Films from YRF reflected so much of what was happening in India: Smriti Mundhra
New Delhi: As someone who grew up on a steady diet of Hindi films, particularly the love stories by Yash Chopra, director Smriti Mundhra was keen to capture the influence that the filmmaker and his studio, ‘Yash Raj Films (YRF)’, have had on Indian cinema in her ‘Netflix’ docuseries ‘The Romantics’.
Mundhra, who was also behind the streamer’s popular documentary ‘Indian Matchmaking’, met 35 film personalities, including big stars such as Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan, Juhi Chawla, Rani Mukerji, the late Rishi Kapoor and others. She also managed a rare video interview with the studio head Aditya Chopra, who is known for staying away from the limelight.
“Films that came from the studio reflected so much of what was happening in India over various periods. It felt like a good lens. There are many different ways to tell the story of Indian cinema and Hindi cinema, but this was just one lens that was rich and layered,” Mundhra told the top news agency.
For the director, it all started from a personal memory of being influenced by the films from YRF such as ‘Chandni’ (1989) and ‘Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge’ (1995) during her growing-up years.
“I remember I watched ‘Chandni’ from start to finish and felt riveted. It was so epic, effervescent and Sridevi looked like a revelation to me. And then, DDLJ was there during the most formative time in my teenage years. I felt reflected, the duality of my upbringing between the East and West,” added the Los Angeles-based filmmaker.
Through ‘The Romantics’, which Mundhra describes as a ‘definitive documentary series’ on Yash Chopra, she hopes to bring a unique ‘insider-outsider curiosity’ as an Indian American.
“I have grown up with Hindi cinema. But I’m also a little bit of an insider and outsider. I watched films, including Yash Chopra and YRF films growing up, but I spent most of my life abroad. So, I was able to bring a little bit of an outsider’s curiosity to this subject,” she said.
