Aditya Chopra recently announced his first directorial venture in seven years in the most beautifully whimsical manner. On the eighty third birth anniversary of his late father – the famed director Yash Chopra – Aditya Chopra released a letter to the media through his banner Yash Raj Films (YRF).
In the letter, Chopra imagines a conversation with his father in which he expresses doubts about his planned venture being met with Chopra senior’s approval, seeing as it is not the “biggest film of YRF” that the latter wanted his son to make. Aditya Chopra, who last made Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi (2008), makes a disarmingly earnest case for his film, calling it his happiest, riskiest, youngest film.
Yash Copra’s reply, as imagined by his idolising son, is fairly formulaic in its thrust. He talks about the need for taking risks and backing one’s projects with love and fearless conviction. What gives this dialogue its emotional punch is its wistfulness, the almost primal human need to remember with love our lost ones.
The letter concludes with Aditya Chopra announcing the title of his light-hearted rom-com, which is Befikre - Those Who Dare to Love. With a setup like this, audience expectations are sure to rise. Whether they will be met, only time will tell.