Yash Raj Films is celebrating 20 years of Yash Chopra’s romance saga Veer-Zaara starring Shah Rukh Khan, Preity Zinta and Rani Mukerji, and 12 years of his last directorial, Jab Tak Hai Jaan, also starring Shah Rukh alongside Katrina Kaif and Anushka Sharma.
Veer-Zaara, which had a worldwide theatrical re-release on November 7 to mark the occasion, is the trans-border love story of Indian Air Force pilot Veer Pratap Singh (Shah Rukh Khan) and Zaara Hayaat Khan (Preity Zinta), a Pakistani woman from an influential family. The film also starred Amitabh Bachchan, Hema Malini, Anupam Kher, Manoj Bajpayee, Boman Irani, Kiron Kher and Divya Dutt.
The Veer-Zaara soundtrack, originally composed by Madan Mohan, has been reimagined by his son Sanjeev Kohli. As a tribute, IMDb shared a video featuring moments from the recording sessions of songs like Tere Liye, Main Yahaan Hoon and Do Pal, where singers Lata Mangeshkar, Roopkumar Rathod, Udit Narayan and Sonu Nigam reminisced their experience of recording the songs and collaborating with Yash Chopra.
Roopkumar Rathod, who sang the romantic number Tere Liye with Lata Mangeshkar, recounted his experience in a video posted on Spotify. “Yash Chopraji used to record his music in a studio in South Bombay, Western Outdoor, which closed down after the 2000s. So in search of a new studio, Yashji and Madan Mohanji’s eldest son Sanjeev Kohli came upon New Empire, a new studio in Andheri. Once they saw it and loved it, they asked the recordists Vijay Dayal, Pramod Chandorkar and Pranaam to play something new they’d just recorded.
“Luckily, I was recording for one of my films around the same time. And just a couple of days before, I had recorded a song from the film Madhoshi. They listened to the song, and as soon as they did, Sanjeev Kohliji decided that the singer of this is the only one who could sing Tere Liye,” said Rathod.
Prime Video celebrated the occasion by sharing a series of behind-the-scenes photos featuring Yash Chopra discussing a scene with his actors on the sets. “20 years to Veer & Zaara’s love story that transcended borders and the magic crafted behind the scenes,” the streamer wrote.
Yash Raj Films shared a video of a dance group that performed to the film’s songs at Leicester Square, London. “Something special unfolded at Leicester Square in London. On the 20th Anniversary, Veer-Zaara’s magic is back, and fans celebrated this epic love story all over again,” YRF wrote on its Instagram handle.
YRF also celebrated the 12th anniversary of Jab Tak Hai Jaan by posting a cute message —- ‘Some love stories weave the kind of magic that stays with you’ — alongside a series of stills from the film.
