Yash Chopra once told me that wherever he went, people wanted to tell him their love stories. “Because I make romantic films, everybody feels obliged to share their stories with me.” said the filmmaker. “How do I tell them that it is great characters that make a great film?” Yash Chopra chose his subjects intuitively but today, as I sit to write this column, I discover that his cinema reflected all the nav rasas associated with love.
For my generation of audience, Chopra’s Silsila is the ultimate Shringaar Rasa where the hero/ Amitabh Bachchan and heroine/ Rekha first spot each other in a shaadi barat and there is instant attraction. In the forthcoming scenes the attraction grows to attachment and then passionate romance/ ye kahan aa gaye hum in Amsterdam. Marriage and society cannot keep the lovers apart, they defy conventions but like all legendary love stories, even this one ends in a tragedy and the lead pair return to their spouses.