The Aditya Chopra Story: Discovering the 'DDLJ' Director Through 'The Romantics'

In the trailer for Smriti Mundhra’s The Romantics, is a clip of Abhishek Bachchan saying, “Aditya Chopra is a rumour. He doesn’t exist.” It became a staple joke of sorts to refer to the filmmaker’s elusiveness. Perhaps that is why the makers treated Aditya Chopra’s interview almost like a flagship event, and to their credit, it gives great insight into the man behind the camera. 

Based on anecdotes that Karan Johar, Abhishek Bachchan, and Hrithik Roshan among others shared, a young Aditya was a “tyrant” and yet, he was often surrounded by people who looked up to him. This was in stark contrast to the love that Uday inspired: he was the darling, a fan favourite in a way. 

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However, one thing everyone agrees upon is that Aditya Chopra has always been a person of and for cinema. Johar, in his memoir ‘An Unsuitable Boy’, had recalled how he never got along with “Adi and gang”, a sentiment he echoes in the docuseries as well. 

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And yet, the most surprising reveal of all is that Aditya Chopra used to be a great dancer and his dance-offs with Hrithik Roshan were seemingly legendary. While there is no video proof of this (at least not any that we have access to), it’s still a feat that the filmmaker would leave one of Bollywood’s best dancers behind. 

Aditya Chopra’s Unfailing Intuition 

Ever since he was 11-12 years old, Aditya surrounded himself with films, frequenting theatres and even maintaining a roster of his analyses and box-office predictions. He reveals that he has always wanted to watch movies with the Indian audience to gauge how they react to films and that practice is possibly what has led to a near clairvoyance. 

It’s perhaps foolish to assume that each and every risk that Aditya Chopra took resulted in adulation and profit – but The Romantics doesn’t delve much into the guesses that didn’t work.

From seeing the merit in Hum Aapke Hain Koun…! when others didn't to predicting the Indian audience’s reception to his father Yash Chopra’s Lamhe, Aditya Chopra seems to have a finger on the pulse of India. To add to his credit, both he and Shah Rukh Khan recount how the former saw the ‘romantic hero’ in the latter even when the actor didn’t (or didn’t want to) see it. 

Another aspect that the docuseries delves into is the difference in Aditya and Yash Chopra as professionals. By Aditya’s own admission, his ambition was partly driven by the fact that he didn’t have to worry about money. Yash Chopra, on the other hand, did. His ambition was led by the idea of making films based in India with stories that would represent Indians. 

On the other hand, Aditya, known for films like Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge, Mohabbatein, Chak De India, the Dhoom franchise, wanted his work to be owned by him and his family alone. Further, he wanted to take the YRF brand to a global scale.

While both Aditya and Yash Chopra focused on creating films that were ahead of their time, the former’s films bridged a gap that existed between the Indian audience and the West.

This aspiration coupled with his keen eye contributed to two major things – new talent and what he saw in his brother, actor Uday Chopra. Uday wanted to become a film star, but for Aditya, his skill lay in his connection to the West.

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Aditya believes that his brother has what it takes to truly integrate the YRF brand into the international market (the outcome of this gamble now reliant on the future of YRF Entertainment). For DDLJ, Aditya asked for two people by name – Karan Johar and Uday Chopra. And at the same time, a few years down the line, his faith in Uday remains strong, except maybe not as an actor. 

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While Yash Chopra was easygoing and jovial on set, Aditya was a stickler for the minutest details and once even asked Abhishek Bachchan ‘why’ he visited his set.

Shah Rukh recalls a different side to Aditya, back when he was an Assistant Director on Darr. The actor recalls having ‘pseudo-intellectual conversations about characterisation’ with Aditya that Yash Chopra didn’t care, or have the time, for. 

All of this only adds to the idea that Aditya was perhaps more technical (in the common sense of the word) about his art than his idol, his father. In this, he strived to move away from the Yash Chopra brand of cinema, even in the littlest stylistic details.

Yash Chopra’s choice of clothing for his leading ladies became almost synonymous with the idea of evergreen romance in his films – from Rekha’s chiffon sarees becoming a staple of her YRF appearances to Sridevi’s white looks in Chandni becoming iconic beyond compare.

And yet, when it was time to shoot for Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (a film Shah Rukh almost wasn’t a part of if not for an elderly fan’s intervention), Aditya Chopra chose a silk saree for Kajol. 

Keeping all this in mind, and more, it’s safe to assume that Aditya Chopra might not be as visible in front of a camera but behind one, he played an almost inimitable role for the YRF brand, both under his father’s tutelage and after.

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