Raj Chopra

Yash Raj Chopra (27 September 1932 21 October 2012) was an Indian film director and film producer who worked in Hindi cinema.

The founding chairman of the film production and distribution company Yash Raj Films, Chopra was the recipient of several awards, including 6 National Film Awards and 8 Filmfare Awards.

He is considered among the best Hindi filmmakers, particularly known and admired for his romantic films with strong female leads.

Chopra was born on 27 September 1932 in Lahore, Punjab Province, British India into a Punjabi Hindu Khatri family.

His father was an accountant in the PWD division of the British Punjab administration.

He was the youngest of eight children, the oldest of whom was almost 30 years his senior.

The eminent film-maker B. R. Chopra is one of his brothers.

Chopra was largely brought up in the Lahore house of his second brother, B. R. Chopra, then a film journalist.

Chopra studied at Doaba College Jalandhar and originally sought to pursue a career in engineering.

He later moved to Ludhiana, East Punjab (in India) after the Partition of India.

His passion for film-making led him to travel to Bombay, where he initially worked as an assistant director to I. S. Johar, and then for his director-producer brother, B. R. Chopra, while another brother, Dharam Chopra, worked as his cameraman.

He made his directorial debut with Dhool Ka Phool in 1959, a melodrama about illegitimacy, and followed it with the social drama Dharmputra (1961).

Chopra received his first directorial opportunity in 1959 with the social drama Dhool Ka Phool, produced by his elder brother B.R. Chopra and starring Mala Sinha, Rajendra Kumar and Nanda.

The film revolved around a Muslim bringing up an "illegitimate" Hindu child.

The film was well received by critics and became the fourth highest-grossing film of the year.

Encouraged by their success, the Chopras made another hard-hitting social drama, Dharmputra (1961).

It was one of the first films to depict the Partition of India and Hindu fundamentalism.

The film marked the debut of Shashi Kapoor in a fully fledged role and was awarded with the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi.

Chopra rose to prominence after directing the critically and commercially successful family drama Waqt (1965), which pioneered the concept of ensemble casts in Bollywood.

Chopra's collaboration with his brother continued in the form of the 1965 film Waqt, which featured an ensemble cast including Sunil Dutt, Raaj Kumar, Shashi Kapoor, Sadhana, Balraj Sahni, Madan Puri, Sharmila Tagore, Achala Sachdev and Rehman.

The film became a critical and commercial success.

It is acknowledged as a "found film" of the "lost-and-found" genre.

In 1969, Chopra directed two films produced by his brother.

The first was Aadmi Aur Insaan, which featured Dharmendra and Saira Banu in the lead roles.

He directed Ittefaq (1969), a mystery thriller film based on a Gujarati play, depicting the events of a single night, with Rajesh Khanna and Nanda in the lead roles.

Shot in a month and on a low budget, the film was deemed unusual by critics.

It was one of the first Hindi films which did not have any songs or an interval.

In 1970, he founded his own production company, Yash Raj Films, whose first production was Daag: A Poem of Love (1973), a successful melodrama about polygamy.

Setting many other trends, it was one of Indian cinema's first multi-starrers, a mode which became increasingly popular among the producers during the 1970s.

It also began the now-obligatory style of depicting wealth and social class.

Chopra received his first Filmfare Award for Best Director for the film.

His success continued in the seventies, with some of Indian cinema's most successful and iconic films, including the action-thriller Deewaar (1975), which established Amitabh Bachchan as a leading actor in Bollywood; the ensemble musical romantic drama Kabhi Kabhie (1976) and the ensemble family drama Trishul (1978).

Chopra collaborated with Sridevi in two of what has been considered to be his finest films; the romantic musical Chandni (1989), which became instrumental in ending the era of violent films in Bollywood and rejuvenating the romantic musical genre, and the intergenerational musical romantic drama Lamhe (1991), considered by critics and Chopra himself to be his best work, but underperformed at the domestic box-office, although bringing major profits overseas.

After helming the critically-panned Parampara (1993), Chopra directed the musical psychological thriller Darr (1993), the first of his collaborations with Shahrukh Khan.

Chopra directed three more romantic films, all starring Khan; Dil To Pagal Hai (1997), Veer-Zaara (2004) and Jab Tak Hai Jaan (2012), before announcing his retirement from direction in 2012.

For his contributions to film, the Government of India honoured him with the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 2001, and the Padma Bhushan in 2005.

In 2006, British Academy of Film and Television Arts presented him with a lifetime membership, making him the first Indian to receive the honour.

Chopra began his career as an assistant director to I. S. Johar and his elder brother, B.R. Chopra.

He died of dengue fever during Jab Tak Hai Jaan's production in 2012.

He is considered one of the all-time best directors in Bollywood industry.