Remembering Yash Chopra, the King of Romance, on his 3rd death anniversary

Yash Raj Chopra, the king of romance, who taught generations about the ideas of perfect love and relationships, breathed his last on 21^st October 2012. Three years down the line, his magic hasn’t faded and the legacy is being carried forward by his son Aditya Chopra, who recently announced his next movie called Befikre, starring Ranveer Singh and Vaani Kapoor.

On his third death anniversary, we list down some facts about Chopra senior that would make you want to watch his movies all over again.

1. Yash Chopra originally wanted to be an engineer. Just think of all the cinematic excellence it would have cost to Bollywood.

2. He started off his career as an assistant to I.S Johar and his elder brother Baldev Raj Chopra.

3. The first ever movie that he directed was called Dhool Ka Phool, which was produced by B.R. Chopra. He was 27 at that time.

4. He was the man behind the camera when Shashi Kapoor made his debut with the social drama Dharmputra, which won the prestigious National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi.

5. With the 1965 movie Waqt, he started a trend of multi-starrer movies in Indian cinema, a trend which is still being followed in Hindi cinema. He also received his first Filmfare Best Director Award for this movie.

6. When rest of the filmmakers were blindly following the trend of making action films, Chopra, who didn’t like the action genre, dared to make extravagant love stories, and succeeded.

7. Without the support of Yash Chopra, Bollywood could have lost the lyricist genius it has today in Javed Akhtar. It was Yash Chopra who inspired Akhtar to be a lyricist after he broke up with Saleem Khan, his long-standing scriptwriting partner.

8. On the top of Mount Titlis in Switzerland, there is a standee from the movie Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge. It has been placed there in honor of Yash Chopra, who went to Switzerland to shoot most of his memorable scenes.

9. There is a hotel suite and a train in Switzerland, named after him.

10. His last directorial venture Jab Tak Hai Jaan would have been his last even if he would not have succumbed to dengue. He had announced his retirement from direction after JTHJ, but looks like destiny didn’t want him to do so, and honored his last wish in a heart-breaking way.