Sridevi-starrer Yash Chopra’s Chandni was his first overtly romantic film. However, the director had a difficult time choosing the superstar. To complete the task for him, he sent Boney Kapoor.
When Yash Chopra, a revolutionary director, was fed up with the violent movies being produced in the business, he made Chandni, one of his biggest box office successes. Sridevi played the lead in the movie, which was his debut pure romantic drama. However, the director was unsure of how to approach Sridevi for the lead part.
One of the episodes of the late director’s Netflix documentary series The Romantics features him going into great length about the 1989 movie. Yash Chopra explained the inspiration behind Chandni, “Our industry had reached the saturation point of violence. So, I was like, I will do the biggest gamble of my life, whatever happens. I won’t make a film with a formula or calculation. I will make a film that will touch my heart. I started Chandni.”
Even though he had never worked with Sridevi, he admitted that he was impressed by the Tamil drama Moondram Pirai that Amitabh Bachchan had showed him. Sridevi was “the top star at that time,” according to Anil Kapoor, and Chopra “didn’t know how to approach her.”
Therefore, he urged Boney Kapoor to persuade Sridevi to star in the movie. Anil Kapoor disclosed, “He asked my brother (Boney Kapoor) to speak to her. So my brother flew down to Chennai to talk to her mother. It didn’t matter to her who Yash Chopra is who has made such great films, it was just the money.”
The next issue was Sridevi’s on-screen attire after she gave her consent to appear in the movie. She believed she looked drab in the all-white clothing that Yash Chopra intended to put her in.
The director remarked,“I wanted to dress her most simply, Chandni should be pure innocence.” Pamela Chopra, his wife, continued, “Yash was always known for dressing his women elegantly. He had imagined Chandni wearing only white clothing. In a previous interview, Yash Chopra described how Sridevi approached him and stated, ” “Yash ji, why this all white? This is so dull”.
He then further added, “I have faith in you as an actor, in your performance, if you have faith in me as a director, I like to present you as I want.” Following Sridevi, her mother approached him and said, “White in our community is not considered festive at all.” Pamela Chopra remembered Yash Chopra telling Sridevi’s mother to believe in his vision and trying to persuade her at this point.
Karan remembered being shocked to discover Chopra reading the fashion magazine Vogue when he first entered Chopra’s offices. I said to him, ‘Uncle this is so cool, you’re reading Vogue’, to which he added, ‘Yes I am referencing costumes’,” KJo recalled. Yash Chopra stated that if 50–60 outfits didn’t match his concept, he would scrap them.The remainder of history was made after Yash Chopra carried out his vision. One of Sridevi’s best works is considered to be Chandni. Vinod Khanna and Rishi Kapoor played important parts as well.
