more romantic than Bollywood.
All of us, initially kind of combatted it.
We're not Bollywood, we're the Indian film fraternity or we are Indian cinema.
But I realized it was easier to say "Bollywood"
'cause that's immediately what they thought we were.
They thought Indian cinema was called Bollywood.
[Jaideep Sahni] There's a natural tendency
to kind of make it all seem like, "these singing and dancing Indians."
There was something particularly Bollywoody about us when we got that tag.
"Oh, that's so Bollywood." Or "It's so Bollywoodish."
[Saif] But I think it's fast changing.
[Anushka Sharma] While the song and dance is our identity,
and I think one should embrace it because it's unique to us. We've come up with it.
But that's not the only thing that it is.
Like, there are so many films that are, you know, representing a new India.
And, uh, that's the voice that is reaching a global audience now.
[upbeat music playing]
[crowd cheering]
If you would say "India," and you traveled abroad,
they'd say, "Hey, Bollywood."
I was meeting a lot of foreign people,
including media, launching events. The media was coming there.
And they would refer to me as the CEO of India's Warner Bros.
That's where YRF had reached.
You know, the cognizance of this brand.
And because of that, it's the multinationals who decided,
"Is there an opportunity here?"
[singing Punjabi folk song]
[Anupama Chopra in English] And there was a gold rush.
Sony Pictures came in to build…
It was the first time a Hollywood studio actually produced a Hindi film.
Warner came in to make Chandni Chowk to China.
God alone knows who okayed those scripts [laughing] 'cause they were all terrible.
But… but they did want to be in the game.
[Anil Kapoor speaking English]
I remember when we had the premiere of, uh, Slumdog Millionaire
on the card, it was written, "Anil Kapoor and Fox invites everybody."
So they were just coming in, you know.
I remember, and we were quite excited, actually, when I heard 20th Century Fox,
you know, because we all want to do films for such banners or whatever,
but we didn't realize the threat and how dangerous that could be.
There was big, big monies being thrown at lead actors, filmmakers and projects
that everything was just being, like, ruled by them
because of the way they were dictating the market.
I knew that that really distressed Adi.
[Sanjeev Kohli] Let me be very honest with you,
a lot of them approached YRF to tie up with YRF.
But, you know, the problem is Adi wouldn't easily agree to that
because it's a takeover.
People want to tell you how films should be made,
Adi doesn't want to be told.
The truth is that it really matters who is telling your story.
And I think one of the key things for Adi was that we should tell our stories.
We should be the ones telling our own stories.
[Aditya Chopra] Obviously, after liberalization in the '90s,
a lot of multinationals were coming in.
[reporter] India is now a favorite destination
for multinationals seeking tie-ups.
Many of them are entering into alliances with Indian companies.
[Aditya] I got a sense this is going to happen in the film industry as well.
And the studio model would probably come in India.
And if that happens, any production house,
even as reputed as ours, would eventually be working for the studios.
[pensive music playing]
Now, my dad was this very Indian, uh, conservative man.
So he didn't understand. He said, "You want to put up a studio?"
I said, "No, I want to do that as well, but that's just brick and mortar."
I… I think we need to control our distribution touch points.
And before the studios come in,
I would like to become a studio so that they don't come to buy us out,
but they look at us as equals.
I wanted to elevate the entire process of filmmaking.
I wanted to elevate the entire industry.
[announcer speaking English]
[Aditya] I wanted people to look at us
just not as, you know, circus performers, but serious corporate industry leaders.
[reporter speaking English]
[Mahen Vakil] One day, Yashji called me.
[in Hindi] "Vakil, we need to build a studio."
[in English] I said, "Okay, let me work it out."
I worked it out and I said, "It's financially not viable."
[in Hindi] He said, "Son, viable or not,
I want to make this studio, hand it over to Adi."
[imperceptible]
[in English] When Yashji and Adi first told me that they were making the studio,
I was thinking, [in Hindi] "Really?" [chuckles]
[in English] I was worried for Yashji and Adi. I was like,
[in Hindi] "They are investing so much money into it."
[in English] "Is it even economically feasible to run something like this?"
I don't think even they knew whether they would make their money back.
[Mahen] I was not nervous
[chuckling] because I was not spending my money.
I was told by Yashji, [in Hindi] "Make me the best studio possible."
[Aditya in English] So I'll tell you why it didn't bother me.
It's because, for me,
even if everything fails and we're able to make this studio
which has my dad's name on it,
at the least what we've done is
we've created a monument which symbolizes what he did.
I don't think there's any value to that.
So any price to pay for that is okay.
[Uday Chopra] Even when we started construction on the studio,
the idea was just a dream,
it was literally like Field of Dreams.
If you build it, they will come.
[captivating music playing]
[Pamela Chopra] We were so happy when the studio opened.
I can't tell you.
[imperceptible]
[Uday] 2005 is when we all shifted here.
And I think we had a huge, big function
where my father's elder brother, Mr. B.R. Chopra came.
That was a wonderful time because when people first saw
what we've done here,
everyone was just like, you know, just marveled at it.
I remember, in the early 2000s
when we created this facility,
because I was studio manager,
I would play host to a lot of the kind of people that came to see it.
-How you doing? -How you feeling?
Um, and everyone who came to India from, uh, Hollywood,
for example, would wanna come see what has been created.
And you'd walk them around and, you know, everyone was just blown away
because a lot of people believed
it was better than a lot of facilities, uh, out in Burbank or LA.
It's amazing. We're glad we took this trip. [chuckles]
[Mahen] I wanted to make it very public.
Like, I mean, give information to film magazines and all.
Adi said, "No, this is for ourself."
And, I mean, basically, this studio was made for him.
[mellow music playing]
[muffled cheering]
[Uday] There was a period of time where it was a fairy tale.
A string of movies one after the other, each one just doing better and better.
Even in the industry, it was like as if YRF can do no wrong.
-[whistle blowing] -[indistinct shouting]
I remember doing an interview with one journalist who said,
"Your brother has the Midas touch."
And I was like, "Yeah, I hope it continues."
[interviewer] When did the other shoe drop?
[solemn music playing]
It wasn't so much as one moment that, you know,
I could say things started going downhill.
It was more like a gradual thing.
The big thing happening during that time, personally, was my mother's health.
It wasn't good.
She was diagnosed with cancer.
And that is the time that my father started taking a back seat.
Like, personally, we knew that this was a huge thing
that stopped us from really having
that fairy tale kind of feeling that the world saw.
[gentle music playing]
That is the time when my dad and I started creating
our own kind of rapport together because he needed somebody to talk to.
My brother was so busy with work at that time.
So he would sit with me and he would tell me, like, "I'm scared."
My father and I literally had, like, a sibling relationship.
And my brother was like the father.
My… my father and I would sit and tell each other secrets,
like, "Don't tell Adi, but, like, I did this," you know? [chuckles]
So, like, at a point, that did happen,
that Adi became like the father for both of us.
[Aditya] So, 2004, we saw a great high.
2005 and '06 consolidated
we were like… Like, we couldn't do anything wrong.
Then came 2007 and we kind of started to slip.
We had seen a few non-successes.
We were staring at not a very good financial position.
I was at a low, okay?
I was kind of feeling, "Why is my instinct not working?"
"Was this the only run I had?"
And I realized I had to direct a film.
[chuckles softly]
I had not directed for seven years because I was just consumed so much.
I, obviously, did not want to direct in this mood.
I wanted to…
Whenever I would direct, I thought I'll, you know,
do it in better circumstances.
And I realized that I need to, uh, give the company,
like, a really big, successful film,
and probably, I'll have to do it myself.
[in Hindi] ♪ It's a match made by God ♪
[in English] I went away to London for about two weeks
and I said I'm going to write.
I had a very faint germ of an idea.
It's a story about a husband who has an arranged marriage
with a young girl, and he is not so cool.
And she's…
Uh, she wasn't happy marrying him in the first place,
and it's his love story.
He wants to win her over. He really loves her.
And he creates this alternate persona to win her over.
[upbeat music playing]
Obviously, it was going to be played by the same actor,
so everybody's problem was, "How would she not recognize him?"
So this film will fail in its premise.
[Shah Rukh] Hero!
Hello. I am Taani.
-[in Hindi] And I am your hero. -What?
[Aditya in English] I remember I called Shah Rukh
literally from London, uh, and I said,
"You know, I've finished the script and I want to start in three months."
"Are you available?"
And he was committed to doing a film which had just fallen off.
He said, "Strangely, I've just fallen off. I'm on."
[romantic music playing]
[Anushka] I was only 19 when I signed that film.
My first film.
And Adi did not want anybody to know that I was the lead actor.
So everything was under wraps.
Nobody knew about it. In the office, no one was allowed to tell each other.
It was that big a secret. It was a huge secret.
And Adi literally said to me,
"You can't tell anybody. You cannot even tell your parents."
I said, "Huh?" [chuckling] I said, "I have to tell my parents."
"I live with my mom. How can I not tell them?"
[music continues]
[Aditya] That year was personally and professionally
the toughest of my life.
And I was under a lot of pressure throughout.
[imperceptible]
But strangely, whenever I used to enter the sets of Rab Ne,
it used to, as if some energy used to just take everything away.
And I used to just be happy.
[in Hindi] ♪ To the world I'm junglee Without a care ♪
[somber music playing]
[in English] Now, before the film could come out, uh…
26/11 happened.
[news theme playing]
On the evening of Wednesday, November 26th, 2008,
India's financial capital, Mumbai,
came under sustained attack by ten armed gunmen.
In the 60 hours that followed,
a real-life action drama unfolded on TV screens across the world.
[reporter 1] People have been able to leave this hotel today
and that is the fabulous news for families.
All right.
[gunshots in distance]
Get down. Down, down, down, down, down!
[reporter 2] The terrorist siege in Mumbai is over,
but its consequences will likely be felt for a very long time to come.
Mark Phillips has the story.
[Aditya] The city was kind of paralyzed.
Rab Ne was coming out on 12th December.
Literally in two weeks.
So a lot of people actually,
within the company, even externally, felt that, you know, "Just push the film."
[solemn music playing]
I truly believe that there is a spiritual thing at play here.
I think the film will be fine.
And more importantly, I think people
will want to see this film. They'll want to be happy.
They'll want a life-affirming, feel-good film.
I'm gonna take this risk.
And I'm not gonna change the date.
It also came from my innate sense of confidence…
on the people of this country.
Nothing can shake Indians.
We're the most resilient people.
And it did really well, and we were kind of, uh…
We were okay, you know.
[gentle music playing]
When I look back, I think there's a lot of pride
in what we all have achieved with YRF.
Today, my decisions are more right than wrong.
Might not be tomorrow.
You know, I might not have the best idea in the room.
I might not be making the best films.
I might be making more bad films than good films.
[in French] ♪ Never say I love you Never say je t'aime ♪
[Aditya in English] When my film Befikre didn't do well,
that was a little heart-breaking for me
for quite some time, I mean.
Probably till now, it's still in a little corner… [chuckles]
…you know, chipping at it.
[woman] And action!
[Aditya] It was a film that was with me for quite some time.
And I wanted to make a really light film
which does not have the pillars of Indian cinema.
And I thought we don't do rom-coms.
In India, we do love stories.
I think [in Hindi] now we're friends.
[Aditya in English] And I said, "I think India is ready for…"
[in Hindi] Friends?
[in English] "…a story which does not have a strong emotional core."
It's more fun and light.
[in Hindi] To celebrate the joy of moving on,
here we are, a year later, saying "Bye" in style.
[in English] Let's celebrate our breakup anniversary.
[in English] Oh, man!
[Aditya] And through that,
I wanted to project a very liberated Indian girl.
[in Hindi] We want to live together?
[in English] Absolutely.
[in Hindi] Like other uncool couples,
will we call each other silly names like "Honey, baby, sweety"?
[in English] Never.
[in Hindi] Why won't we say "I love you'' to each other?
'Cause it all turns emotional, sentimental. End of fun times.
[in English] Perfect.
[Aditya] I thought India is ready for it.
I thought, uh…
I just feel, probably, they were not ready for it from me, [chuckles] you know.
[song continues]
[Tanul Thakur] Aditya Chopra has always been the most comfortable
while he's straddling the two worlds.
Traditional and modern.
Be it Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, be it Mohabbatein…
uh, even Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi.
Now the audience is demanding something else of him.
The country is getting younger and younger
and Aditya Chopra is not so young anymore.
[gripping music playing]
At that time, I was very seriously thinking of
what happens to YRF after me?
I need to create individual creative producers
who have the YRF ethos, but are able to bring their own voice,
which does not necessarily have to be my voice.
[Maneesh Sharma] I have assisted on three films with YRF.
Uh, Fanaa, then Aaja Nachle, then I did Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi.
And then eventually directed in my very first film,
uh, Band Baaja Baaraat.
Very different thing.
[in Hindi] Both are sitting, exchanging looks.
[in English] So, in a very by-the-way conversation with Adi,
I told him, "There's this writer who is writing a script."
"Do you want to see it? It's a small film, maybe…"
He said, "Okay, send it to me."
And I read it, and I just was blown by it.
And I said, "I have to make this film."
Next day he came back, he said, uh, "You like it? You really like it?"
I was like, "Yeah." "Why don't you produce it?"
And I was like, [in Hindi] "Really?"
[chuckling]
[in English] I didn't have any such plans.
That's how Dum Laga Ke Haisha happened.
[Aditya] I said, "I think I do not know this world well enough
to creatively produce it."
"But I think you will be excellent."
"I'm putting the responsibility of this film on your shoulders."
[Maneesh] So I had this great job of, uh, looking for this main lead.
Uh, and my only job was to meet lots of talent every day.
And I just told Maneesh, I said, "You already have the girl."
[interviewer in Hindi] How do you want to start?
[in English] You want to do Jab We Met first?
[in English] Yeah.
[Bhumi Pednekar] I always wanted to be an actor.
But the full…
And I didn't really tell anyone I want to be an actor.
It was like a deep, dark secret.
My job was paying me well, I was very good at what I was doing.
Uh, I'd become a very integral part of the filming system.
[imperceptible]
[Shanoo Sharma] Of course, Bhumi, being my assistant,
Bhumi would be very scared of me
and, uh, she would never audition in front of me.
She'd always be, "No, no. Leave the room."
So I paid a surprise visit and everyone was trying… I was like,
"Shh. What's going on? Bhumi's auditioning?"
[in Hindi] I'm not travelling alone by train for the first time.
[in English] The door was a little open and I saw her,
and she was holding the camera
and she was giving four different people's cues.
[Bhumi in Hindi] Oh, God. Too much. Crossed the line today.
[Shanoo in English] Came to Adi sir, said, "Bhumi's a really good actor,"
and he laughed. [laughs]
Because she was like, she's a plump little, like, "Adi sir."
Like, you know, full, like, funny chick.
So then I pushed her into a gym, and I said, "Start losing weight, babe."
"You really…"
So she started doing that.
And that's when Adi sir called me and said,
"Are you sure Bhumi can act?"
And I was like, "I bet my career on it."
And he was like, "Okay, so there's this film
where I need an overweight girl."
[chuckling] I was like, "Bhumi, leave the gym, start eating now."
-[in Hindi] What happened? -Ma, my saree is untying.
I told you to tie it with a pin. You didn't listen to me. Hold this.
[Tanul in English] Dum Laga Ke Haisha is set in Haridwar in 1995.
[in Hindi] Hold your breath in.
[in English] The film opens to a young, directionless man
who is up to no good, called Prem.
[in Hindi] I think the boy and girl should introduce themselves.
Absolutely.
[Tanul in English] His parents get him married to a stocky woman called Sandhya.
Prem isn't attracted to Sandhya at all.
[in Hindi] Saw her size, Mum? Huge.
Huge?
You're no movie star, you high school dropout!
[Tanul in English] And the fact that she is not conventionally good-looking
further heightens his insecurity.
[in Hindi] ♪ Not a fellow who looks old and grumpy ♪
In that your bride?
♪ He's a man Who masters household chores ♪
[in English] I debuted as this overweight heroine,
which is unheard of in India,
in a love story, which is completely unheard.
[in Hindi] He called me a fat cow and other things, Mother.
-So? Aren't you a fat cow? -[man] Shut up!
[Bhumi in English] There were so many people that reached out to me
and told me that, "You know, this feels like you're telling our story."
[Ayushmann Khurrana] Lot of people were really surprised
that kind of film getting made in this studio.
Fat wife and a loser guy.
But what was common between me and all the other YRF heroines
was that we were very confident.
You know, uh, we had a lot of self-belief.
And we stood for what was right.
[in Hindi] Sleep with Sandhya one night…
-Listen. -…you'll know what hell is.
[folk music playing]
[Bhumi gasps]
[man in Hindi] He is bruised too, see.
[in English] Just see.
[Aditya] So what Dum Laga Ke gave me was an opportunity to create
Maneesh as a creative producer,
which was something I wanted to start doing.
Create alternate creative producers other than me.
So that it's not only my creativity
that is charging this studio.
And I was in this headspace that, "How do I institutionalize creativity?"
[mellow music playing]
[Shah Rukh Khan] As a professional actor, if I have to spend 100 days on a set,
I'd rather do it on a Yash Chopra set than anybody else's.
Because to me, to work with Yash Chopra is the ultimate,
uh, happiness on set.
To be honest, he's younger than Adi as far as being on sets is concerned.
Much more energy.
-[imperceptible] -[lively music playing]
[Abhishek Bachchan] Yash Uncle was always very gregarious, all things love.
And I'd love visiting him because it wasn't really like meeting
a really serious film producer.
It was meeting a really paternal man who would give me all this advice.
[Kajol] He had the funniest jokes.
Like, really stupid, one-liner jokes, slapstick.
[laughing]
[Shah Rukh] Very energetic on the sets. Shouting, screaming happily with everyone.
I mean, it's like, the loudest noise on the set is Yash Chopra.
Ready?
[in Hindi] Clear at the back.
[Madhuri Dixit in English] He usually used to give you the feel of what he wants.
[in Hindi] The girl walks from there.
[in English] Should be like a very excited kind of a thing or very sweet, romantic.
He would create such an atmosphere not only with actors, with everybody.
From the spot boy, to the light men, to the cameramen.
They would all want to give their best.
Action, please.
[Katrina Kaif] He would never watch the monitor.
He would be right next to the camera, or right in front of you.
And sometimes, the cameraman would have to be like,
"Yashji, sorry, just a little… Yeah, just, sorry. You're coming in the frame."
Half the time, I couldn't understand what he was saying.
Yash Uncle had this tendency to speak really fast.
Very fast. Breakneck speed.
[imitating Yash in Hindi] "Do it like this."
[imitating Yash] "Do it like that."
[mumbles, laughs] You know, he'd be just…
[in English] Like, "What did he just say?"
People on sets would turn around and, "What are they talking?"
And, uh, Shah Rukh used to say,
"Just say yes. I'll tell you what he means."
[mellow music playing]
[Uday] My father came from a very different style of filmmaking
than my brother's approach.
His ethos and his philosophy of filmmaking was not corporate at all.
In his time, everything happened on a phone call.
It would happen in a few days.
The corporate structure wasn't really there, you know.
Film financing was completely different.
You had a friend who'd put some money in.
Or you put your own money in and you'd go ahead and make a movie.
You'd have your wife or the actor's wife
make the costumes or figure out the costumes for that.
It was a very mom-and-pop kind of show.
[Pamela] This whole modernization process,
he was not very happy about it.
What he was happier with was the older style of filmmaking,
where everybody contributed, everybody was a family.
He said, [in Hindi] "What is there in filmmaking today?"
"He's going to do this, he's going to do that."
"What is the director going to do?"
[Jaideep in English] I want to sit for the costumes
and there's another assistant director,
and he'll say, "I'll get the costumes for you."
And then I want to do the reading, somebody says, "No, we'll prep them."
He says, "So who's making the film? You're making the film or I?"
[imperceptible]
[Shah Rukh] I remember that he had started speaking a lot more.
[imitating Yash in Hindi] "I'm not doing a film, this is my last picture."
[gentle music playing]
[Varun in English] Is this the same Major Samar Anand who has the record
for the maximum number of bombs defused?
Yup, 97 bombs.
[Shah Rukh] Jab Tak Hai Jaan was a film
which I chose over another film Adi had offered me.
I said, "No, if Yashji is making a film, I'll be part of that."
-[in Hindi] Singh, open up the market. -[in English] Okay, sir.
[Katrina in English] His passion about going with Jab Tak Hai Jaan
was like a newcomer going on to their first film.
And Yashji, you could see the joy
that he had for just being on that set making cinema.
He would sit with the crew, he would eat together,
be the first person on set in the morning and the last person to leave.
I don't do many movies, but when Adi came, I said, "We have to do this."
[Rishi Kapoor] It was so endearing to, you know, work with him.
Of course, we all had aged.
[in Hindi] What are you doing?
[Rishi in English] And, uh…
I came there, we gave the shot.
And the moment the shot finished,
and our eyes connected, Yashji and mine,
Yashji had tears in his eyes, I had tears in my eyes.
We both looked at each other,
and there was such a flashback of such moments in tour.
[Shah Rukh] We were shooting in Ladakh in really difficult conditions.
He was the coolest of us. I was shivering to death.
[Aditya] And we had 18-year-olds, 19-year-olds, assistants
who were falling sick.
And here was this 80-year-old man just standing.
[woman] Some people wanted to help him to climb up the mountain and go down.
And he said that, "No. I'll not take help."
"You can pick me up when I'm dead."
You know, so he was always like that.
[imperceptible]
I was doing a shot in Kashmir, but then he came and said…
[in Hindi] "Your film is complete."
"What are you saying?"
"It's the last shot, nothing is left. The film is complete."
[in English] And he became very emotional.
Then he kind of started crying.
He said, "This could be our last shot." I said, "Why last shot?"
Uh, so he said, "No, there's no more shots left of you."
I said, "Yeah, but we'll make the next one."
[imitating Yash]
[in Hindi] "This is last one… last shot."
[in English] I think he had made up his mind
that this will be his last outing,
but he never told anybody.
Because he knew that everybody will try and discourage him.
So I'd like to ask you, when is the next film? And, uh…
[in Hindi] When will you call me next to come over and shoot?
You already have the dates, just tell me who the heroine is,
uh, I'll hear the story from Adi.
[in English] When is the next one?
Because this has been a great experience, and I'd like to do it again.
[in Hindi] Shah Rukh, I never spent my life in front of a calculator.
Never led a calculated life.
I kept flowing like the wind, or the sea, wherever God took me.
I spent my life listening to my heart.
When my heart says something, I don't care what people have to say.
My heart says I've had enough.
I won't direct any film after Jab Tak Hai Jaan.
[Pamela in English] I never knew before that.
I said very loudly in that interview, "What?!"
And he looked at me and smiled.
[gentle music playing]
[Anupam Kher] What I remember most about my time with Yash Chopra
is the last ten years that I spent with him.
Whenever I was in Mumbai,
every morning I will go and have breakfast with him.
He opened his heart to me
and allowed me to see his, uh, joys, his happiness,
his pride at Adi, his love for Uday,
his love for Pam.
After a certain age,
there is a certain amount of loneliness that creeps in.
And that loneliness has nothing to do with how the world is treating you.
[captivating music playing]
[indistinct chatter]
…a very happy, peaceful and, uh, long life,
and a very happy birthday, Mr. Bachchan.
[imperceptible]
[Shah Rukh] It was Amitji's birthday…
Happy 70th birthday.
[Shah Rukh] …and I went to hug Yashji.
He was shivering. He had fever.
And he said, [in Hindi] "This function is delayed. You've come now."
[in English] I said, "I just walked in from the shoot."
[in Hindi] He says, "I have a fever."
[in English] And then I went on to have dinner and all.
Next evening, I think he was in the hospital.
[emotional music playing]
[Uday] When my father was in hospital,
I was filming for Dhoom:3 in Chicago.
[indistinct chatter]
And I kept calling my brother.
He told me, "He's gone to hospital, but nothing to worry."
He was trying to not let me worry about it.
And I wasn't sure how serious it was.
Adi was like, "No, it's totally fine."
"We're just taking him to hospital for precaution."
And I remember, one night, I had a dream
that my father is here in this studio
and he's sitting in a full black suit,
and I'm there next to him, and he's like, "Why are you not here?"
And I got up in the middle of the night and I realized that something is wrong,
my brother is downplaying it.
[reporter] Filmmaker Yash Chopra has been hospitalized since Saturday
after being diagnosed with the attack of dengue.
He felt slight uneasiness on 11th October.
[Karan in English] I heard he was admitted in hospital.
And then I heard he had dengue and Adi said, "Don't come now."
"I don't want to make it a big deal." And I understood.
And on the 21st of October, I was sitting alone in my office.
I just dialed and Pam Aunty picked up the phone.
And I said, "Pam Aunty, how is Yash Uncle doing?"
And her voice was cracking.
And she said, "It's not good, Karan. Come now."
And just a few days after that… [exhales]
It's, uh…
Gosh, it's not a very, uh, nice thing to remember, honestly.
[reporter speaking English]
[Poonam] Once we heard it, we all came down to the studio
where his body was brought from the hospital,
and the whole industry was here, in the atrium downstairs.
That day, I cried a lot. A lot.
And in the crematorium, I told Shah Rukh, "I lost my father."
[in Hindi] He said, "You are not alone, Vakil sir. Even I've lost my father."
[in English] This was his words. He also looked at him like a father figure.
[somber music playing]
[Karan] He was the glue that held the family and the studio together.
What is Yash Raj Films without the Yash?
I think it was very devastating 'cause it was very sudden.
And the fact that he hadn't even seen the first copy of the film…
[Shah Rukh in Hindi] And listen,
don't pray for anything.
Just love me.
Because forget any bomb…
even God can't stop me from coming back to you.
I know.
[Pamela in English] I must tell you very honestly,
I had promised myself that I will not cry.
But when I saw the film, and the last 15 minutes of that film,
I cried and how.
Then Adi, [chuckles] good old Adi, he came to me and he said,
"Look, Mom, Dad always said, 'I'll die with my boots on.'"
That was like his thing. Not once or twice, every day,
he said, "My ideal way to go would be with my boots on,"
and that's exactly what happened.
[gentle captivating music playing]
[imperceptible]
[crowd clapping]
[imperceptible]
[Aditya] The consolation that I had was
my father never saw a single day of old age.
So his loss,
which I feel every day,
but it doesn't bother me.
I think he had lived a complete life.
I think he pretty much achieved anything a man can achieve in a lifetime.
Now it would be our own selfishness
that we want him to stay.
He's done his job.
You know, he's set us up, he's given us everything, he's done.
Let him go, you know.
[Karan] I think Adi misses his father every day, as do we all.
But I think it broke Uday in ways that I can't express.
[Uday] I dream about him a lot.
And always the same dream,
that I'm talking to my father in some situation or the other,
we're having a great time together.
Maybe we're eating something,
or we're sitting by someplace and laughing, joking and then suddenly,
the realization dawns on me that he's not alive.
We had an amazing relationship right up until the time he passed away.
Like, it was the best relationship I've ever had.
So, yes, I miss him a hell of a lot.
Yeah, and I think about him a lot, for sure.
[indistinct chatter]
[camera shutters clicking rapidly]
[Aditya] It's not easy to have a 50-year career
and really be at the top of your game.
So his first film was a big hit and his last film was a big hit.
And his first film was 1959, his last film was 2012.
[crowd cheering and applauding]
[Shah Rukh] Uh, would you like to say something?
[in Hindi] The unusual stories I have told
The unusual stories I have told
My happy dreams and my sad ones
My songs, some melodious, some not
My characters, some good, some not
All these are mine, and I'm in them
Just do not forget them
Do not forget me
As long as you live
As long as you breathe
[applause]
[Shah Rukh in English] Ladies and gentlemen…
like I said, a privilege, an honor,
and thank you so much, Yashji, for being so kind to us. Bless you.
[gentle piano music playing]
[Aditya] After my father passed away,
I felt there were lot of people who were feeling a void.
And I realized,
they are now looking at me to fill that void.
And I, by nature, am very different to my father.
I am not a people's person, I've actually not cultivated that.
I don't have those relationships.
I don't even know if I have those skills.
And, obviously, I can't be him.
It's not possible.
But I'll have to work harder on myself
to kind of represent him.
And I'm at least accessible
for at least the people who really need me.
[interviewer] Is that the most difficult part of his legacy to uphold?
[laughs]
Yeah, it's like, I keep feeling that's his way of,
kind of, telling me that,
"Okay, son, now I'm gonna make sure
you kind of go out there."
So, yeah, it is tough. But, uh, I'm working on it.
I feel this is something that he wants me to do,
and I'm telling him, "Okay, Dad, I'll get there."
[Uday] I think, in my own journey, I never found myself to have
the amount of passion my brother and my father had.
It was something that came in much later on in life, like…
So around the time my father passed away,
I was on a precipice of change myself.
And it was not just emotionally, but also on my career front.
I wanted to do something different.
[reporter] Incredible moments between now and then
on the red carpet here for the 67th Cannes Film Festival…
And so, I started a production company out of LA called YRF Entertainment.
[Aditya] He's very international in his thinking.
At that time, he used to, you know,
a lot of exposure to a lot of Hollywood, American TV.
And I thought he'd be very good at it.
And I said, "This could be your baby,
and you run it and you decide how to go about…"
And he got very excited.
[reporter] This film has a French director.
An international project. Uday Chopra as well, the co-producer…
[Uday] I knew that I would always be under the shadow of my father and brother.
It will be very hard for me to come out of that.
So here was an opportunity that, look, if I did this,
and whatever little bit of success I get out of it,
it would be mine,
and I'd be able to create an identity for myself by doing this.
[captivating music playing]
[imperceptible]
[interviewer] You feel you achieved what you set out to do?
[Aditya] Fifty percent.
[laughs]
I'm 50% there.
There are a lot of things that I planned, uh…
Create some kind of an international presence
for YRF in Hollywood.
Another dream of mine was to get Broadway in India.
Theme park was a huge… [chuckles] huge dream of mine. Still is.
I thought we'll achieve it by now, we've not.
Uh, actually, we've not even scratched it yet.
And, uh, uh…
And I think YRF could do that.
[continues indistinctly]
[captivating music continues]
[Jaideep] Yashji told me once
that he put his entire life savings in making this studio.
He didn't have to.
There are better things you can do with your money.
[indistinct chatter]
He said, "I always wanted to have a studio of my own
where all these young people would come
and all the assistant directors would become directors
and make their own films while being completely insulated
from the rough and tumble of the show business."
[Saif] It's a natural expression…
[Jaideep] I think that is something that Yashji dreamt of
and which Adi has kind of made into a very well-oiled system.
[laughing]
So it's an oasis.
And… and it's a very special place because of that.
It's a very professional corporation
with the heart of a gentle commune.
So in that way, Adi is operating in quite the same way.
That, "This is who we are, this is what we're here to do."
And, uh…
"We'll die working," and he did.
And this one will too. So…
[in Hindi] ♪ Stars fill my pockets ♪
♪ While the sky lies empty ♪
♪ Sunlight warms my hands ♪
♪ While the world shivers ♪
♪ My soul rejoices ♪
♪ My heart tells me to celebrate ♪
♪ This business ♪
♪ Of a kiss ♪
♪ Stars fill my pockets ♪
♪ While the sky lies empty ♪
♪ Sunlight warms my hands ♪
♪ While the world shivers ♪
♪ My soul rejoices ♪
♪ My heart tells me to celebrate ♪
♪ This business ♪
♪ Of a kiss ♪
♪ Stars fill my pockets ♪
♪ While the sky lies empty ♪
♪ Sunlight warms my hands ♪
♪ While the world shivers ♪
♪ Stars fill my pockets ♪
♪ This business of a kiss ♪