Letters to the editor: Yash Chopra touched our lives

Yash Chopra touched our lives
It is unfortunate Yash Chopra died before the release of Jab Tak Hai Jaan. His ability to adapt to the changing times and catch the pulse of his audience made him the filmmaker of the classes and the masses.

Chopra touched our lives with poetry and he brought the beauty of Switzerland to us in India. In fact, the Swiss government honoured him by naming a lake after him in Alpenrausch, which was his favourite haunt.  From directing thrillers (Ittefaq) without songs, and social themes in post-partition India (Dharamputra), the iconic lost-and-found formula film that beat all (Waqt), the classic good-vs-bad-brothers issue (Deewar), to becoming the very name for romance in Indian cinema (Daag, Kabhi Kabhie, Chandni, Lamhe, Dil Toh Pagal Hai, Darr, Veer Zaara), Chopra gave us memories for a lifetime.
—J. Akshobhya, Mysore

II
Apropos “Dengue takes romance out of Bollywood; a Silsila ends”. The passing away of Yash Chopra marks the end of the ‘romantic’ era in Hindi films.  A director and producer par excellence, Yashji kept romance alive on the silver screen from the days of Rajendra Kumar in the 50s-60s, with Rajesh Khanna in the early 70s, then Amitabh Bachchan into the 80s, and with Shah Rukh Khan now. His films will mark the annals of Hindi cinema forever.  To find a parallel to Yashji’s film-making acumen, his amalgamation of sentiment and emotion on screen, would be near impossible. He weaved movies till the last moment of his eventful life. It’s ironical that his final production was titled Jab Tak Hai Jaan. One hopes that the film industry will continue his legacy with great, meaningful and quality films. RIP ‘King of romance’!
—K Chidanand Kumar,
Bangalore

III
In the death of veteran producer-director Yash Chopra the Hindi film industry has lost one of its best romantics. From the school of the prestigious BR Films production house that was founded by his elder brother Baldev Raj Chopra, Yashji rose to become one of the most successful and popular film-makers. Unlike his brother he opted for love stories instead of offbeat subjects. And again, unlike top-notch producers Raj Kapoor, Dev Anand, Guru Dutt, Manmohan Desai and Prakash Mehra, he kept the music low-key. With the exception of Daag (Laxmikant-Pyarelal) and Deewar (RD Burman) he chose to work mostly with composers like Khayyam, Rajesh Roshan and Shiv-Hari. He will be remembered foremost for the treatment he gave to the stories in his films.
—Anil R Torne, Talegaon
Dabhade (Pune)

Time to tackle dengue
Dengue has become the scourge of our society. A large number of people have been affected in Mumbai. That a personality of the likes of Yash Chopra became a victim of the disease is an indication of how serious the situation has become. It is high time that the government takes steps to control this situation instead of publishing wrong data to minimise the extent of the problem.

Because many people who are suffering may not report to hospitals. There must be an aggressive awareness programme to clean up all public places before and during the monsoon. For, it is water-logging and garbage collection over a period of time that breeds such serious sicknesses. Then in the case of people affected by dengue, the platelets count falls critically low and they require platelets from donors. But some hospitals charge abnormally high for platelets, beyond the affordability of some patients. We need to take corrective measures to eradicate this scourge from our neighbourhoods.
—P K Undwar, Navi Mumbai 

Must take care of them
The commentary headlined “Who will take care of you?” that highlighted the plight of the elderly, was very touching. Thank you Nagarajan Chelliah for writing about this issue in a subtle but effective manner. With access to improved medical care, we live longer. However, the loneliness in old age is one of the results for which there is no visible remedy. The children of the elderly alone cannot be blamed as there are different reasons why the aged are compelled to live separately. The state government’s initiative to provide security to senior citizens is welcome, but it is only one of the many steps that must be taken to ensure that they can spend their twilight years with dignity and in peace. Transport facilities at subsidised rates should be made available. Likewise, for their daily necessities like purchasing vegetables and other provisions.

As a society, each of us can contribute by rendering our services (without making them feel offended). We should set up groups of volunteers who can run errands for them, arrange for medical assistance, or simply spend time with them. We could help them learn the new systems to manage their financial transactions from home. More importantly, we should be considerate towards their need for quiet, particularly restricting the noise during festivities and recreation. We need to do this and much more for the elderly, and for ourselves too.
—Seema Malghan, Thane