Yash Johar

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Yash Johar was born on 6 September 1929 in Amritsar, Punjab, India. He was interested in cinema since the early days. His passion for creativity took shape when he developed a passion for photography. He landed in Mumbai in the early '50s and made a living doing photo-shot assignments for Bollywood aspirant actors.

Yash Johar married to Hiroo Johar, the sister of the popular filmmakers BR Chopra and Yash Chopra. The couple had a successful marriage. Eminent film producer Karan Johar is their son.

1950

Yash Johar started his career as a Film Publicist 

Yash Johar started his film career as the Publicist for 50's top-grade filmmaker Amiya Chakrabarty's film Badal (1951) staring Premnath and Madhubala. The film was a huge hit and soon Yash Johar won fame for being a successful PRO but Yash Johar had high dreams and aspired to become a famous film producer. He had chosen to be a film publicist to get an entry into Bollywood.

Yash Johar turned Production Executive at Filmistan Studio

Yash Johar got his first ticket to stardom when he was selected as Production Executive at Filmistan Studio by film producer S. Mukherjee. The production house has a history of making many super-hit films like Dil Deke Dekho, Ek Musafir Ek Hasina Leader (1964), etc. Yash Johar worked for the production department for the hit film Love in Simla (1960).

1960

Yash Johar turned Production Controller at  Sunil Dutt’s Ajanta Arts

After gaining experience as Production Executive at Filmistan Studio, Yash Johar joined film actor turned film producer Sunil Dutt in his home Production Ajanta Arts. Johar played wonderful role in handling the production unit during the making of Sunil Dutt's film Mujhe Jeene Do (1963) and Yeh Rastey Hain Pyar Ke (1963).

Yash Johar gave Dev Anand’s Navketan Films a distinct quality

Yash Johar was in a hurry to accomplish his dream of becoming a film producer hence he was hungry to learn about film making from as many filmmakers of repute as possible. Hence when Dev Anand's lunched his banner Navketan Films, Yash Johar joined his production house and had the privilege of working with Vijay Anand, the dynamic film director. Yash Johar was assigned the duty to handle the Production department of the memorable film Guide.  Incidentally,  Yash Johar had to simultaneously handle the Hindi and English crews for the dual versions of Guide (1965). The film based on the best seller novel by R.K. Narayan was a disaster in English but was a super-duper hit in Hindi.

Yash Johar worked at Navketan Films for many years and gave a distinct quality to film production. He did many hit films like Jewel Thief, Prem Pujari, Hare Rama Hare Krishna, etc.

1980

Yash Johar turned Independent Producer in 80s'

Yash Johar's dream of turning a film producer turned into reality in the '80s when he founded his production house Dharma Production and made the film Dostana (1980) starring Amitabh Bachchan, Shatrughan Sinha, and Zeenat Aman. The film was written by popular writers Salim Javed and directed by ace film producer Raj Khosla. The film was a huge hit and established a firm relation between Amitabh Bachchan and Yash Johar.  

Yash Johar was broken by a row of flop films

After the mega-success of Dostana, Yash Johar's produced his second film with Bollywood's biggest Superstar Dilip Kumar, who had made a comeback in Bollywood in the early '80s. The film was Duniya (1984), a revenge action drama, written by Javed Akhtar and directed by Ramesh Talwar.  The film brought on the screen the confrontation between Dilip Kumar and Pran as a Villain after more than a decade.  However, despite an interesting script and tight screenplay, the film was a huge disaster at the box-office.

To recover the losses of Duniya, Yash Johar made a big-budget multi-star cast film Muqaddar Ka Faisla (1987) starring Raaj Kumar, Raj Babbar, Raakhee, Meenakshi Seshadri, Tina Munim and Pran. The film was directed by Bollywood's top film director Prakash Mehra. But the film was a major flop at box-office!!

The box-office failures of Duniya and Muqaddar Ka Faisla broke Yash Johar and he went into exile for 2 years.

1990

Yash Johar was left shattered by the flop Agneepath

Overcoming the failures of Duniya and Muqaddar Ka Faisla, Yash Johar decided to rely back on the successful Amitabh Bachchan. He hired Bollywood's most accomplished film director Mukul Anand and made an action thriller Agneepath (1990). The film had Amitabh Bachchan playing the underworld don Vijay Deenanath Chavan and Mithun Chakraborty as Krishnan Iyer M.A. played a hilarious coconut seller. Danny Denzongpa the menacing antagonist as Kancha Cheena added a chill to the film.

 To make his character look darker and authentic Amitabh Bachchan experimented with his voice and delivered his dialogues in husky baritone akin to  Marlon Brando in the super hit Hollywood film The Godfather. However, Amitabh Bachchan's hard-work went down the drain as the film was rudely discarded in the first show itself! Angry Amitabh Bachchan fan raised hue and cry. The filmmaker had to re-dubbed Amitabh Bachchan's dialogue within 24 hours but alas despite re-dubbing the film was a huge box-office disaster as the negative word-of-mouth publicity had ruined the film!

Ironically, the film fetched Amitabh Bachchan the Best Actor National Film Award!!! What's more surprising is that when Karn Johar re-made Agneepath in 2012 with Hrithik Rohan in the lead the film turned out to be a huge hit!!!

Mahesh Bhatt broke the jinx with success of Gumrah

In the early '90s Mahesh Bhatt emerged as Bollywood's most successful film director who gave a chain of hits films like Aashiqui, Dil Hai Ke Manta Nahin, Sadak, Saathi, etc. Yash Johar hired Mahesh Bhatt and Bhatt broke the jinx at Dharma production giving two hit films in a row. The first hit film was Gumrah (1993) staring Sridevi and Sanjay Dutt and the second hit film was Duplicate with Shah Rukh playing a dual role.

Kuch Kuch Hota Hai brought back the lost glory of Dharma Productions

Towards the late 90's Yash Johar's son, Karan Johar was ready to take-up megaphone! Having assisted Aditya Chopra for Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995), Karan developed a friendship with Shah Rukh Khan and on the insistence of Shah Rukh Khan, Karan Johar made his directorial debut with the blockbuster romantic film Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998). Besides being a box-office success Kuch Kuch Hota Hai won critical applause. The film won 8 Filmfare Awards and the prestigious National Film Award for Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment.

In short, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai brought back the lost glory of Dharma Productions. After Dostana (1980), Kuch Kuch Hota Hai was the next truly blockbuster. The film broke.

2000

Yash Chopra's son Karan Johar continued his winning streak

After the huge success of Kuch Kuch Hota Hai and winning the Best Director Award from the country's three Top Film Award institutions like Filmfare Award, Screen Award, and Zee Cinema Award, Yash Johar's son Karan Johar was on sky nine! He was confident and it was his confidence that he managed to bring Bollywood's Three Top Stars Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, and Hrithik Roshan together in a single film. Besides, he also roped in an incredible lady cast of three talented female actresses Jaya Bachchan, Kajol, and Kareena Kapoor in his second film Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham... (2001). The film was made on a budget of 40 Crore and earned a whopping 136 Core! It became Bollywood's first few films to cross the elusive 100 crore mark!

Yash Chopra's last film Kal Ho Naa Ho was super hit!

Interestingly Yash Johar started Dharma Production with Superstar Amitabh Bachchan's Dostana and the film was sup hit! Incidentally, Yash Chopra's last film was Kal Ho Naa Ho (2003) with the Superstar Shah Rukh Khan and the film was a mega-hit. The film was written by son Karan Johar and was directed by the new director Nikkhil Advani.

Yash Johar died at the ripe age of 75 on 26, June 2004 due to cancer. He was a contented man as he saw his home production Dharma Production at the peak of its success. His son Karan Johar a successful film director/ producer/ writer and a hot anchor!