The reclusive head of India’s Yash Raj Films, Aditya Chopra, has recorded his first on-camera interview for “The Romantics,” a Netflix documentary series celebrating his late father, the legendary filmmaker Yash Chopra.
The last time Aditya Chopra, director of India’s longest-running film “Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge,” gave an interview was to a print magazine in 1995.
As revealed by Variety, the star-studded, four-part series features 35 leading voices of the Hindi-language film industry and dives into the history of Bollywood through the lens of the studio’s impact over the past 50 years in making Bollywood globally known.
Interviewees include stars who have worked closely with Yash Raj Films, including Shah Rukh Khan, Amitabh Bachchan, Juhi Chawla, Rani Mukerji, Salman Khan, Ranbir Kapoor, Katrina Kaif, Aamir Khan, Madhuri Dixit Nene, Ranveer Singh, Karan Johar and Hrithik Roshan, and more.
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The trailer also reveals that many stars hate the word ‘Bollywood’ which has been casually used for decades to describe the Hindi film industry. Bollywood, a portmanteau of Bombay (the former name of Mumbai) and Hollywood was originally coined to describe Hindi cinema. Over time Bollywood has grown to become a popular term today. The celebrities address the identity of the Hindi film industry in the West and say that they feel the term ‘Bollywood’ is not inclusive of other film industries of India and, thus, they dislike it.
“The Romantics” has been directed by Oscar and Emmy nominated Smriti Mundhra, who created “Indian Matchmaking” and directed episodes of “Never Have I Ever.”
The streamer will release the series globally on Feb. 14 (Valentine’s Day) as a tribute to the late Chopra, who is regarded as the father of romance in Indian cinema because of his romantic films including “Silsila,” “Lamhe,” “Kabhi Kabhie,” “Veer-Zaara,” “Dil To Pagal Hai,” “Chandni” and “Jab Tak Hai Jaan.”
Watch the trailer here:
