Yash Raj Films (YRF) is an Indian film production and distribution company founded by filmmaker Yash Chopra in 1970. Since 2012, it is led by his son Aditya Chopra. The company mainly produces and distributes Hindi films, and is one of the largest film studios in India. List of films.[1]
In 1970, YRF was founded by Yash Raj Chopra, a veteran director and producer of the Indian film industry, who has made various film in different genre.
In 2005, during his initial film-making, Yashraj cited opportunity in setting up proper film shooting studio. Later that year, he build his film production studio located in Mumbai city. In 2006, the first film shot was in YRF Studios, a romantic thriller Fanaa. Some of the notable films shot within the studio are; Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna (2006), Partner (2007), Taare Zameen Par (2007), Dostana (2008), Wanted (2009), 3 Idiots (2009), Dabangg (2010), Bodyguard (2011), Ra.One (2011), Agneepath (2012), Chennai Express (2013), Jai Ho (2014) and PK (2014). The 6 floor studio spread across 20 acres is equipped with high technology was designed by him and his then-wife, Payal Khanna. The studio also gets rented for other films and television shoots such as 10 Ka Dum, Kaun Banega Crorepati for Sony Entertainment, Kya Aap Paanchvi Pass Se Tez Hain?, Koffee With Karan and Satyamev Jayate for STAR India.[2]
The YRF distributed variety of independent films and Parallel Cinema industry within India, such as Godmother (1999), Zubeidaa (2001), Maqbool (2004), Meenaxi: A Tale of Three Cities (2004), My Brother Nikhil (2005), Mangal Pandey: The Rising (2005) and Maine Gandhi Ko Nahin Mara (2005). YRF Distributors released several films such as Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998), Kaho Naa... Pyaar Hai (2000), Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham... (2001), Koi... Mil Gaya (2003), Kal Ho Naa Ho (2003), Black (2005), Krrish (2006) and Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna (2006). In 2013, the company's distribution sold the satellite rights of its venture Dhoom 3 for ₹75 crore (US$9.0 million)[3] to Sony Entertainment Television.[4]
The company decided to leverage their popularity in the music industry through Darr (1993), Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge (1995) and Dil To Pagal Hai (1997). In 2004, YRF established their independent feature music distribution named YRF Music. The first soundtrack to be distributed under YRF Music was the company's critical and commercial blockbuster epic love saga Veer-Zaara. It supported career of upcoming composers such as Jatin–Lalit (Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge), Anu Malik (Dum Laga Ke Haisha), Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy (Bunty Aur Babli), Pritam (Dhoom), Vishal–Shekhar (Salaam Namaste), Salim–Sulaiman (Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi), Amit Trivedi (Ishaqzaade), Ram Sampath (Luv Ka The End), Sajid–Wajid (Daawat-e-Ishq), Sohail Sen (Mere Brother Ki Dulhan), Raghu Dixit (Mujhse Fraaandship Karoge), Sachin–Jigar (Shuddh Desi Romance), Mithoon (Shamshera), Jasleen Royal (Hichki), and Amartya Rahut (Aurangzeb).[5]
In 2007, The Walt Disney Company entered Indian Entertainment through a three-film co-production agreement with YRF, Ta Ra Rum Pum, Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic and Roadside Romeo. Disney's move was seen as a bid to increase its global recognition and finally enter the increasingly lucrative Indian Cinema arena. The company offered a 49% acquisition of YRF at ₹2,500 crore (US$300 million)[6] (unadjusted for inflation) in 2009, which took the valuation of the Indian entertainment company to ₹5,000 crore (equivalent to ₹130 billion or US$1.5 billion in 2023),[7] at the time. YRF however declined the acquisition offer made by the American conglomerate.
In 2011, a 99% share acquisition offer by Disney was accepted by UTV at ₹2,000 crore (US$240 million)[8] (unadjusted for inflation). The two companies together established Disney UTV, that functioned as the Indian subsidiary of the American company. In December 2016, Disney announced that is restructuring its Indian operations and UTV will no longer produce movies and will focus only on distribution of its Hollywood films.[9]
From 2007 to 2010 the company saw an all-time low, with several of their high-budgeted films not doing well at the box office, and thereby suffering losses amounting to millions. The films broke YRF's perfect success ratio and were oddly released one after another. Some of the most unsuccessful films produced under the banner were Jhoom Barabar Jhoom, Laaga Chunari Mein Daag, Aaja Nachle, Tashan, Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic, Roadside Romeo, Dil Bole Hadippa!, Rocket Singh: Salesman of the Year and Pyaar Impossible.
Aditya Chopra then took over as the vice-chairman of Yash Raj Films in 2010, soon after the release of the film Badmaash Company under the same banner.[10]
In 2011, the company went into production of three individual films with Aamir Khan for Dhoom 3, Shahrukh Khan for Jab Tak Hai Jaan and with Salman Khan for Ek Tha Tiger, the first installment in the YRF Spy Universe. The three films turned out to be the most expensive productions by YRF; Ek Tha Tiger[11] was produced at ₹75 crore (US$9.0 million),[12] Jab Tak Hai Jaan was produced at ₹60 crore (US$7.2 million)[13] and Dhoom 3 was produced at ₹150 crore (US$18 million).[14]
All three of these films broke box office records in India and went on to become some of the highest-grossing films of their time. Ek Tha Tiger,[11] which released on the 66th Independence Day of India, earned approximately ₹320 crore (US$38 million)[22] and became the eleventh highest-grossing film of Indian cinema. Jab Tak Hai Jaan opened worldwide on the Diwali day of 2012 and went on to earn ₹241 crore (US$29 million)[18] and became the fifteenth highest-grossing film in India. Dhoom 3 released in (Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and Arabic) on the Christmas week of 2013 and grossed approximately ₹542 crore (US$65 million),[23][24] in the worldwide market and went on to become the twelfth highest-grossing film of Indian cinema, as of January 2022[update].
After the demise of Yash Chopra in October 2012, Aditya Chopra was elevated to the position of chairman and Chief Executive of the company's studio wing. Facing overwhelming pressure by the Indian bourses to be publicly listed around the same period, the company went for a soft-launch on 3 January 2013.
The company received angel investment by institutional fund-raisers such as LIC of India, RNT Associates, PremjiInvest, Catamaran Ventures, Maruti Udyog and Unilazer Ventures. YRF was made open to Indian enterprises only and no FDI was accepted. Venture capitalists also showed interest with Adi Godrej, Y. C. Deveshwar, Kumar Birla, Arundhati Bhattacharya, Anand Mahindra, Chanda Kochhar, Sunil Mittal, Shikha Sharma and Uday Kotak investing undisclosed sums. YRF came out with more films, under the chairmanship of Chopra and the new management.[25]
In November 2011, YRF Entertainment was announced as a subsidiary of Yash Raj Films, set in Beverly Hills, US, with Uday Chopra serving as CEO.[26] Under it they produced two English films:
By 2023, YRF Entertainment was transformed into the streaming division of Yash Raj Films.[28] Under this, they have produced the following projects:
YRF launched a number of budding screenwriters and directors under their banner throughout these years. Directors and screenwriters such as Kunal Kohli, Kabir Khan, Sanjay Gadhvi, Ali Abbas Zafar, Jaideep Sahni, Siddharth Anand, Shimit Amin, Habib Faisal, Shaad Ali, Maneesh Sharma and Vijay Krishna Acharya debuted under YRF and have gone on to become independent entities in films. The company also produced films for filmmakers such as Anil Mehta, Chandraprakash Dwivedi and Pradeep Sarkar under their banner. The company was eventually ranked #1 (among the most successful film production companies in India) in a survey conducted by Filmfare and Number 27 (among the most successful film production companies in the world) in a survey by The Hollywood Reporter.[31]
Apart from producing big-budgeted films with established actors, YRF also announced several films featuring relative newcomers in the fourth quarter of Fiscal year 2012; Aurangzeb starring Prithviraj Sukumaran, Sashaa Agha and Arjun Kapoor, Gunday starring Ranveer Singh, Bewakoofiyaan starring Ayushmann Khurrana and Sonam Kapoor, Daawat-e-Ishq with Aditya Roy Kapur, Mardaani with Rani Mukerji, and Kill Dil starring Ali Zafar and Govinda.[32] The films released all through 2013 and 2014 were seen as a strategic move by the company to infuse newer jobs into Indian Cinema in the form of actors, screenwriters, directors and technicians. In a bid to break away from the traditional star system of Indian cinema, the company ventured into producing low-budgeted independent films with new creatives (actors, creatives and technicians) from 2008. Apart from working with upcoming actors, the company independently launched several new faces as leading actors in several of their big-budgeted films through their home banner and through Y-Films,[33] including:
YRF is headquartered in Mumbai. In India, YRF has a network of distribution offices in Mumbai, Delhi, Jalandhar, Jaipur, Amravati, Indore, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Chennai and Kochi. Internationally, there are offices in the United Kingdom, the United States of America, and the United Arab Emirates.[36]
Throughout the years of its existence, YRF inked various business agreements with independent film and media entities present in the country.