Netflix released The Romantics fittingly on Valentines Day 2023 as a homage to the lineage of director, producer Yash Chopra and how his thought process changed romance in Indian movies forever.
Smriti Mundhra comes through not only as an engaging documentary film maker but also sources some amazing behind the scenes footage of films we grew up watching which makes the four episodes such a riveting watch. In doing so, we are just impressed with the access she has had to the figures, actors, points of view and almost 35 people she was able to interview- including the elusive son of the icon- the brilliant Aditya Chopra.
Aditya Chopra explaining to his team on location how Kajol will run across the mustard fields ( one of the most iconic scenes of DDLJ) is archivist gold.
Amitabh Bachchan, Rani Mukherjee, Kajol, Shah Rukh Khan, John Abraham, Hrithik Roshan, Karan Johar, Anushka Sharma, Lilly Singh, Uday Chopra, Ranbir Kapoor and Ayushmann Khurrana. Ranveer Singh, all participate not to discuss their own careers but to exalt Yash Chopra and fanboy about the films that inspired them.
This docuseries is for the giddy bollywood fan in you. If you have watched Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge ( DDLJ) multiple times, this docuseries is a bonus gold of footage, behind the scenes stories and perspectives that is for the archives of hindi film history.
As Yash Chopra is no longer with us, the series hinges on the color that his collaborators can add. The late Rishi Kapoor gives some great insight into Chopra’s process and underscores his genius through sweet stories about their work together on set and the friendship outside of it.
Aditya Chopra is lucid, brilliant and very articulate in his parts and tells the story of the evolution of genres of Hindi language cinema in amazing anecdotes. From his struggle to make DDLJ while his father did not agree with the modus operandi to the charisma of creating one of the largest franchises of the country with Dhoom to lovable urban stories like Hum Tum and then connecting with small town India with Bunty and Babli to Veer Zara. Yash Raj films made epic torch bearing movies like Chak De ! India to change the story for the Indian Girls Hockey team and struck a chord with the entire country.
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Then came Band Baja Baraat, which gave the film industry actors like Ranveer Singh and Anushka Sharma who were not typical insiders to the industry which is extremely tight knit. Bhumi Pednekar was Ranveer’s partner while auditioning for Aditya Chopra. ( Those audition tapes are fire!).
The genius of Aditya Chopra is finding new talent and launching them is really unprecedented. ” I want the best talent. It doesn’t matter where they come from.” says Aditya. ” There are more people who are successful in films who do not belong to a film family.”, he adds.
Yash Chopra’s death was a critical moment of reckoning for sons Aditya and Uday, the studio, and the shifting tides of Indian cinema (Aditya Chopra took over as chairman and chief executive immediately following his father). The series documents the evolution of charts cultural shifts in India throughout the decades of cinema from the early days to the inflow of the interest of western studios towards the Indian scripts, actors and audiences starting the era of the studio model of filmmaking.
As film critic Anupama Chopra says “It matters who tells your story.” and Indians should be able to tell their own stories.
“I wanted people to look at us as not Circus performers but serious corporate industry leaders” , said Aditya Chopra.
The series is streaming on Netflix.
