Legend filmmaker Yash Johar passes away
Yash Johar will be remembered for more than just success. In an often dishonourable business, he was an honourable man.
did not go gently into the good night. Two days before being rushed to the hospital for a final week-long battle with cancer, he attended the premiere of Farhan Akhtar'sLakshya.
The 75-year-old film producer was frail but feisty. He pumped hands, held animated conversations and went home only after the film was over at 3.30 a.m.
A year of battling the disease and 11 sessions of chemotherapy had sapped his body but not his spirit. Yash was a fighter. In his five decades in the movie business, he experienced titanic highs and spine-breaking lows.
He started as a production controller in 1952 (he worked on both Dev Anand's Guide and Sunil Dutt's Mujhe Jeene Do) and established his own banner, Dharma Productions, in 1976. The company had middling success with films like Agneepath and Gumrah until 1998 when his son Karan Johar made his directorial debut with Kuch Kuch Hota Hai.
Karan's creative vision combined with Yash's business acumen changed the fortunes of Dharma Productions. The relentlessly lavish Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham and the superbly cool Kal Ho Naa Ho firmly placed the banner on Bollywood's A-list. But Yash will be remembered for more than just success. In an often dishonourable business, he was an honourable man.
His motto was: kill with kindness. He was unstintingly generous and always helpful. He often got teased because he never missed a funeral. No matter who the person was or where it was being held, Yash always went to support the grieving family.
He also had a terrific, salty sense of humour. He loved to tell stories of his production days when he painted cows black to pass them off as buffaloes.
When someone suggested to him that Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham would make history, he replied, "No it won't. It will make history, geography and everything else."
Wherever he is, he is probably smiling.