In a Netflix documentary, Aditya Chopra candidly spoke about his films and said that he spent more on bikes than stars like Abhishek Bachchan, John Abraham, and others for Dhoom.
The Romantics
The latest documentary series titled The Romantics was released on Netflix and it celebrates the legacy of Yash Chopra and YRF of 50 years. While it features top B-Town celebrities like Shah Rukh Khan, Aamir Khan, Salman Khan, Amitabh Bachchan, Kajol, and many others, filmmaker Aditya Chopra reveals a lot of things in the 217-minute-long series.
This series where four-episode are focused on YRF studios and Aditya and Yash Chopra’s efforts in building a strong foundation for a more modern Bollywood, Aditya Chopra talks about several notable films produced by him, including Dhoom (2004). Starring Abhishek Bachchan, John Abraham, Uday Chopra, Rimii Sen, and Esha Deol, it was a story of a cop chasing a biker gang. The film was released with minimal expectations but emerged as a super hit. The sequels, Dhoom 2 (2006) and Dhoom 3 (2013), meanwhile, were blockbusters too.
The Filmmaker explained what prompted him to make Dhoom, “There were three pillars of Hindi films like everybody used to say and that you can’t do without, which is drama, emotion, and romance. I said I am going to remove these three pillars and see what happens (laughs)!” He added, “With Dhoom, I wanted to make a film where I wanted to combine Manmohan Desai and Michael Bay.”
“I wanted to make a very non-Yash Raj film because Yash Raj Films was known only for romance. Because Yash Raj Films was actually Yash Chopra, you know. And to be a studio, I had to make sure we’re good at doing other stuff as well!” he added.
Aditya Chopra on Dhoom’s budget
Chopra also said that the production house spent more money on the bikes than on its male stars — Abhishek Bachchan, Uday Chopra, and John Abraham: “In Dhoom, I spent more money on bikes than on Abhishek Bachchan, John Abraham, Uday Chopra.”
The film saw Uday Chopra (younger brother of Aditya Chopra) in a comical role. However, Uday’s career couldn’t really take off in Bollywood, and Aditya confessed the same in the series.
Speaking more about this brother, he said, “My brother is an actor, and he is not a very successful actor. Here is the son of one of the biggest filmmakers. He is the brother of a very big filmmaker. Imagine a company like YRF that has launched newcomers, we could not make him a star.”
