Singer and writer Pamela Chopra, the wife of filmmaker Yash Chopra, passed away on Thursday in Mumbai. She was 74 years old. Certainly Pam Chopra was the force behind Yash Chopra creating memorable roles for women in his films. The two were married from 1970 until his death in 2012.
However, did you know that it wasn’t love at first sight for either of them? During an interview with Rediff, Pam Chopra recalled how the two had met in passing a couple of times before they started talking about their potential union. Their meeting was arranged by a common family friend, actor Romesh Sharma. But when she returned and her parents asked her, she quipped, “Theek hain, nothing great.” Similarly, Yash too told his family, “Ghanti nahi baji (The bell didn’t ring, meaning it didn’t work for him).”
Pam Chopra also recollected how they first saw each other at a cricket match, but she thought the filmmaker was eyeing her pretty cousins the whole time. Then they ran into each other again at a sangeet ceremony, and Yash was impressed with her voice. Eventually, after their brief meeting in Delhi, Yash missed his flight and had to stay back.
“This time, it went very well. I saw a completely different side of Yash. He was wearing a lungi and kurta, sitting on the floor and playing a chamach on the dholki and Romesh’s sister was playing the dholak and they were singing. It was great fun. We were relaxed because we thought that this match wouldn't happen. When you meet someone for matrimony, there is a certain tension. This time, there was no tension because we had both decided we were not going to go ahead with the wedding. Strangely enough, I started liking him and he reciprocated. He went to Mumbai and told his family ‘Ghanti baj gayi (‘The bell has rung).'”
Yash Chopra passed away in 2012 after wrapping up his final film, ‘Jab Tak Hai Jaan’.
