He is the reigning "king of romance". And his movies have that magic masala that sets box offices on fire. Top actors are ready to work for him at lower remuneration, his clout in filmdom is legion, while Indian banks "" which have been chary about giving loans for film productions "" welcome him with open arms. And his production house has churned out blockbusters like Silsila, Kabhi Kabhie, Chandni, Lamhe, Darr, and the more recent mega blockbuster sequel Dhoom 2.
This week Yash Chopra was back in the news, for being the first company to tie up with US-based animators, The Walt Disney Studios. It is for the first time that the foreign studio is tying up with an Indian production house for a series of computer-animated feature films for Indian audiences.
As part of his vision to create an integrated media company on the lines of Hollywood studios, Chopra is now getting into multiplexes and television content.
He has hired the high-profile Ravina Raj Kohli (of Sony and Star fame) to set up a television division, while he is in talks with private equity companies like Blackstone to set up a company to get into the exhibition business.
"Yash Raj Films' graph is just scaling up. There is more to come. The production company will find a significant place in the map of global entertainment," says film analyst Taran Adarsh.
And to add to all the action, his blockbuster Jhoom Barabar Jhoom starring Amitabh Bachchan and his son Abhishek, is hitting the screens on Friday.
The film is crucial for Yash Raj Films "" because his only venture this year upto now, Tara Rum Pum, did not hit the big time on the box office, raising questions about whether Chopra was losing his magic touch.
The production house, formed in 1970, has come a long way from just producing films and running a studio to now heading towards becoming a media conglomerate.
Yash Chopra and his media shy son, Aditya Chopra, who also directs many of the blockbusters, were the first to realise the need to create an integrated media company which would not only produce movies, but also opt for distribution, create its own creative team of directors, get into home entertainment and even music, rather than selling the rights early and, literally, for a song.
For instance, a few years ago Chopra launched the music label, Yash Raj Music, thereby protecting the music rights of his movies and escaping paying royalty to music companies. Then there was the Yash Raj Films Home Entertainment label for releasing DVDs and VCDs of the movies.
Chopra also began distributing films apart from his own, last year, with director-producer Rakesh Roshan's Krrish, followed by Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna. Chopra is also clear on the distribution of his own films "" he does not sell the rights but keeps them with himself.
Chopra's amazing clout is, of course, reflected in the fact that he has taken on exhibitors as big as Ajay Bijli of PVR Ltd. When Yash Raj Films demanded a larger revenue share for his movies from multiplexes, most of them resisted but gave in to his demands.
But Bijli, the largest exhibitor in the country, refused to bow down. Yash Raj pulled out his movies from PVR and the battle has still not been settled. No wonder industry experts say that no actor, no matter how big, can afford to offend the kingmaker.
