Director in the Spotlight: Aditya Chopra

In this edition of BollyCurry's popular feature, Director in the Spotlight, we shine our spotlight on much acclaimed yet elusive director, scion of the famed Chopra family, Aditya Chopra.

Published: Monday,Nov 16, 2015 20:42 PM GMT-07:00

Shreya

In this edition of BollyCurry's popular feature, Director in the Spotlight, we shine our spotlight on much acclaimed yet elusive director, scion of the famed Chopra family, Aditya Chopra.

Born to legendary director and filmmaker Yash Chopra and his producer-singer wife Pamela Chopra, Chopra is the older of two brothers. His younger brother, Uday Chopra, is an actor turned producer who manages Yash Raj Films and their counterpart, YRF Entertainment.

Given his strong connection to Bollywood, it came as no surprise to anyone when he began to assist his father in films like Chandni (1989) and Lamhe (1991) fresh out of high school. After assisting his father in many such films, Chopra directed his first film at the young age of 23, which happened to be the iconic Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jaayenge (1995). The movie went on to become an all-time blockbuster, and is the longest running Bollywood movie till date.

His next directorial venture was five years later with the film Mohabbatein (2000), which served as a launchpad for his younger brother's acting debut. It also served to relaunch the megastar Amitabh Bachchan's career, who had previously taken a hiatus from acting.

Chopra took a break from direction to focus on his screenwriting and the various ventures by Yash Raj Films, including YRF Entertainment, YRF Television, YRF Home Videos, YRF Music, among many others. After a long break of around eight years, he returned to direction with the acclaimed film Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi (2008), which happened to be the debut of the talented Anushka Sharma.

After another long hiatus of eight years, following the demise of his father, Chopra recently announced his most ambitious project till date - Befikre, scheduled for a tentative 2016 release. Touted to be his first nu-Experimental film, to be made under a budget of 15 Crore Indian Rupees, this film marks the return of the pretty Vaani Kapoor who'd made her Bollywood debut with the film Shuddh Desi Romance (2014) opposite the effervescent Sushant Singh Rajput.

On the personal front, Chopra was married to Payal Khanna until their divorce in 2009, post which rumors began to surface of him being in a relationship with accomplished actress Rani Mukerji. However, the two kept mum about their supposed relationship status until their marriage in 2014, which was an extremely small and intimate affair held in Italy. Recent reports suggest that the happily married couple are expecting their first child in 2016.

Did You Know?

Chopra completed his undergraduate degree from the famed HR College of Commerce in Bombay, where he studied alongside Anil Thadani, Karan Johar, and Abhishek Kapoor.
Chopra is an extremely elusive person, and has barely ever been photographed by the media at public events.

We, at BollyCurry, take this opportunity to wish Aditya Chopra all the very best for his upcoming directorial venture, and wish him all the success with it. We'd also like to congratulate him and his family for the new addition in their lives, and hope that the upcoming year brings the Chopras a lot of blessings!

Author: Ritchelle C.

Editor: Mohini N.

Graphics: Mohini N.

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