Chandni (film)

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Chandni
Chandni poster.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed byYash Chopra
Written byKamna Chandra
Umesh Kalbagh
Arun Kaul
Sagar Sarhadi
Produced byYash Chopra
T. Subbarami Reddy
StarringSridevi
Rishi Kapoor
Vinod Khanna
Waheeda Rehman
CinematographyManmohan Singh
Edited byKeshav Naidu
Music byShiv-Hari
Production
company
Release date
  • 14 September 1989 (1989-09-14)
Running time
187 minutes
CountryIndia
LanguageHindi
Budget₹2.1 crore (equivalent to ₹18 crore or US$2.5 million in 2019)
Box office₹27.02 crore (equivalent to ₹232 crore or US$33 million in 2019)

Chandni (transl. Moonlight) is a 1989 Indian romantic musical drama film directed and co-produced by Yash Chopra with a screenplay written by Kamna Chandra, Umesh Kalbagh, Arun Kaul, and Sagar Sarhadi. The film stars Sridevi in the titular role of Chandni Mathur, a young effervescent woman torn between two suitors. Rishi Kapoor, Vinod Khanna, Waheeda Rehman, Anupam Kher, Sushma Seth, Mita Vashisht, Manohar Singh are featured in supporting roles.[1]

The eighties marked a professional setback in Chopra's career, as several films he directed and produced in that period were critical and commercial failures. After a series of failed action movies, Chopra decided to return to his roots and make a romantic musical, a film with all the hallmarks of what has come to be known as the "Yash Chopra style" - heroine-oriented, romantic, emotional, depicting the lifestyle of the super elite, with melodic music used in songs picturised in foreign locations. The film marked the first collaboration between Chopra and Sridevi.

Chandni released to widespread success, grossing ₹27.02 crores, becoming the third highest-grossing Indian film of 1989, whereas its soundtrack became the best selling album of the year as well as the decade with more than 10 million copies sold. The huge success of the film and its soundtrack were instrumental in ending the era of violent action films in Indian Cinema and rejuvenating the romantic musical genre. The success of film further reinforced Sridevi's position as the top female star of the era. Over the years, Chandni is hailed as one of Chopra's finest movies.[1][2][3] At the 37th National Film Awards, it won Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment, while at the 35th Filmfare Awards, the film received 10 nominations, including for the Best Film, Best Director, and Best Actress (for Sridevi), and won Best Cinematography.

Plot[]

At his sister's wedding, Rohit Gupta falls in love at first sight with the beautiful Chandni Mathur. She accepts him; they eventually get engaged, though the Guptas dislike Chandni due to difference in their social status. Intending to surprise Chandni with a special thing, Rohit asks her to wait but later meets an accident and is hospitalised. Chandni immediately reaches there.

The Guptas blame and tell her that Rohit is paralyzed on his right side. Thinking he cannot be a good husband, Rohit decides to let Chandni go. Heartbroken, she moves to Bombay and now starts working for a travel agency, whose head is an handsome and charming widower, Lalit Khanna. Slowly, he falls for and convinces Chandni to marry him. She is hesitant at first.

2 years later[]

Chandni agrees to marry Lalit and meets his mother Lata, who is glad to have a daughter-in-law like her. In Switzerland, Lalit meets Rohit who is still receiving treatment from professional therapists and physicians. Recovered now, he eventually befriends Lalit and they share their love-stories, unaware they both love Chandni. Back to India, he visits Khanna house to meet Lalit.

Chandni opens the door; she and Rohit are delighted to see each other. Rohit reveals he is now not in wheelchair. They get keyed up with tears; he seizes this chance to propose to her. Chandni tells Rohit that she is engaged to Lalit, much to his dismay. Angered, Rohit is questioned by her that what Guptas did to her. Regretfully, he leaves. Lalit invites Rohit to his wedding as they became friends.

In all ceremonies, Rohit and Chandni pretend as strangers. On the wedding day, he drinks too much to drive away from the pain of losing her. He mumbles and stumbles down a flight of stairs. Chandni cannot contain herself any longer, hugs him and starts crying. Lalit realises Chandni is his love. Rohit is hospitalised and regains his health. Chandni agrees to marry him as Lalit sacrifices his love. He and Lata have a brief sad moment, as Rohit and Chandni marry and live happily ever after.

Cast[]

Music[]

The music of Chandni was composed by Shiv Kumar Sharma and Hariprasad Chaurasia, known together as Shiv-Hari. The lyrics were provided by Anand Bakshi. In addition to the songs listed below, there was a recurring instrumental love melody, not part of a full song. That melody was further developed into the song "Kabhi Main Kahoon" for Chopra's next film Lamhe (1991), also scored by Shiv-Hari.

The film's soundtrack was a major success in India and sold more than 10 million copies, becoming the best selling soundtrack album of the year as well as the decade.[4] It is believed that the soundtrack helped bring back the romantic musical genre, with its songs and lyrics all being critically acclaimed, along with Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak the previous year and Maine Pyar Kiya the same year.[4][5] According to Yash Raj Films, the soundtrack went 4x Platinum by the day of the premiere.[4] By the 25th week, it went 25x Platinum, a new standard in the music industry.[citation needed]

No.TitleSinger(s)Length
1."Mere Haathon Mein"Lata Mangeshkar05:34
2."Mehbooba"Lata Mangeshkar, Vinod Rathod04:53
3."Main Sasural Nahi Jaaungi"Pamela Chopra04:06
4."Mitwa (Tere Mere Honton Pe)"Lata Mangeshkar, Babla Mehta04:31
5."Aa Meri Jaan"Lata Mangeshkar04:21
6."Dance Music"Instrumental03:16
7."Chandni O Meri Chandni"Sridevi, Jolly Mukherjee04:32
8."Lagi Aaj Sawan Ki"Suresh Wadkar, Anupama Deshpande03:25
9."Parbat Se Kaali"Asha Bhosle, Vinod Rathod04:22
10."Tu Mujhe Suna"Nitin Mukesh, Suresh Wadkar04:30
11."Mere Haathon Mein"Instrumental05:47

Reception & Legacy[]

Chandni received highly positive reviews upon its release with critics highlighting the film's impact in being instrumental in bringing an end to an era of violent action movies in Indian cinema and rejuvenating the romantic musical genre. According to iDiva, Chandni was "more an event and less a movie. Even as its shooting rolled on the sets, the film was a constant subject of discussion in the press."[6] Chandni emerged as one of the biggest blockbusters of 1989[7] with The Hindu stating that "the film opened to full houses and distributors had to drastically increase the number of theatres."'[8] It was cited by Times of India as "one of the most watched films of Indian Cinema."[9] Hindustan Times featured the movie in its list of 'Yash Chopra's Greatest Hits' saying "it was instrumental in ending the era of violence in Bollywood and bringing back the romance into Hindi films."

The film consolidated Sridevi's position as the top female star of the era.[10] Describing Sridevi's performance in Chandni, Indiatimes wrote "True to her screen-name, she was an epitome of radiance, warmth and vivacity. She effortlessly introduced us to the powerful streaks, her classic, angelic character was laden with."[11] The scene where she confronts Rishi Kapoor was ranked by Rediff as one of the "Ten Best Scenes from Yash Chopra Films."[12] While Sridevi topped the Hindustan Times' list of Yash Chopra's "Top 5 Heroines,"[13] CNN-IBN ranked her no. 1 on its list of "Yash Chopra's 10 Most Sensuous Heroines," saying that "Yash Chopra immortalised Sridevi as the perfect Chandni."[14] The titular character became one of the most famous characters of Hindi cinema with India Today including it in its list of 'Yash Chopra's Iconic Characters'.[15] CNN-IBN listed it among 'The Cult Characters Yash Chopra Created'[16] while NDTV featured it in its list of 'Yash Chopra's Greatest Creations' stating that the film established Sridevi "as the nation's sweetheart" and "reinforced her position as the reigning actress in Bollywood."[17]

Sridevi's iconic 'Chandni Look' revolutionized fashion in North India[6] and became synonymous with the actress,[18] with Rediff stating "A luminous Sridevi slips into every possible design in white for a major chunk of the romance and no one complains."[19] Speaking about the look, Yash Chopra told film critic Rajeev Masand "While making Chandni, I had a vision of who I wanted this girl to be. I told Sridevi that most of her costumes in the film would be in white."[20] The Tribune wrote "Leena Daru scored a winner again when she created the 'Chandni Look' for Sridevi. Every street corner sold the salwar-kameez and dupatta that gave the heroine a refreshingly understated look, rarely seen on the Indian screen."[21] while Mid-Day reported "Leena Daru dressed Bollywood's beauties for several years. But it was her simple white churidar and kurta with the leheriya dupatta for Sridevi in Chandni that gave the Southern belle an angelic image and caused the Chandni Chowk stores to hit the jackpot with thousands of copies."[22] BizAsia described the effect of the look saying "Chopra never quite got over his Sridevi hangover and almost always chose to present his lead heroines in similar outfits (Juhi Chawla in Darr (1993), Madhuri Dixit in Dil To Pagal Hai (1997)), but none of them became half as iconic as Sridevi did after Chandni."[23] The 'Chandni Look' was also highlighted in the film's famous Tandav dance sequence by Sridevi, where Rediff said "the actress transformed into a mythical goddess in a white number."[24] Sridevi's chiffon sarees became equally popular with Indian Express writing "This movie made the chiffon sari a must-have in every Indian woman's wardrobe."[25]

The music of Chandni became a multi-platinum success[6] with Sridevi's famous dance number "Mere Haathon Mein Nau Nau Choodiyan Hain" finding a place in Rediff's chart of 'Bollywood's Top 25 Wedding Songs.'[26] Sridevi also lent her voice to the film's popular title-track 'Chandni O Meri Chandni'[27] which featured among the 'Top 5 Songs' of Yash Chopra by Hindustan Times.[13] Talking about her role in Chandni, Sridevi said it was "a lively and vibrant girl in the first half (who) becomes quiet and goes into a shell in the second half. I loved that transformation and when you have a director like Yash Chopra at the helm, you can be sure that he will make the best out of everything."[28]

Awards[]

37th National Film Awards
35th Filmfare Awards[30]
Wins
  • Best Cinematography - Manmohan Singh

Nominations

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b Yahoo. "Best of Yash Chopra".
  2. ^ Rediff. "The Very Best of Yash Chopra".
  3. ^ TOI. "Top 10 Yash Chopra Films".
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b c "India Today". India Today. Thomson Living Media India Limited. 15 (1): 103. 1990. Yash Chopra's homage to good old-fashioned romance, is making it to the top. There are no fights, no villains, no politicians: "Nobody even shouts." says Chopra. Yet, the film is such a hit that many mini Chandnis are in the pipeline. Chopra sees the return of melody to Hindi film music as one of the reasons for his success: four platinum discs were sold by the time the film was released. But the diehard romanticist believes that a love story well told will neverfail at the box-office. He might be right. Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak at the end of the decade and Ek Duje Ke Liye, Love Story, Ram Teh Ganga Maili and Betaab certainly had the audience spellbound.
  5. ^ "India Today". India Today. Living Media: 342. 1994. Then, in 1988 Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak, and later Maine Pyar Kiya and Chandni heralded the return of melody to Indian cinema.
  6. ^ Jump up to: a b c iDiva. "Sridevi - The Dancing Queen". Archived from the original on 24 February 2013. Retrieved 16 April 2013.
  7. ^ Boxofficeindia.co.in. "Worth Their Weight In Gold! (80s)". Archived from the original on 11 January 2016. Retrieved 16 April 2013.
  8. ^ The Hindu. "Yash, he can!". Chennai, India.
  9. ^ Times of India (23 October 2012). "Top 10 Yash Chopra Films". The Times Of India.
  10. ^ Hindustan Times. "Yash Chopra's greatest hits".
  11. ^ Indiatimes. "Most Iconic Names in Yash Chopra Films!". The Times Of India.
  12. ^ Rediff. "The Ten Best Film Scenes from Yash Chopra".
  13. ^ Jump up to: a b Hindustan Times. "Top 50: Glorious moments from Yash Chopra's oeuvre".
  14. ^ "Yash Chopra's 10 Most Sensuous Heroines". CNN-IBN. Archived from the original on 26 October 2012.
  15. ^ India Today. "Yash Chopra's iconic characters".
  16. ^ "The cult characters Yash Chopra created". CNN-IBN. Archived from the original on 22 October 2012.
  17. ^ NDTV. "Vijay, Chandni: Yash Chopra's greatest creations".
  18. ^ Mid Day. "C for Chopra, C for chiffon".
  19. ^ Rediff. "Yash Chopra's visions in white".
  20. ^ RajeevMasand.com. "Yash Chopra: "I see movies today, and I realize that love has changed"".
  21. ^ The Tribune. "Sunday Reading".
  22. ^ Mid Day. "Tinseltown Trendsetters".
  23. ^ bizAsia. "Yash Chopra classic flashback: 'Chandni' (1989)". Archived from the original on 3 March 2016.
  24. ^ Rediff. "Your Favourite Sridevi Avatar Onscreen?".
  25. ^ Indian Express. "Yash Chopra: Timeline".
  26. ^ Rediff. "Bollywood's Top 25 Wedding Songs".
  27. ^ BusinessofCinema. "Anybody Can Sing!".
  28. ^ Magnamags.com. "I Felt Yashji Was Immortal: SRIDEVI". Archived from the original on 28 February 2014. Retrieved 16 April 2013.
  29. ^ National-film-awards-1990
  30. ^ Filmfareawards Archived 8 July 2012 at archive.today

External links[]

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