Filmmaker Smriti Mundhra, best known for Indian Matchmaking, brings a one-of-its-kind documentary titled The Romantics. It is an ode to the late legendary filmmaker Yash Chopra and his films that celebrate Indian culture in Hindi cinema. In an exclusive chat with The Free Press Journal, Smriti talks about how she tricked Aditya Chopra to get featured in the docu-series and more.
Talking about the idea of creating a docu-series Smriti shares, “I heard a lot of stories about Hindi cinema while growing up. Yash Chopra and YRF define stories of India. The films they made so far brought cultural changes in cinema. We all have been influenced by the films banner had produced so far. I am grateful to them that I could make The Romantics.”
“One of my first meetings happened at the YRF office in Los Angeles and told them that if they could give me access to the archives, behind the scenes, I could make a documentary on the studio and their stories, which I grew up watching. That’s when the idea sparked and the rest is history. Sadly, I never met Yash ji but my parents had met him since they own a movie theatre in LA that exhibits Hindi films. They had a premiere of Kabhi Kabhie. I heard so many stories about him and it feels like that I know him personally,” she adds.
Rishi and Neetu Kapoor
The Romantics features almost every noted artiste who has worked in Yash Chopra’s films. When asked about getting Bollywood personalities together, Smriti tells, “I spoke to as many artistes as I could. I could have easily made this into an eight or 10-part series, but I did a lot of research and started thinking about the arch of the series and films I want to dive into deeply, which was extremely challenging for me. Thereon, I figured out whom to interview and the questions to ask.”
Sharing further on missing an opportunity to feature one artiste in The Romantics, she reveals, “There are so many and it is hard to pick one so it has to be Aishwarya Rai Bachchan. I would have loved to talk to her but unfortunately, it didn’t work out.”
Aditya Chopra, the showrunner of YRF, is a private person and not much of him is available online but surprisingly, Smriti managed to speak to him in front of the camera for the first time ever. “It was a slow process, I had to trick him a little bit. I started by suggesting that we must talk and record the conversation. Then, I told him that we might as well record the video while we talk. I started editing the footage and then showed him the final thing, a lot was cleared then.”
On a parting note, Smriti talks about her upcoming projects. “I would love to direct a film for YRF, I had already put this in Adi’s ears. I have lot of projects in works, both fiction and non-fiction but I might take a little break after the release of The Romantics,” she signs off.
