Yash Chopra’s 86th birth anniversary: Lesser-known facts about the legendary filmmaker

Late Yash Chopra who is Bollywood’s very own ‘King Of Romance’, contribution to the Hindi film industry is no doubt unparalleled and unmatched. He once said, “I don’t make romantic films. I make films about human relationships.” Yash Chopra passed away due to illness on October 21, 2012, in Mumbai. Today, on the occasion of his 86th birth anniversary, we take a look back at his wonderful journey and bring you a few lesser known facts about him.

Yash Chopra made his debut as a director in the film Dhool Ka Phool (1959). He gave the credit of his success to his brother, BR Chopra.

He started his own production house in 1971. He named his production house Yashraj films that started in 1973. The first production was Rajesh Khanna-starrer Daag.

He was famous for his romantic movies but few unromantic movies he did were mostly for their uniqueness Waqt (1965)-India’s first multi-starrer film, Ittefaq (1969) – thriller sans songs, and Deewaar (1975) – an action-packed film that made Amitabh Bachchan a star.

He used to shoot most of his movies in Switzerland and thus one of the in Alpenrausch, has been renamed Chopra Lake. Switzerland’s Jungfrau Railways inaugurated a train named after Yash Chopra in 2011— the train featured his signature and name on a signboard.

He made four films with Shah Rukh and many more movies with Amitabh Bachchan, Sridevi and Shashi Kapoor.

He was awarded the Padma Bhushan in the year 2005 for his great contribution to Indian film industry.

Actress Anushka Sharma wrote a heartfelt note for him and posted a picture on her Instagram stories. She wrote, “Warmth, Love, Greatness, Brilliance are some of the many qualities we remember Yashji for. Will always be grateful and honoured to have been directed by Yashji. Will always miss him.”

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