Entertainment - Yash Chopra takes control of Yash Raj

Kunal M Shah

Yash Chopra has been having sleepless nights after YRF’s recent film, Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi didn’t prove to be as big a hit as expected. He has finally decided to take control of things.

Earlier this week, the long-expected meeting to get YRF back to its earlier glory took place between Aditya Chopra and his father, Yash Chopra.

This meeting was long overdue as industry insiders were wondering why Chopra Senior wasn’t taking the necessary steps to set things right at YRF after the banner suffered a loss of over Rs 100 crore in the last two years.

A well-placed source from YRF said, “Yashji was taken aback when the opening of Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi wasn’t as encouraging as expected. The fact that the film’s collections improved after the first day and then dropped on Monday did not help much.



Earlier this week, Yashji had a meeting with Aditya to discuss these matters. Yashji was particularly against the idea of hiring several technicians, directors and writers on a contract basis.

Yashji was also quite concerned that the music of none of their recent films had done well. He felt that selling the music rights would have been a far better business decision.

According to the source, Yashji called for the meeting as he was upset that as many as 10 Yash Raj films have not done good business in the last two years.

The only films that did average business were Bachna Ae Haseeno and Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi. Only two Yash Raj films, Dhoom 2 and Chak De! India proved to be successful.

Their experiment with animation (Roadside Romeo) also failed miserably. Even the audio and video divisions have failed. One of the first things that Yashji wants to do is start directing his long pending film which will probably feature Shah Rukh Khan and Katrina Kaif.



“Many directors like Sanjay Gadhvi and Kunal Kohli have left YRF and several actors like Akshay Kumar and Salman Khan don’t want to associate themselves with the banner.

Yashji wants to tackle these issues himself. He will be enforcing some rules after considering every aspect,” said the source.

The recent Yash Raj films that failed are Roadside Romeo, Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic, Tashan, Aaja Nachle, Laaga Chunri Mein Daag, Tara Rum Pum and Jhoom Barabar Jhoom.

Despite sending repeated text messages, YRF remained unavailable for comment.


10 Yash Chopra commandments

• Reconsider the rates of YRF Studios as the shooting floor rents are very expensive
• Reconsider the rates of dubbing, canteen and preview theatre
• Start his directorial venture immediately
• Take a decision about the YRF Music label
• Reconsider selling video rights
• Rework the contracts of writers and directors who are hired on a monthly basis
• Think several times before acquiring films for distribution
• Closely look into every aspect of the film before it is released
• Don’t make films with newcomers
• Don’t demand exorbitant terms from exhibitors