I am that kid whose entire childhood went by fantasizing himself running along a hill and singing a love ballad about an imaginary crush. I pretended to be a cool guy riding a motorcycle, but I was rapidly peddling my bicycle while imagining a group of cops trying to catch me. And last but not the least, a smooth dancer who was the life at every party when it came to performing in front of a group of people. So, when I saw the trailer of The Romantics on my phone, I was entirely sure that the nostalgia would make me reminiscent of the hysteria that drives my entire personality.
In totality, it’s safe to say that a Bollywood buff like me was, or is, likely to get into trouble because of his crazy antics through heavy exposure to the world of Hindi cinema.
The Romantics includes (almost) everything in Bollywood
The Romantics is a 4-part Netflix documentary series that attempts to showcase the journey of the legendary Hindi filmmaker Yash Chopra and the foundation of the studio that gave us numerous blockbusters: Yash Raj Films (YRF).
Directed by Smriti Mundhra, the docu-series gives us an entire picture of how Yash Chopra began his journey under the tutelage of his elder brother, B.R. Chopra, a renowned personality in the industry.
We witness several Hindi film personalities and film critics who give their insight on how their own lives and the audience have changed due to their association with the studio. From the induction of Amitabh Bachchan as the Angry Young Man in Deewar and Kaala Patthar, the rise of Shah Rukh Khan as a desirable leading man through movies like Darr and Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (DDLJ) and other young actors like Ranveer Singh and Ayushmann Khurrana.
The Chopras in The Romantics
Bringing Aditya Chopra in front of the camera was one factor that really made me feel like this would be an extremely wholesome watch for cinephiles. Him sharing his experience of handling his directorial debut DDLJ, viewers who have lived through the 80s and 90s will certainly feel extremely organic while remembering the generational shift that movie caused.
People only see Yash Chopra predominantly as a romantic genre director but to understand the compelling way he explored different genres with Deewar and Mashaal, both laced with socio-political themes that are still somewhat relevant today in our society.
The biggest and possibly only gripe I have from The Romantics is that the makers did not attempt to explore even one aspect of Veer Zaara, which is still considered one of the greatest romantic stories ever told in Hindi cinema. Apart from that, if you have some love and affection for Hindi films, then this Netflix docu-series will amount to a sweet and nostalgic trip. It’ll make you wonder if YRF will ever come back with heartwarming stories like the ones we grew up with.
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According to our Scopo-Meter, we check the following in this movie:
| Category | Out Of 5 |
| INTENT | 5 |
| NOSTALGIA | 4.5 |
| INFORMATIVE | 5 |
| CLARITY | 5 |
| OVERALL | BOMB / GOOD / NICE / FINE / HMM / PATHETIC |
FilmScopes thank the creators of the movie for giving a much-deserved homage to Indian Cinema in an amazingly organized and well-orchestrated series.
