Award for Yash
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Yash Chopra becomes the first Indian to be honoured at BAFTA.
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Veer Zaara.
So he is aging gracefully, spreading his wings far and wide. Only recently Yash Chopra took his Veer Zaara to Pakistan to a cheering audience. This time he received a lifetime membership of BAFTA, The British Academy Television Craft Awards, for his contribution to the Indian Film Industry.
By bagging this award Chopra has become the first Indian to be honoured at BAFTA in the 59-year history of the academy.
To celebrate the occasion, BAFTA dedicated a three-day festival to Indian cinema with special screening of Veer Zara that got the top billing. Taking centre stage at the opening day's press conference this past week were Shah Rukh Khan and Karan Johar.
While Chopra cited the membership as an honour not only for him personally but the entire Indian Industry, he also added that it is high time Indian film industry made much better films, for now the doors are "opening in the right direction".
The actors in the film industry also had something to say about it. "The primary job of a director is to communicate with his audience, and over the last 50 years, no one has done this better than Yash Chopra," said an overwhelmed Aamir Khan about this membership. While Karan Johar became a little emotional, "The reason I became a filmmaker is Yash Chopra". Gurinder Chadha who lives in the UK, said, "It makes us all in the British Film Industry proud to see Yashji take centre stage at BAFTA". And Rachel Dwyer from BAFTA said, "I cannot think of a single Hollywood equivalent who made black and white films in the `50s and who is still active making films and paving the path for young filmmakers to follow."
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