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Aditya Chopra | |
|---|---|
 Chopra in 2012 | |
| Born | (1971-05-21)21 May 1971 (age 54) Mumbai,Maharashtra, India |
| Alma mater | University of Mumbai |
| Occupations |
|
| Years active | 1988–present |
| Board member of | Tata Strategic Management (2012–present) |
| Spouses | |
| Children | Adira Chopra |
| Parents | |
| Family | |
Aditya Chopra (born 21 May 1971) is an Indian film director, producer, screenwriter and studio executive who works inHindi cinema. He is the Chairman of India's multi-national film, media, andentertainment conglomerateYash Raj Films (YRF).[1] Thefilms he has produced make him thehighest grossing Indian film producer of all time.[2][3]
Having denied Chopra admission into theNational School of Drama due to his severestammering as a young applicant, theFilm Division of India eventually honored him with theNational Award for his achievements in1995,2004,2007 and2015.[4][5] Widely regarded as themost influential executive in Indian entertainment, Chopra has however rejected the publicity and fame that came with beingYash Chopra's son and the chief executive of Yash Raj Films.[6][7][8]
Chopra, the elder son of late filmmakerYash Chopra andPamela Chopra, was born on 21 May 1971.[9][10] His only sibling is actor and producer,Uday Chopra. He is the nephew of film producersB.R. Chopra and the cousin of filmmakerRavi Chopra. He completed his secondary education atBombay Scottish School, earning hisIndian Certificate of Secondary Education. He graduated fromSydenham College of Commerce and Economics, along withAnil Thadani,Karan Johar, andAbhishek Kapoor.[11]
Chopra started his film-making career at the age of 18 as an assistant director, working with his father on films such asChandni (1989),Lamhe (1991) andDarr (1993). He also wrote his first screenplays for his father'sParampara (1992) and his mother's independently produced filmAaina (1993), which was the only film not directed by his father that he was an assistant director on.
Chopra, after gaining a respectable amount of experience, started independently at the age of 23 with the all-time blockbuster romantic comedy-dramaDilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge (1995), withShah Rukh Khan andKajol, for which he was the director and writer. The film was scripted by Chopra and produced by his father Yash Chopra, under the YRF banner. Chopra started work on the script of the film in 1990, at the age of 19, and gradually spent time making about five drafts of the film's original script. Chopra even managed to convince his brotherUday Chopra andKaran Johar, both aspiring filmmakers, to enter the film industry as assistant directors with the film. Chopra once said that the presence of his relatives during the making of the film worked as a huge emotional support.Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge eventually went on to become one of the biggest hits of all time[12] and won theNational Film Award for Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment and theFilmfare Award for Best Film, in addition to theFilmfare Award for Best Director for Chopra.[13]
Chopra eventually went on to write the dialogues and the story of his father's 1997 musical romanceDil To Pagal Hai, (which won the National Film Award for Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment), also made under YRF. His next film as a director was the musical romantic dramaMohabbatein (2000) starringAmitabh Bachchan,Shahrukh Khan andAishwarya Rai, and also launched his brotherUday Chopra into the film industry. The film was also written and co-produced by Chopra and emerged as thehighest-grossing film of the year, earning Chopra his second nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Director. The next film under the banner was the romantic comedyMere Yaar Ki Shaadi Hai (2002), which released in June 2002, starring his brother Uday alongsideTulip Joshi,Bipasha Basu andJimmy Sheirgill. The film did moderately well at the box office.[14] The studio's final release that year was the romantic dramaSaathiya, a remake of the Tamil filmAlai Payuthey, which starredVivek Oberoi opposite Rani Mukerji. The film proved to be a major hit at the box office.
In 2004, Chopra produced the romantic comedyHum Tum, the action thrillerDhoom and the epic love sagaVeer-Zaara (for which he was also the screenwriter) under the YRF banner. All three films went on to become major critical and commercial successes, earning more than₹200 crore (US$24 million)[15] (unadjusted for inflation) in the worldwide market. The films became thesixth, third and highest-grossing Indian films of 2004. The company won most of the Indian film awards in the year, withVeer-Zaara also winning the National Film Award for Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment.
Chopra then produced and wrote several other highly critically and commercial successful films over the years, namelyBunty Aur Babli,Salaam Namaste,Fanaa,Dhoom 2 andChak De India (which also won the National Film Award for Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment).
Chopra also made his third film as a director in 2008 with the romantic comedyRab Ne Bana Di Jodi starring Shahrukh Khan and launching newcomerAnushka Sharma. The film received mixed reviews upon release, but emerged as one of the highest-grossing films for Khan and YRF at that time, earning₹172 crore (US$20 million) in the worldwide market.[16] The film earned Chopra his third nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Director.
YRF launched a number of budding screenwriters and directors under their banner throughout these years. Directors and screenwriters such asKaran Johar (hisKuch Kuch Hota Hai was co-produced and released by Yash Raj Film Distributors),Kunal Kohli,Kabir Khan,Sanjay Gadhvi,Jaideep Sahni,Siddharth Anand,Shimit Amin,Habib Faisal,Shaad Ali,Maneesh Sharma andVijay Acharya debuted under YRF and have gone on to become independent entities in films. The company also produced films for filmmakers such asAnil Mehta andPradeep Sarkar under their banner. The company was eventually ranked at Number 1 (among the most successful film production companies in India) in a survey conducted byFilmfare and at number 27 (among the most successful film production companies in the world) in a survey byThe Hollywood Reporter, both under the vice-chairmanship of Chopra.[17]
In September 2015, YRF announced Chopra's directorial comeback with the romantic comedyBefikre, scheduled for a December 2016 release.[18] In October 2015, it was announced thatRanveer Singh andVaani Kapoor were cast in the lead roles.[19][20] In December 2015, YRF announced that the music of the film will be produced byVishal–Shekhar andJaideep Sahni, both of whom would return to collaborate with YRF after roughly 9 years.[21] The film marked Chopra's directorial comeback 8 years afterRab Ne Bana Di Jodi (2008).[22] A theatrical trailer of the film was released at theEiffel Tower and across social media platforms in the month of October.[23] The film was budgeted at₹70 crore (US$8.3 million) (includingprint and advertising costs) and released across 2900 screens worldwide on 9 December 2016.[24] It opened to widespread negative reviews across platforms and faced heavy losses to its business because of thecurrency demonetisation implied by theGovernment of India a few days prior to its release.[25][26] The film managed to gross₹63 crore (US$7.5 million) after a two-week theatrical run at the globalbox office, failing to managebreak-even business for YRF.[27]
In 2004, Chopra started producing under the YRF banner. He producedHum Tum,Dhoom andVeer-Zaara (for which he was also the screenwriter), all three films went on to become critical and commercial blockbusters, earning more than₹200 crore (US$24 million)[15] (unadjusted for inflation) in the worldwide market. The films became thesixth, third and highest-grossing Indian films of 2004. The company won most of the Indian film awards in the year, withVeer-Zaara also winning the National Film Award for Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment.
The company saw an all-time low, with several of their high-budgeted films not doing well at the box office, despite favourable critical reviews and the company thereby suffering losses amounting to millions from 2007 to 2010. The films broke YRF's perfect success ratio and were oddly released one after another. Some of the most unsuccessful films produced under the banner wereJhoom Barabar Jhoom,Laaga Chunari Mein Daag,Tashan,Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic,Roadside Romeo, andPyaar Impossible. Chopra then took over as the Vice Chairman of Yash Raj Films in 2010, soon after the release of the filmBadmaash Company under the same banner.[13]
Chopra has producedseveral commercially viable projects including off-beat content not necessarily fitting into the realm of "masala films". Chopra is the first to move towards thefilm studio model throughindependent projects helmed bytalent under his banner.[28] Majorpost-production work of the company is completed at YRF Studios (co-founded by his ex-wife Payal Khanna), where Chopra is chief executive.[29] TheGovernment of India appealed both Chopra andMani Ratnam to focus on content created locally under itsMake in India andAtmanirbhar Bharat initiatives. In June 2018, he was awarded membership into theAcademy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences by theProducers Guild of America.[30] Apart from emerging as an equitable brand, his company earned the status of amovie mogul through distribution networks spread across the globe.[31]
Photographers of theIndian media caught a glimpse of the extremely-reclusive Chopra on 27 December 2008. Chopra'sRab Ne Bana Di Jodi and Aamir Khan'sGhajini were the two big Indian releases of the year 2008 and were pitted against each other by the press;Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi was to release onDiwali andGhajini was to release onChristmas, with a gap of a few weeks between them. Chopra was present at a private screening ofGhajini that was held by Khan, for members of thefilm industry. Chopra was seen leaving through the back entrance of the theatre premise around 2 am, just before the end credits of the film. On spotting multiplejournalists outside the venue, he reportedly panicked and desperately sprinted towards his car to avoid being photographed. Chopra pulled down the sun visor of his car and drove away.
The Walt Disney Company entered India in 2007 through a co-production agreement (Ta Ra Rum Pum,Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic, andRoadside Romeo) with YRF.[32][33] Disney's move was seen as a bid to increase its global presence and enterIndian entertainment.[34] This was followed byWarner Bros.,[35]Columbia Pictures,[36]Universal Pictures,[37] and20th Century Fox,[38] who made similar moves.
Post the release of the three films,Disney attempted a₹5,000 crore (US$590 million)hostile takeover of YRF in December 2009. The offer was pushed afterits acquisitions ofPixar andMarvel from the previous year. YRF however fought the offer and continued as a domestic entity, heavily aided by theTata Sons.[39] This was followed by the exits ofDick Cook[40][41] from Walt Disney and Sanjeev Kohli[42][43] from YRF. In June 2011, Disney acquiredUTV[44] at₹2,000 crore (US$240 million) to establish Disney-UTV. Records from theRegistrar of Companies of the same year showed that YRF received investments fromLIC of India,Catamaran Ventures, andMaruti-Udyog.
In December 2016, Disney-UTV announced a temporary closure[45] of its offices. After the release of itsfinal film in July 2017, Disney exited all film operations in India and was permanently liquidated.[46][47] In January 2019, YRF reached a₹19,000 crore (US$2.2 billion) valuation bySEBI, thereby making it the largest Indian film production company of all time.[48]
In 2010,20th Century Fox launched its Indian operations and partnered withB.R. Films to co-produce its first project titledBanda Yeh Bindaas Hai. However, a few months into production, the film was permanently stalled due to creative and scheduling conflicts amongst the makers.[49] This delay led to a lawsuit filed by Fox against B.R. Films andRavi Chopra claiming breach of contract and severe financial damages. In its appeal, Fox demanded the transfer of licensing rights of the entire B.R. Films catalogue, including the television seriesMahabharat, along with a monetary compensation of₹32 crore (US$3.8 million).[50][51] In July 2012, theSessions Court of Mumbai ordered B.R. Films to remit the demanded assets to avoid foreclosure of its studio and family residence in Juhu, Mumbai.[52][53]
In April 2013, Aditya Chopra submitted a promissory note to the sitting bench of theBombay High Court against the₹32 crore (US$3.8 million) loan; the letter guaranteed full repayment of the loan and was co-signed byArundhati Bhattacharya andN. Chandrasekaran.[54][55] The loan was settled in July of the same year and all licensing rights were transferred back to B.R. Films. Ravi Chopra did not produce any film post this settlement till his demise in November of 2014.[56][57] In 2016, 20th Century Fox announced a complete shut down of itsIndian operations,[58][59] leading to the exits of Vijay Singh (from Fox Star Studios)[60] and Emma Watts (from 20th Century Studios).[61]
In 2017, B.R. Films went into production of three independent projects titledBareilly Ki Barfi,Ittefaq, andPati Patni Aur Woh. Produced at₹95 crore (US$11 million), the films collectively grossed more than₹240 crore (US$28 million) at the global box office. All three films were distributed by YRF Distributors at 0% commission withIttefaq becoming the first (and only) remake of a YRF project.[62]
In 2012,Ajay Devgan,Viacom 18 Motion Pictures andEros International together moved theCompetition Commission of India against Yash Raj Films and Aditya Chopra, accusing the company of using monopolistic business practices and rampantly abusing their dominant position and clout in theEntertainment Industry of India by entering into a tie-in arrangement with 1,500 single screen film exhibitors (out of a total of 2,100) of India, that obliged them to showcase the company'sJab Tak Hai Jaan (and notSon of Sardaar) on the Diwali week of 2012 and continue its theatrical run for two weeks after the worldwide release. The trio eventually moved theCompetition Appellate Tribunal on 30 October 2012 against YRF but were turned down by the bench heading the Tribunal.
Both films opened on 13 November 2012;Jab Tak Hai Jaan released on 3500 screens andSon of Sardar released on 2000 screens, in the worldwide market. However, in November 2013, the CCI dismissed the case filing as they found YRF to not be in contravention of the Competition Act of India; YRF won the case.[63]
Raees (2017) was a film produced byExcel Entertainment andRed Chillies Entertainment helmed byRahul Dholakia. Principal photography of the film was completed in April 2015 and a few months were allotted to its post-production work.[64] A teaser/trailer of the film was released acrosssocial media platforms and attached toBajrangi Bhaijaan on 17 July 2015 announcing it as a 5 July 2016 release; packaged and presented as anEid project.[65] However, sensing an opportunity in the same period, YRF went ahead togreen-light its ownSultan, slated for release on the same day, in January 2016. Principal photography withSalman Khan andAnushka Sharma was completed in 3 months followed by post-production work being completed in May.[66] A teaser/trailer and other marketing material featuring both Khan and Sharma were released simultaneously starting in April across platforms and networks. The film was ready for a 5 July release and as a result, around 4230 theatre screens available in India would have been divided among the two films.[67]
Realising a loss in business to both films,Ritesh Sidhwani andShah Rukh Khan, the producers ofRaees approached Chopra to work out a settlement to ensure both projects are exhibited comfortably across centres.[68] However, Chopra disagreed to shift his release date stating the poor performance of Khan's prior releases (Dilwale andFan) in the global box office.[69] Moreover, Chopra ensured that YRF Distributors (his film distribution leg) exhibitSultan to more than 3100 screens (out of the total 4230), apparently abusing his dominant position and clout in theEntertainment Industry of India, an allegation that he has battled several times in the past.
Sultan eventually released on 6 July 2016, as planned by YRF, across 4310 Indian screens and 1130 screens internationally, to gross₹501 crore (US$59 million) in the worldwide market[70] andRaees was postponed to 26 January 2017, scheduled to release alongsideKaabil on the same day.[71]
In November 2012, YRFgreen-lit their first Indian-American war drama co-production titledPaani withDreamWorks Pictures.[72] The film was to be helmed byShekhar Kapur andSushant Singh Rajput was signed for the lead role in December of the same year.[73] Principal photography was to start in June 2013, and it was planned as a December 2015 release by both Chopra and Kapur.[74]A. R. Rahman was roped in to score the music of the film and pre-production work started in January 2013 with the entire cast and crew at YRF Studios.[75]
In February 2013,Sanjay Leela Bhansali offered the lead role to Rajput in hisShakespearean tragic romanceRam-Leela, which was scheduled to be shot throughout the year 2013.[76] Chopra, however, advised Rajput to turn down the role to focus solely onPaani and led Bhansali to signRanveer Singh (through YRF Talent) instead.[77] In November 2013, Chopra shelvedPaani statingaffordability issues faced by YRF during pre-production work.[78]Ram-Leela meanwhile opened to overwhelming critical andbox office success in the same period with both Bhansali and Singh being awarded extensively for their work.[79]
Rajput was later signed for another independent YRF projects;Detective Byomkesh Bakshy scheduled to release in April 2015.
On 12 December 2022, YRF released a song from thefourth project of itsspy universe titled "Besharam Rang" across all media platforms. Picturised onDeepika Padukone andShah Rukh Khan in the outskirts ofBenicàssim, the song was written byVishal–Shekhar andKumaar. Choreography and direction was byVaibhavi Merchant.[80] A few days after release of the song, it started gaining criticism among right-wing ideologists for its lyrics, Padukone's appearance in a saffron bikini, and Khan's appearance in green trousers. A boycott call onTwitter by the name "#BoycottPathaan"[81][82] began to trend with a section of users calling the visuals "vulgar" and "infuriating".[83]
Chopra wrote to theOffice of the Prime Minister explaining this issue a week before the release of the film. On 18 January 2023, thePrime Minister of India sent out a warning to the workers of all national political parties to "strictly refrain from making comments on films".[84][85] It was the first-ever public statement strategically released by the PMO[86] to safeguard the release of a film in India. TheMinistry for Information and Broadcasting further cautioned political leaders and workers against making remarks on important films.[87] Followingly, the state governments ofGujarat,[88]Uttar Pradesh,[89]Madhya Pradesh,[90] andAssam[91] assured YRF protection for its viewers and assurance that protestors will be strictly prosecuted.[92] On 24 January 2023, a day before the release of the film, theVishva Hindu Parishad released a statement to its members that they were "satisfied" with thecertification of the film and assured that all protests will be ceased.[93]
At the time of the statement,Pathaan was slated to be screened in 5500+ movie theatres in India[94][95] and 2500+ movie theatres in more than 100 countries internationally[96] thereby making it the most widely released Indian film.[97] After two days of its release, 25 additional screens were added after theChief Justice ofDelhi High Court directed Chopra to add an exclusive version of the film for people withdisabilities.[98]
On 3 March 2023,Pathaan emerged as thethird highest grossing Hindi film of all time.[99]
He was married to Payal Khanna until their divorce in 2009. The couple had no children. On 21 April 2014, he married actressRani Mukerji in a private ceremony inItaly.[100] In December 2015, Rani gave birth to their daughter Adira Chopra.[101]
In 2023, Chopra sat down for an extensive interview for the first time in 28 years for theNetflix seriesThe Romantics, which highlights the rise of Yash Chopra and Yash Raj Films.[102]
| Year | Title | Producer | Executive Producer | Distribution | Notes | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Seven | Yes | No | Sony | 9 Episodes | [105][106] |
| Lift Kara De | Yes | No | 28 Episodes | [107] | ||
| Powder | Yes | No | 28 Episodes | [108] | ||
| Mahi Way | Yes | No | 24 Episodes | [109] | ||
| Rishta.com | Yes | No | 26 Episodes | [110] | ||
| 2011 | Khotey Sikkey | Yes | No | 25 Episodes | [111] | |
| Kismat | Yes | No | 25 Episodes | [112] | ||
| 2023 | The Romantics | No | Yes | Netflix | 4 Episodes | [113] |
| The Railway Men | No | Yes | 4 Episodes | [114] | ||
| Vijay 69 | No | Yes | Feature film | [115] | ||
| 2025 | Mandala Murders | No | Yes | 8 Episodes | [116] | |
| Akka | No | Yes | — | [117] |
| Title | Opening | Curtains | Premiere | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Come Fall In Love - The Musical | 14 September 2022 | 13 October 2022 | Old Globe, San Diego | [118][119] |
| 14 October 2022 | 13 November 2022 | Broadway, New York | [120][121] | |
| 29 May 2025 | 21 June 2025 | Opera House, Manchester | [122][123] | |
| 22 June 2025 | 27 July 2025 | West End, London | [124][125] | |
| 29 June 2027 | 21 July 2027 | National School of Drama, Delhi | [122][123] | |
| 22 July 2027 | 27 August 2027 | Prithvi, Mumbai | [124][125] |
Media related toAditya Chopra at Wikimedia Commons
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