SmritiMundhra, director of The Romantics, based on the life and times of renowned director Yash Raj Chopra, says it was a tough task getting Aditya Chopra to talk on camera

Sheetal

In the season of love arrives the documentary, The Romantics, which talks of the man who taught Bollywood romance like no other — late filmmaker Yash Raj Chopra. His sons Aditya Chopra and Uday Chopra feature in the four-episode series, along with other gems of the industry who have had the opportunity to work with the ace director. But its Indian Matchmaking creator-producer Smriti Mundhra who has been instrumental in making it happen.

Ask the director one unique thing about Yash Raj Chopra and she says, “It’s that he trusted his instinct and was not afraid of being wrong, which helped him take big risks. Thus, we know him for his works and on-screen experiments today.” It took Smriti three years to create four one-hour episodes.

For the series, she talked to actors, scriptwriters and many stalwarts of the industry, but also had to leave out many. She elaborates, “I tried to cover the length and breadth of the Indian film industry associated with YRF from that era. But, it’s hard to do justice to everyone, as he had touched upon many lives. I think I had to let go of 35 people whom I had initially listed for interview.”

Proud legacy

Bringing Aditya Chopra in front of the camera was a tough task, as he prefers remaining behind the scenes. On this, shares Mundhra, “The secret was to talk about movies with Aditya. It definitely helped break through the tough aura he has maintained over the years. And it was not just films, but also about his father and the legacy he took forward with Yash Raj Films (YRF).” So there he was getting comfortable speaking in front of the camera while Mundhra was donning the director’s hat saying, ‘action’ and ‘cut’!

For YRF, as producers, Mundhra was the perfect candidate, as her previous show, Indian Matchmaking, bagged an Emmy nomination in the category of unstructured reality programme. So, there is no doubt about the exceptional research that went into making of The Romantics, as it chronicles YRF’s journey from Yash Chopra to son Aditya Chopra, who has taken the legacy to another level. With The Romantics, YRF has gifted the industry Yash ji’s last interview with Shah Rukh Khan.

The docu-series also spills the beans on the most-celebrated film Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge and how SRK was reluctant to play the romantic hero! Aditya shared the highs as also the lows, like the failure of his brother’s not-so-successful acting career.

Personal note

While Mundhra’s husband is none other than Emmy-nominated screenwriter, Christian Magalhaes, her father Jag Mundhra was also a filmmaker. But it’s her mother whom she looks up to for honest review of her work. She wasn’t born when the legacy of Indian films was being written by Yash Chopra or her parents, who rented a single screen in Culver City, Los Angeles, becoming the first exhibitors of Bollywood films in the United States. She adds, “Although I wasn’t born then, yet the love for my culture, Indian cinema and filmmaking, was cultivated through my parents’ experiences and stories, which were always a part of our drawing room talks. To be unaware of Yash Chopra’s romantic films was never possible.”

As Mundhra’s show Indian Matchmaking is renewed for a third season, we ask if she will direct a Bollywood romantic film now. “Never say never,” she quips.