No person in recent times has been as inspiring as Aditya Chopra in his rare interview in the series, “The Romantics”, which streamed on Netflix on Valentine’s Day. I don’t want to take a whole 1000 words where I can cover it in much fewer but here is how Aditya struck a chord with me.

- This is one of the characteristics that made me want to listen as he spoke in front of the cameras for such a long time for the first time ever. He is not necessarily camera shy, heck he has produced countless films for Yash Raj, his home banner, and has directed 3 absolute game-changer movies in Hindi cinema. He has introduced countless new faces, whether directors, actors, singers, or technicians. But he is not fond of talking about it himself, he is one that wants his work to do the talking.

It takes years and hours of sweating it out. Those who build muscle or train for a marathon know this too well. You can’t just show up for a race being the son of a racer and win it. Despite being born into a filmy family, he was curious, hungry and had a learning mindset. Week after week, he went to watch movies in the theater, sat amongst the audience, studied their reactions and wrote down his observations. He did not take anything for granted, he wanted to see it first hand, observe it change, and apply it when he had the chance. This simple fact gets lost on so many. He is a rare example of a good student, a curious experimenter, and an astute practitioner.

This phrase has many variations but in the case of Aditya, he caught himself doing something wrong. He wrote a script that reminded him of some Hollywood movie he had seen. He checked himself, decided to turn “desi” to live and breathe Indian virtues, values, and people. You simply cannot succeed with aspirational goals, you have to understand your audience. 3/4 movies have worked on a simple message. DDLJ was about family values, Mohabattein was about discipline and standard, Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi was all about devotion and faith. All three resonate so strongly with India and its people worldwide. Every parent, every child, every sibling, every lover can relate to these universal principles, celebrate the differences in each one’s own approach and the unity in diversity that we are all taught in our National Integration classes and celebrations as children. He went into the heartland, showed different parts of India, brought in cast members from all over, and made us love his work.

Aditya also made one of the most convincing arguments about Nepotism that is rampant in Bollywood. This refers to starlings, i.e. children of actors or those in the film industry getting an unfair advantage on opportunities and access to films. There is absolutely a good deal of truth to this. Kids of those connected to the industry get opportunities that others do not have access to. This is true in most professions, sports, and industries in India. This may be part of the old Bollywood culture when it was still very small, and everyone knew everyone. In the service industry, we might call this “networking” where graduates from Wharton or Stanford get access to opportunities via their alumni network. This is simply the truth of life. However, what any networking, money, or connection can get you an entry into the door and perhaps many more doors to walk into relative to those who are not connected, and can't afford it. But your success at the sport or the job or the movie depends on your performance, and how well it worked for your target audience. This is the universal truth. Even if Aditya had all the money, he could not make his own siblings successful despite all the opportunities he opened up for his brother.

It is not lost on me that these are directors and storytellers so they may have made one of their own falls on his sword (in this case, the one that fell was the Executive Producer, Uday Chopra). However, the fact does remain - the audience is king and only the audience can determine the success of anyone, be it a starling or an absolute newcomer, and there are many that make it big if not the biggest. This story, the universal truth, and what shapes and defines success are all hard to disagree with. You work hard, understand your clientele, produce great work, and success is inevitable.

Aditya spoke at length about how he grew up under the tutelage of his father but had to find his own way. His dad’s story could not be his. He had to etch out his own path and he did, quite masterfully. Everything about him was different from Yash. He was more modern in his approach, embraced changes, and carved out his own path - mostly as a producer than a director. He stayed hands-on and stepped up as needed but largely stayed out of the way. He stood for what he believed, branched out of his fathers’ umbrella, and created his own. He fought for what he thought was right and took a different turn. This is a key lesson in leadership.

Aditya shared this trait with his father and that was managing finances wisely. He did not splurge when it was not needed, he tried to find ways to cut costs, leverage existing resources and prioritize spending meticulously. As a production house, there are huge risks, but you have to take the ones that matter. The one big risk he took was to create a studio. He wanted to control the experience of his films end to end. There were no guarantees of success, but he felt like he had to take the shot. To make up for some of the downside, he cut costs wherever possible - paying actors less in exchange for a hit movie, not engaging highly paid professionals to teach dialect when you can just immerse yourself in conversation with regular folks. Sometimes he introduced people who were working in the studio for roles, some became actresses(Bhumi Pednekar for example)! He leveraged his brand, the learning experience as a carrot to bring people in. He was in general the glue that could convince the biggest stars to do things for him for free that others simply could not.

Aditya gave us a peek under the covers of his brain and how he thought about formula films and how he chose to break from it very deliberately. He convinced stars that did not ‘think of themselves’ in a certain role to cross that chasm. Those who trusted him and crossed it, were in a better place. The biggest examples were Shah Rukh Khan, Rani Mukherjee (his wife) and Kajol. All these stars and Aditya symbiotically benefitted from each other. Trusted bonds, some that turned marital, were forged and bode more success. Succeed and let succeed.

Aditya was not just about his own movies, he has helped countless stars, directors, and producers with his guidance. Some of these were fierce competitors or compatriots of his, but he did not care. He liked a good movie and wanted to raise the overall bar for the quality of Indian movies. This made him a trusted guide for so many that were either starting out, going through a rough patch or were looking for validation. Like any good leader, he coached, mentored and gave back to the industry.

In a matter of an hour of speaking in front of the camera for the first time in almost 3 decades, Aditya has packed in wisdom that is almost a curriculum on what makes one successful. Hats off to this great student and practitioner of his trade. If you have not caught it yet and if this was interesting, just watch The Romantics on Netflix.

No person in recent times has been as inspiring as Aditya Chopra in his rare interview in the series, “The Romantics”, which streamed on Netflix on Valentine’s Day. I don’t want to take a whole 1000 words where I can cover it in much fewer but here is how Aditya struck a chord with me.

- This is one of the characteristics that made me want to listen as he spoke in front of the cameras for such a long time for the first time ever. He is not necessarily camera shy, heck he has produced countless films for Yash Raj, his home banner, and has directed 3 absolute game-changer movies in Hindi cinema. He has introduced countless new faces, whether directors, actors, singers, or technicians. But he is not fond of talking about it himself, he is one that wants his work to do the talking.

It takes years and hours of sweating it out. Those who build muscle or train for a marathon know this too well. You can’t just show up for a race being the son of a racer and win it. Despite being born into a filmy family, he was curious, hungry and had a learning mindset. Week after week, he went to watch movies in the theater, sat amongst the audience, studied their reactions and wrote down his observations. He did not take anything for granted, he wanted to see it first hand, observe it change, and apply it when he had the chance. This simple fact gets lost on so many. He is a rare example of a good student, a curious experimenter, and an astute practitioner.

This phrase has many variations but in the case of Aditya, he caught himself doing something wrong. He wrote a script that reminded him of some Hollywood movie he had seen. He checked himself, decided to turn “desi” to live and breathe Indian virtues, values, and people. You simply cannot succeed with aspirational goals, you have to understand your audience. 3/4 movies have worked on a simple message. DDLJ was about family values, Mohabattein was about discipline and standard, Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi was all about devotion and faith. All three resonate so strongly with India and its people worldwide. Every parent, every child, every sibling, every lover can relate to these universal principles, celebrate the differences in each one’s own approach and the unity in diversity that we are all taught in our National Integration classes and celebrations as children. He went into the heartland, showed different parts of India, brought in cast members from all over, and made us love his work.

Aditya also made one of the most convincing arguments about Nepotism that is rampant in Bollywood. This refers to starlings, i.e. children of actors or those in the film industry getting an unfair advantage on opportunities and access to films. There is absolutely a good deal of truth to this. Kids of those connected to the industry get opportunities that others do not have access to. This is true in most professions, sports, and industries in India. This may be part of the old Bollywood culture when it was still very small, and everyone knew everyone. In the service industry, we might call this “networking” where graduates from Wharton or Stanford get access to opportunities via their alumni network. This is simply the truth of life. However, what any networking, money, or connection can get you an entry into the door and perhaps many more doors to walk into relative to those who are not connected, and can't afford it. But your success at the sport or the job or the movie depends on your performance, and how well it worked for your target audience. This is the universal truth. Even if Aditya had all the money, he could not make his own siblings successful despite all the opportunities he opened up for his brother.

It is not lost on me that these are directors and storytellers so they may have made one of their own falls on his sword (in this case, the one that fell was the Executive Producer, Uday Chopra). However, the fact does remain - the audience is king and only the audience can determine the success of anyone, be it a starling or an absolute newcomer, and there are many that make it big if not the biggest. This story, the universal truth, and what shapes and defines success are all hard to disagree with. You work hard, understand your clientele, produce great work, and success is inevitable.

Aditya spoke at length about how he grew up under the tutelage of his father but had to find his own way. His dad’s story could not be his. He had to etch out his own path and he did, quite masterfully. Everything about him was different from Yash. He was more modern in his approach, embraced changes, and carved out his own path - mostly as a producer than a director. He stayed hands-on and stepped up as needed but largely stayed out of the way. He stood for what he believed, branched out of his fathers’ umbrella, and created his own. He fought for what he thought was right and took a different turn. This is a key lesson in leadership.

Aditya shared this trait with his father and that was managing finances wisely. He did not splurge when it was not needed, he tried to find ways to cut costs, leverage existing resources and prioritize spending meticulously. As a production house, there are huge risks, but you have to take the ones that matter. The one big risk he took was to create a studio. He wanted to control the experience of his films end to end. There were no guarantees of success, but he felt like he had to take the shot. To make up for some of the downside, he cut costs wherever possible - paying actors less in exchange for a hit movie, not engaging highly paid professionals to teach dialect when you can just immerse yourself in conversation with regular folks. Sometimes he introduced people who were working in the studio for roles, some became actresses(Bhumi Pednekar for example)! He leveraged his brand, the learning experience as a carrot to bring people in. He was in general the glue that could convince the biggest stars to do things for him for free that others simply could not.

Aditya gave us a peek under the covers of his brain and how he thought about formula films and how he chose to break from it very deliberately. He convinced stars that did not ‘think of themselves’ in a certain role to cross that chasm. Those who trusted him and crossed it, were in a better place. The biggest examples were Shah Rukh Khan, Rani Mukherjee (his wife) and Kajol. All these stars and Aditya symbiotically benefitted from each other. Trusted bonds, some that turned marital, were forged and bode more success. Succeed and let succeed.

Aditya was not just about his own movies, he has helped countless stars, directors, and producers with his guidance. Some of these were fierce competitors or compatriots of his, but he did not care. He liked a good movie and wanted to raise the overall bar for the quality of Indian movies. This made him a trusted guide for so many that were either starting out, going through a rough patch or were looking for validation. Like any good leader, he coached, mentored and gave back to the industry.

In a matter of an hour of speaking in front of the camera for the first time in almost 3 decades, Aditya has packed in wisdom that is almost a curriculum on what makes one successful. Hats off to this great student and practitioner of his trade. If you have not caught it yet and if this was interesting, just watch The Romantics on Netflix.