The Romantics

Enjoyed watching ‘The Romantics’ on Netflix.

It has four episodes and tries to demystify the process of filmmaking of the Hindi film industry, focusing particularly on one production house - Yash Raj Films.

It is as much a tribute to Aditya Chopra as it is to Yash Chopra whose popularity in Switzerland 🇨🇭 is well known. Something I have seen first-hand. Right from the bronze statue of Yash Chopra in Interlaken, his name on Jungfrau Railways, a deluxe suite named after him at the Victoria-Jungfrau Grand Hotel & Spa, to Lake Lauenen often unofficially being referred to as Lake Chopra by tour buses.

But romance is more than just elegant shooting locations, chiffon sarees and demure, doe-eyed beauties. It is the filmmaker’s heart that chooses to fade into a bouquet of flowers even when the hero has picked up a revolver for revenge. 

Juxtaposed in the background is the Indian political and economic evolution, explaining the necessity for an angry, young man; the poet hero; the anti-hero; and the rise of the privileged class. 

A few months ago, I was telling SG that I’d like to write about how romance has changed over the years in Bollywood. How openly stalkerish behavior has changed to that of consent and of treating your partner as equals. Gone are the days of Nirupa Roy, the mothers who suffered in silence and 80% of their roles included shedding tears of happiness or suffering. Today, the movie moms are more like friends and have equally glamorous jobs as the fathers or have a say in matters of running the household or which schools the kids should attend.

A superstar is someone who can play the roles of a brother, a son, and a lover with equal ease. And a successful production house is that which can produce a variety of entertainment for a diverse class of audience. We need masala entertainers like Dhoom, as much as we need feel good movies like Chak De! India and Dum Laga Ke Haisha.

Aditya Chopra’s genius is probably in the fact that he understands - to scale up, you have to trust the creative instincts of other folks and give them the freedom to create microcosms of their own.