Chandni (film)

Chandni
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Yash Chopra
Written by	Story: Kamna Chandra Dialogue: Sagar Sarhadi
Screenplay by	Umesh Kalbagh Arun Kaul Sagar Sarhadi
Produced by	Yash Chopra T. Subbarami Reddy
Starring	Sridevi Rishi Kapoor Vinod Khanna Waheeda Rehman
Cinematography	Manmohan Singh
Edited by	Keshav Naidu
Music by	Shiv-Hari
Production company	Yash Raj Films
Release date	14 September 1989 (1989-09-14)
Running time	179 minutes
Country	India
Language	Hindi
Box office	₹27.2 crore (equivalent to ₹291 crore or US$35 million in 2023)[1]

Chandni (Moonlight) is a 1989 Indian Hindi-language romantic musical drama film directed and co-produced by Yash Chopra from a story written by Kamna Chandra with a screenplay by Umesh Kalbagh, Arun Kaul, and Sagar Sarhadi. The film stars Sridevi in the title role of Chandni Mathur, a young effervescent woman torn between two suitors played by Vinod Khanna and Rishi Kapoor. Waheeda Rehman, Anupam Kher, Sushma Seth, Mita Vashisht, and Manohar Singh feature in supporting roles.^[2]

The eighties marked a professional setback in Chopra's career, After a series of failed action films, Chopra decided to return to his roots and make a romantic musical, a film with all the hallmarks of what has come to be known as the "Yash Chopra style" – heroine-oriented, romantic, emotional, depicting the lifestyle of the super-elite, with melodic music used in songs picturized in foreign locations. The film marked the first collaboration between Chopra and Sridevi; they would collaborate again for the path-breaking Lamhe (1991).

Chandni was theatrically released on 14 September 1989 by Yash Raj Films. The film emerged as a widespread critical and commercial success, ranking as the third highest-grossing Hindi film of the year, with its soundtrack emerging as the best-selling album of the year as well as the decade, with more than 10 million copies sold. The massive success of the film and its soundtrack were instrumental in ending the era of violent action films in Indian Cinema and rejuvenating the romantic musical genre. The success of film further reinforced Sridevi's position as the top female star of the era. Over the years, Chandni is hailed as one of Chopra's finest films.^[2][3][4]

At the 37th National Film Awards, Chandni won Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment. At the 35th Filmfare Awards, the film received 10 nominations, including Best Film, Best Director (Chopra), Best Actress (Sridevi), Best Actor (Kapoor), Best Supporting Actor (Khanna) and Best Supporting Actress (Rehman), and won Best Cinematography.