| Chandni | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Yash Chopra |
| Screenplay by | Arun Kaul Umesh Kalbagh |
| Dialogues by | Sagar Sarhadi |
| Story by | Kamna Chandra |
| Produced by | Yash Chopra |
| Starring | Sridevi Rishi Kapoor Vinod Khanna |
| Cinematography | Manmohan Singh |
| Edited by | Keshav Naidu |
| Music by | Shiv-Hari |
Production company | |
Release date |
|
Running time | 179 minutes |
| Country | India |
| Language | Hindi |
Chandni (Moonlight) is a 1989 IndianHindi-languagemusical romance film directed and co-produced byYash Chopra from a story written byKamna Chandra with a screenplay by Umesh Kalbagh,Arun Kaul, andSagar Sarhadi. The film starsSridevi in the title role of Chandni Mathur, a young, effervescent woman torn between two suitors played byRishi Kapoor andVinod Khanna.Waheeda Rehman,Anupam Kher,Juhi Chawla,Sushma Seth,Mita Vashisht,Manohar Singh feature in supporting roles.[1]
The eighties marked a professional setback in Chopra's career, After a series of failed action films, Chopra decided to return to his roots and make a romantic musical, a film with all the hallmarks of what has come to be known as the "Yash Chopra style" – heroine-oriented, romantic, emotional, depicting the lifestyle of the super-elite, with melodic music used in songs picturized in foreign locations. The film marked the first collaboration between Chopra and Sridevi; they would collaborate again for the path-breakingLamhe (1991).
Chandni was theatrically released on 15 September 1989 byYash Raj Films. The film emerged as a widespread critical and commercial success, ranking as thethird highest-grossing Hindi film of the year, with its soundtrack emerging as thebest-selling album of the year as well as the decade, with more than 10 million copies sold. The massive success of the film and its soundtrack was instrumental in ending the era of violent action films inIndian Cinema and rejuvenating the romantic musical genre. The success of the film further reinforced Sridevi's position as the top female star of the era. Over the years,Chandni has been hailed as one of Chopra's finest films.[1][2][3]
At the37th National Film Awards,Chandni wonBest Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment. At the35th Filmfare Awards, the film received 10 nominations, includingBest Film,Best Director (Yash Chopra),Best Actress (Sridevi),Best Actor (Rishi Kapoor),Best Supporting Actor (Vinod Khanna) andBest Supporting Actress (Waheeda Rehman), and wonBest Cinematography.
Chandni Mathur, a middle-class naïve girl, travels toDelhi with her parents to attend her cousin's wedding. There she meets Rohit Gupta, her cousin's friend. Rohit instantly falls in love with the beautiful Chandni and starts courting her. After his continuous attempts, Chandni accepts him, and they eventually get engaged, though Gupta's family dislikes Chandni due to a difference in their social status. One day, Rohit calls Chandni and asks her to come to the roof of her home, where he is waiting for her in a helicopter to shower rose petals on her. While doing that, his helicopter crashes, paralyzing his right side. The Guptas blame Chandni for the mishap and mistreat her. Thinking he cannot be a good husband, Rohit lets Chandni go. Heartbroken, she leaves Delhi and travels toMumbai and finds work at a travel agency. Lalit Khanna, the head of the travel agency, and a widower, falls for Chandni and asks her to marry him, and she accepts the proposal hesitantly.
Two years later, after much contemplation, Chandni agrees to marry Lalit and meets his mom, Lata, who likes her instantly. Lalit visitsSwitzerland on a business trip and runs into Rohit, who is still undergoing treatment from professional therapists and physicians for his paralysis.
Having recovered, he befriends Lalit, and they share their respective love stories, unaware that they both love the same girl, Chandni. Back in India, Rohit visits Lalit's house to meet him. Chandni opens the door; she and Rohit are surprised to see each other. Rohit reveals that he is no longer paralyzed. They get keyed up with tears, and he seizes this chance to propose to her.
However, Chandni tells Rohit that she is engaged to marry Lalit. She also reminds him of what the Guptas did to her. He leaves regretfully. Lalit invites Rohit to his wedding as they have become friends. Rohit and Chandni pretend to be strangers. On the wedding day, he mumbles and stumbles down a flight of stairs in a drunken stupor. Out of panic, Chandni runs towards him, hugs him, and starts crying. Upon seeing this, Lalit realizes Chandni loves Rohit. In the hospital, Rohit regains consciousness. Lalit sacrifices his love for Chandni, and she marries Rohit. Lalit and Lata share a brief, sad moment upon seeing Chandni and Rohit leave.
Speaking about the film with Karan Johar, Yash Chopra recalled when he was makingVijay (1988), an action film, he felt like he was not supposed to make films like this. Later, he met with writerKamna Chandra, who had achieved popularity after having writtenRaj Kapoor'sPrem Rog (1982). She presented the story of a social romantic musical film to Chopra, who liked it and started casting the stars. However, at the launch party, Chopra had a change of heart and decided to change the second half of the script, wherein originally Chandni was supposed to marry Lalit and have a son. The idea of a paralyzed lead was suggested by Rishi Kapoor, who had seen the 1981 Hollywood movieWhose Life Is It Anyway? and was inspired by the character played byRichard Dreyfuss.[4]
Initially,Rekha was approached to play the titular role; however, upon her refusal, Chopra offered the role to Sridevi who accepted the offer.[5][6]
With the casting ofVinod Khanna, distributors started demanding an action sequence in the film, to which Chopra refused. Originally, the script required Khanna to save Sridevi from a fire incident. However, upon watching the completed film, Chopra felt that it did not feel like a part of the film, so he called Sridevi and Khanna back for a day's shoot to re-film their first meeting sequence.
The soundtrack ofChandni was composed byShiv Kumar Sharma andHariprasad Chaurasia, known together asShiv–Hari. The lyrics were provided byAnand Bakshi. In addition to the songs listed below, there was a recurring instrumental love melody, not part of a full song. That melody was further developed into the song "Kabhi Main Kahoon" for Chopra's next filmLamhe (1991), also scored by Shiv-Hari.[7]
The film's soundtrack was a major success in India and sold more than 10 million copies, becoming thebest-selling soundtrack album of the year as well as the decade.[8] It is believed that the soundtrack helped bring back the romantic musical genre, along withQayamat Se Qayamat Tak (1988) andMaine Pyar Kiya (1989), with its songs and lyrics receiving major critical acclaim.[8][9] According toYash Raj Films, the soundtrack went 4× Platinum by the day of the premiere.[8]
The songChandni O Meri Chandni was remixed and reused in the 2012 filmChaar Din Ki Chandni
| No. | Title | Singer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Mere Haathon Mein" | Lata Mangeshkar | 05:34 |
| 2. | "Mehbooba" | Lata Mangeshkar,Vinod Rathod | 04:53 |
| 3. | "Main Sasural Nahi Jaaungi" | Pamela Chopra | 04:06 |
| 4. | "Mitwa (Tere Mere Honton Pe)" | Lata Mangeshkar,Babla Mehta | 04:31 |
| 5. | "Aa Meri Jaan" | Lata Mangeshkar | 04:21 |
| 6. | "Dance Music" | Instrumental | 03:16 |
| 7. | "Chandni O Meri Chandni" | Sridevi,Jolly Mukherjee | 04:32 |
| 8. | "Lagi Aaj Sawan Ki" | Suresh Wadkar,Anupama Deshpande | 03:25 |
| 9. | "Parbat Se Kaali" | Asha Bhosle,Vinod Rathod | 04:22 |
| 10. | "Tu Mujhe Suna" | Nitin Mukesh,Suresh Wadkar | 04:30 |
| 11. | "Mere Haathon Mein" | Instrumental | 05:47 |
| Total length: | 49:17 | ||
Chandni received widespread critical acclaim upon its release, with many critics highlighting the film's impact in being instrumental in bringing an end to an era of violent action movies inIndian cinema and rejuvenating theromantic musical genre. The film emerged as a blockbuster and thethird highest-grossing Hindi film of the year.[10][11]The Hindu stated that "the film opened to full houses and distributors had to drastically increase the number of theatres".[12] It was cited byTimes of India as "one of the most-watched films of Indian Cinema."[13]Hindustan Times featured the movie in its list of 'Yash Chopra's Greatest Hits' saying "it was instrumental in ending the era of violence in Bollywood and bringing back the romance into Hindi films."
Chandni consolidated Sridevi's position as the top female star of the era.[14] Describing Sridevi's performance in the film,Indiatimes wrote "True to her screen-name, she was an epitome of radiance, warmth and vivacity. She effortlessly introduced us to the powerful streaks, her classic, angelic character was laden with."[15] The scene where she confrontsRishi Kapoor was ranked byRediff as one of the "10 Best Scenes from Yash Chopra Films."[16] While Sridevi topped theHindustan Times' list of Yash Chopra's "Top 5 Heroines",[17]CNN-IBN ranked her #1 on its list of 'Yash Chopra's 10 Most Sensuous Heroines', saying that "Yash Chopra immortalized Sridevi as the perfectChandni."[18] The titular character became one of the most famous characters ofHindi cinema, withIndia Today including it in its list of 'Yash Chopra's Iconic Characters'.[19]CNN-IBN listed it among 'The Cult Characters Yash Chopra Created',[20] whileNDTV featured it in its list of 'Yash Chopra's Greatest Creations' stating that the film established Sridevi "as the nation's sweetheart" and "reinforced her position as the reigning actress in Bollywood."[21]
Costume design in the film was done byBhanu Athaiya and Leena Daru.[5][22] Sridevi's iconic'Chandni Look' revolutionized fashion in North India[23] and became synonymous with the actress,[24] withRediff stating "A luminous Sridevi slips into every possible design in white for a major chunk of the romance and no one complains."[25] Speaking about the look, Chopra told film criticRajeev Masand "While makingChandni, I had a vision of who I wanted this girl to be. I told Sridevi that most of her costumes in the film would be in white."[26]The Tribune wrote "Leena Daru scored a winner again when she created theChandni look for Sridevi. Every street corner sold the salwar-kameez and dupatta that gave the heroine a refreshingly understated look, rarely seen on the Indian screen",[27] whileMid-Day reported "Leena Daru dressed Bollywood's beauties for several years. But it was her simple white churidar and kurta with theleheriya dupatta for Sridevi inChandni that gave the Southern belle an angelic image and caused theChandni Chowk stores to hit the jackpot with thousands of copies."[28]BizAsia described the effect of the look saying "Chopra never quite got over his Sridevi hangover and almost always chose to present his future lead heroines in similar outfits (Juhi Chawla inDarr (1993),Madhuri Dixit inDil To Pagal Hai (1997),Preity Zinta inVeer-Zaara (2004)), but none of them became half as iconic as Sridevi did afterChandni."[29] The'Chandni Look' was also highlighted in the film's famoustandav dance sequence by Sridevi, whereRediff said "the actress transformed into a mythical goddess in a white number."[30] Sridevi's chiffon sarees became equally popular withIndian Express writing "This film made the chiffon sari a must-have in every Indian woman's wardrobe."[31]
The music ofChandni became a multi-platinum success,[23] with Sridevi's famous dance number "Mere Haathon Mein Nau Nau Choodiyan Hai" finding a place inRediff's chart of 'Bollywood's Top 25 Wedding Songs'.[32] Sridevi also lent her voice to the film's popular title-track "Chandni O Meri Chandni"[33] which featured among the 'Top 5 Songs of Yash Chopra' byHindustan Times.[17] Talking about her role inChandni, Sridevi said it was "a lively and vibrant girl in the first half (who) becomes quiet and goes into a shell in the second half. I loved that transformation and when you have a director like Yash Chopra at the helm, you can be sure that he will make the best out of everything."[34]
Nominations
Yash Chopra's homage to good old-fashioned romance, is making it to the top. There are no fights, no villains, no politicians: "Nobody even shouts." says Chopra. Yet, the film is such a hit that many mini Chandnis are in the pipeline. Chopra sees the return of melody to Hindi film music as one of the reasons for his success: four platinum discs were sold by the time the film was released. But the diehard romanticist believes that a love story well told will neverfail at the box-office. He might be right. Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak at the end of the decade and Ek Duje Ke Liye, Love Story, Ram Teh Ganga Maili and Betaab certainly had the audience spellbound.
Then, in 1988Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak, and laterMaine Pyar Kiya andChandni heralded the return of melody to Indian cinema.