‘Yash was a Kashmir lover to the core’ The valley was second home to the filmmaker who loved coming back to it, says a close friend

‘Yash was a Kashmir lover to the core’

The valley was second home to the filmmaker who loved coming back to it, says a close friend

When Yash Chopra landed in Kashmir recently to shoot Shah Rukh Khan-starrer Jab Tak Hain Jaan, the first thing he told his close friend Nazir Bakshi: “Ghar wapas aa gayee” (I am back home). The three words symbolised his love for Kashmir. For Chopra, Kashmir was like a second home and that is why he returned to recreate the charm of the valley in his last film Jab Tak Hain Jaan. “He wanted to shoot here. His desire was to visit Kashmir before death. Alas! The shooting of Jab Tak Hain Jaan proved to be his last visit,” Nazir Bakshi, a close friend who has been associated with Chopra for more than 45 years, told DNA. Bakshi, a noted businessman and proprietor of Shiraz Travels, met Yash Chopra as a youngster in one of the parties in Mumbai in early fifties. The chance meeting developed into a close friendship that continued till the filmmaker’s death on Sunday. Bakshi, who was in the spotlight recently when the cast and crew of Jab Tak Hain Jaan landed in Kashmir, is shocked after learning about the untimely death of Chopra. “I cannot tell you how big a loss it is to me personally. I am in mourning. I cannot believe he is dead. Last time we talked he told me he wanted to come to Kashmir on a long holiday but the fate had other things in store for him. And that holiday never came,” Bakshi lamented. For Bakshi, Chopra was a dreamer and Kashmir lover to the core. “I think we have lost the biggest Kashmir lover in Bollywood. He came here so many times and shot masterpieces such as Khabi Khabi and Silsila,” he said. Such was Yash Chopra’s love for Kashmir that he visited the valley even during the time it was in deep turmoil when Mufi Mohammad Sayeed was the chief minister. “He was heading a team of filmmakers who visited during the winter festival at Gulmarg. And he had promised me to come again with lot of people. His love for Kashmir could be gauged by the fact that he wanted to sit outside a famous hotel and then take a shikara ride in Dal Lake for long hours,” Bakshi said.