By Daniel Ashwin Pillai

    Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
    Madhuri Dixit, pictured, played the female lead in several films directed by Mr. Chopra.

    It has been over a week since the passing of Bollywood’s greatest director, Yash Raj Chopra. Since hearing of his death, my free time has been spent watching his classics, including my all-time favorite, “Dil to Pagal Hai,” which celebrated its 15th anniversary on Oct. 30th.

    Only after watching the song “Dholna” and seeing Madhuri Dixit dance around in lush green fields, did I truly feel the impact of the Swiss Alps and the ladies that graced them with their chiffon sarees in Mr. Chopra’s films.


    For those unfamiliar, one of the defining elements of Mr. Chopra’s films was his heroine – her dance, presence and beauty, typically set in the mountains of Switzerland.

    No director has portrayed and presented women so elegantly. The heroines in Mr. Chopra’s films exude sensuality. They show a dignified sense of beauty combined with subtle sex appeal. Mr. Chopra understood that women are the bearers of culture, carrying its beauty, innocence, power and fluidity.

    His heroines were always pure at heart, lovable and sensitive. And they always stayed true to their cultural values, wearing Indian attire most of the time. Mr. Chopra’s cinematic sensibilities often portrayed women in the best light – just take Sridevi’s beautiful performance of a tandav dance by the river in Rishi Kapoor’s memories in “Chandni.”

    For me, the most poignant heroine-centric moment in Mr. Chopra’s long list of films is in “Dil to Pagal Hai,” when Ms. Dixit’s character is introduced to the viewer. Shah Rukh Khan’s character envisions love in the form of a fictional woman named Maya. When he speaks about her for the first time, we see visual interjections of Ms. Dixit running in the fields. She is charming, carefree, loving and at one with nature.

    Mr. Chopra also empowered his heroines by making them modern. Karisma Kapoor enjoyed going to the gym and had a liberal sense of style and outlook on life in ”Dil to Pagal Hai,” while Rani Mukherji was well-educated and fought for a man’s freedom in “Veer-Zaara.” In the same film Preity Zinta’s character loved a man her parents didn’t approve of. Mr. Chopra explored womanhood in its diversity, illustrating the Indian woman in various forms and in different circumstances, dealing with each situation and emotion with dignity and poise regardless how traditional or modern she really was.

    Mr. Chopra’s representation of femininity and womanhood was popular in the industry and among movie-goers. Every actress wanted to be a Yash Chopra heroine, as it not only meant starring in a probable hit film, but also reaching out to the masses and perhaps becoming an iconic character that would be remembered for years to come.

    While it’s true that Mr. Chopra’s chiffon clad heroine will go down in Indian cinema history, all of his heroines were dignified and beautiful.


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