Aditya Chopra (born 21 May 1971) is an Indian film director, producer, screenwriter and studio executive who works in Hindi cinema.

[11] Chopra started his film-making career at the age of 18 as an assistant director, working with his father on films such as Chandni (1989), Lamhe (1991) and Darr (1993).

Chopra, after gaining a respectable amount of experience, started independently at the age of 23 with the all-time blockbuster romantic comedy-drama Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge (1995), with Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol, for which he was the director and writer.

The next film under the banner was the romantic comedy Mere Yaar Ki Shaadi Hai (2002), which released in June 2002, starring his brother Uday alongside Tulip Joshi, Bipasha Basu and Jimmy Sheirgill.

[14] The studio's final release that year was the romantic drama Saathiya, a remake of the Tamil film Alaipayuthey, which starred Vivek Oberoi opposite Rani Mukerji.

In 2004, Chopra produced the romantic comedy Hum Tum, the action thriller Dhoom and the epic love saga Veer-Zaara (for which he was also the screenwriter) under the YRF banner.

Chopra also made his third film as a director in 2008 with the romantic comedy Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi starring Shahrukh Khan and launching newcomer Anushka Sharma.

Directors and screenwriters such as Karan Johar (his Kuch Kuch Hota Hai was co-produced and released by Yash Raj Film Distributors), Kunal Kohli, Kabir Khan, Sanjay Gadhvi, Jaideep Sahni, Siddharth Anand, Shimit Amin, Habib Faisal, Shaad Ali, Maneesh Sharma and Vijay Acharya debuted under YRF and have gone on to become independent entities in films.

[24] It opened to widespread negative reviews across platforms and faced heavy losses to its business because of the currency demonetisation implied by the Government of India a few days prior to its release.

He produced Hum Tum, Dhoom and Veer-Zaara (for which he was also the screenwriter), all three films went on to become critical and commercial blockbusters, earning more than ₹200 crore (US$23 million)[15] (unadjusted for inflation) in the worldwide market.

[13] Chopra has produced several commercially viable projects including off-beat content not necessarily fitting into the realm of "masala films".

[28] Major post-production work of the company is completed at YRF Studios (co-founded by his ex-wife Payal Khanna), where Chopra is chief executive.

Records from the Registrar of Companies of the same year showed that YRF received investments from LIC of India, Catamaran Ventures, and Maruti-Udyog.

[46][47] In January 2019, YRF reached a ₹19,000 crore (US$2.2 billion) valuation by SEBI, thereby making it the largest Indian film production company of all time.

[48] In 2012, Ajay Devgan, Viacom 18 Motion Pictures and Eros International together moved the Competition Commission of India against Yash Raj Films and Aditya Chopra, accusing the company of using monopolistic business practices and rampantly abusing their dominant position and clout in the Entertainment Industry of India by entering into a tie-in arrangement with 1,500 single screen film exhibitors (out of a total of 2,100) of India, that obliged them to showcase the company's Jab Tak Hai Jaan (and not Son of Sardaar) on the Diwali week of 2012 and continue its theatrical run for two weeks after the worldwide release.

[53] Realising a loss in business to both films, Ritesh Sidhwani and Shahrukh Khan, the producers of Raees approached Chopra to work out a settlement to ensure both projects are exhibited comfortably across centres.

[55] Moreover, Chopra ensured that YRF Distributors (his film distribution leg) exhibit Sultan to more than 3100 screens (out of the total 4230), apparently abusing his dominant position and clout in the Entertainment Industry of India, an allegation that he has battled several times in the past.

[60] A. R. Rahman was roped in to score the music of the film and pre-production work started in January 2013 with the entire cast and crew at YRF Studios.

[61] In February 2013, Sanjay Leela Bhansali offered the lead role to Rajput in his Shakespearean tragic romance Ram-Leela, which was scheduled to be shot throughout the year 2013.

[62] Chopra, however, advised Rajput to turn down the role to focus solely on Paani and led Bhansali to sign Ranveer Singh (through YRF Talent) instead.

[64] Ram-Leela meanwhile opened to overwhelming critical and box office success in the same period with both Bhansali and Singh being awarded extensively for their work.

On 12 December 2022, YRF released a song from the fourth project of its spy universe titled "Besharam Rang" across all media platforms.

On 18 January 2023, the Prime Minister of India sent out a warning to the workers of all national political parties to "strictly refrain from making comments on films".

[83] After two days of its release, 25 additional screens were added after the Chief Justice of Delhi High Court directed Chopra to add an exclusive version of the film for people with disabilities.