Bollywood has a curious paradox at its core. An industry that thrives on exposure, cameras, and constant watching, is run behind-the-scenes by a man who appears to have sought to be absent from all three of those things for decades. While social media is filled with celebrities, all sorts of actors, directors, filmmakers, and everyone else in the industry – Aditya Chopra is one of the greatest enigmas within Hindi cinema. He has practically no press interviews, little to no public-facing engagements, and expresses no desire to become a brand himself; yet, his fingerprints remain virtually impossible to overlook throughout Hindi cinema.
Aditya Chopra has been a presence over Hindi cinema like a shadow; rarely visible, but always felt. In a day and age where visibility often equals power, Chopra created a different equation. He chose to allow the work to be the form of evidence. He allowed the films to speak for themselves. Most importantly, he chose to allow the industry itself to serve as the loudest introduction.
He was just 23 when he directed the iconic film Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge. It was more than a blockbuster, it was a cultural phenomenon, and is now part of the Indian pop culture lexicon. It changed the way love stories were told in Bollywood, creating a whole new rhythm for romance; the hero was a mixture of soft, strong, traditional, and contemporary; family and romantic relationships no longer needed to be kept separate from one another; and even today, traces of that formula continue to appear in Hindi films.
Arguably, Aditya Chopra’s true contribution is not so much the production of a feature film, but in transforming the industry systemically.
While Bollywood was built primarily around each feature film being an individual venture or based around the popularity of a particular actor, YRF has become a full-fledged studio enterprise, thus creating an ecosystem out of their productions. Chopra has created a true “studio machine” by creating and managing an entire process that starts with developing the script through talent management, music, production, distribution and onto long-term franchise establishment. And that strategy changed the game.
Long before ‘cinematic universe’ became something everyone in the industry talked about, Bollywood had been mainly about individual, single stories. Chopra thought ahead to when audiences might want to revisit a world they had already experienced and built a think tank around developing new worlds for audiences to return to. Today, the franchise model and interconnected storytelling are an integral part of how mainstream Hindi cinema is made.
There is also talent involved. Many of the people responsible for launching some of Bollywood’s deepest talent pools found their way into this pool via YRF. Some worked their way up to the leagues of being one of the most successful filmmakers, while others made a name for themselves through the success of YRF projects. What is even more interesting is that Chopra has never been one to make a very loud effort to mentor his talents. Chopra has never been in the business of making grand speeches about mentoring a new star. The focus was always on the work itself.
Chopra has also influenced things like trends, which aren’t something most audiences may pay attention to. Casting choices, genres, style of production, and trends in how the audience wants to see movies have almost always gone by the way that YRF has always dreamed about doing. From the days of making big romantic love dramas to today where they’re now making slick commercial films, Chopra has always had a gut feeling about where the audience will head before anyone else got there.
Maybe that’s why the lack of him has created an element of presence.
There’s a certain curiosity about Aditya Chopra in a day and age where most of us are privy to nearly every aspect of a celebrity’s daily routine. We know what celebrities eat, where they go on holiday, and what time they post on social media. We’re living in a world with near-endless access; however, Chopra has chosen to remove himself from it. And perhaps it’s that very distance that makes him seem so powerful.
Bollywood has, as we all know, been in constant pursuit of the camera for many years. Yet, one of the more impactful people in the industry has been running away from it for just as long, yet nonetheless remains firmly planted in the middle of the picture.
