Yashraj Films-truly a banner brand

The first true banner brand in the hindi film industry has emerged in the form of Yashraj. A brand which subsumes under it every director, music director or actor brands there were. Nobody remembers who directed Salaam Namaste or even Bunty aur Bubli (except the hardcore Bollywood buffs. All they care about is that when it is Yashraj you can expect some lovely feel-good, progressive, rich and happy fair.

Besides the obvious commercial success, there are a couple of things that are worth celebrating about the Yashraj way. Number one- it is probably the only production house in India which has consistently pushed the boundaries without totally abandoning the shores when it comes to female portrayals.

It has with every film shown us a female portrayal that the Indian woman could identify with and yet it stayed a couple of steps ahead of the times by showing them 7the possibility of what they could be at their best- whether it is Rani in B&B, or PZ in Veer Zaara or in Salaam Namastey, or Aishwarya in D2. Even going back in time Silisila, Chandni, Vijay, Trishul, Deewar- almost all Yash Chopra films have done justice to the myriad facets of the Indian woman without resorting to stereo types.

The other incredible dimension of this success has been the total blackout of media that the production house has stuck to. Aditya Chopra’s was last captured on film about 10 years ago. Nobody knows what the guy looks like. Moreover, no one is allowed to cover Yashraj Studios from inside. The brand has been built through the most substantial way of all i.e. by delivering actual BO results. For those accusing them of peddling the personality ethic through the shiny happy people in their movies, I feel there is more character to Yashraj than the likes of an RGV or Vishesh filkms.