Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani

It stars Ranbir Kapoor and Deepika Padukone in their second film together after Bachna Ae Haseeno (2008), alongside Kalki Koechlin and Aditya Roy Kapur.

Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Ayan Mukerji
Screenplay by	Ayan Mukerji
Dialogues by	Hussain Dalal
Story by	Ayan Mukerji
Produced by	Hiroo Yash Johar Karan Johar
Starring	Ranbir Kapoor Deepika Padukone Kalki Koechlin Aditya Roy Kapur
Cinematography	V. Manikandan
Edited by	Akiv Ali
Music by	Pritam
Production company	Dharma Productions
Distributed by	UTV Motion Pictures (India) Eros International (overseas)
Release date	31 May 2013 (2013-05-31)
Running time	159 minutes
Country	India
Language	Hindi
Budget	₹40 crore
Box office	₹320 crore

Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani revolves around Naina and Bunny, who meet during a trekking trip where Naina falls in love with Bunny but refrains from expressing it. They soon drift apart but end up meeting again at a friend's wedding. With a production budget of ₹40 crore, the film was extensively shot in Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Paris, Mumbai and Kashmir from March 2012 to January 2013. The score and songs were composed by Pritam with cinematography by V. Manikandan. Lyrics of the songs were penned by Amitabh Bhattacharya and Kumaar. The film generated a blockbuster soundtrack with all songs topping the charts.

Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani was released theatrically on 31st May 2013. Upon release, it was a major box-office success and received widespread acclaim, with praise for its direction, story, screenplay, soundtrack, cinematography, production design, costumes and performances of the cast. . It is currently the 48th highest grossing Indian film of all time. It was the third film to cross ₹300 crore worldwide after 3 Idiots (2009) and Ek Tha Tiger (2012). The film also ended up as the tenth highest grossing Indian film in overseas markets at the time of its release.

At the 59th Filmfare Awards, Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani received a leading 10 nominations, including Best Film, Best Director (Mukerji), Best Actress (Padukone), Best Actor (Kapoor), Best Supporting Actress (Koechlin) and Best Supporting Actor (Roy Kapur). Since its release in 2013, Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani has achieved cult status.

Naina Talwar is a medical student who feels like an outcast due to her introverted nature. An encounter with an old classmate, Aditi Mehra, makes her realize that she wants more from life. She makes an impulsive decision to follow Aditi on a hiking trip to the Himalayas in Manali. During the hike, she renews her friendship with other former classmates, Kabir "Bunny" Thapar and Avinash "Avi" Shiv. Bunny is a charmer whose dream is to wander and discover the world; he has no interest in settling down. Avi is a playboy who is addicted to alcohol and betting.

Through the trek, Naina and Bunny grow close and she falls in love with him. Meanwhile, Aditi grows jealous as Avi flirts with another friend. Bunny and Naina realize that she has feelings for Avi. At the end of the trip, Avi reveals that Bunny has been accepted into the school of journalism at Northwestern University in Chicago. Naina realizes that love and marriage have no part in his plans and remains silent about her feelings.

Eight years later, Naina has finished medical school and is now working in a clinic. Bunny works as a videographer for a travel show on FOX Network and travels the world. He receives an offer to become a host for a new travel show, which he accepts. He also receives a wedding invitation from Aditi; she is marrying a wealthy engineer, Taran Khanna. Bunny comes to Udaipur for her destination wedding. Avi is mad at him since Bunny never bothered to stay in touch with them.

Naina's feelings for Bunny grow once again, and he too finds himself attracted to her. However, as she doesn't want to get her heart broken again, she avoids him. Bunny sees Aditi fighting with Taran; she reassures him that it was because she wanted to slap Avi for splurging on booze and poker while Taran paid off his debts. She says she has gotten over Avi and is much happier with Taran. Bunny realizes that he feels the same way about Naina but sees her with another man and feels jealous, causing the two to argue. Naina says she can't keep hanging out with him because she will fall in love with him again, and he won't. Bunny kisses her, and they confess they love each other, but neither is willing to give up their career to follow the other. Naina decides that it's best they forget each other and they share a tearful goodbye.

On the night of Aditi's wedding, Bunny leaves for Paris. At the airport, he realizes the importance of what he is leaving behind and goes back home, where he reconciles with his stepmother. On New Year's Eve, Naina, alone at home, receives a surprise visit from Bunny. He turned down his dream job to be with her and proposes marriage, but she fears that he might regret his decision. Bunny counters that he is happy with her and wants to continue traveling – but with her, arguing that they can make a life together. Naina concedes, and they have a conference call with Aditi and Avi. They all wish each other a Happy New Year and the film ends with Bunny and Naina embracing.

• Ranbir Kapoor as Kabir "Bunny" Thapar
• Deepika Padukone as Dr. Naina Talwar
• Aditya Roy Kapur as Avinash "Avi" Shiv Arora
• Kalki Koechlin as Aditi "Adi" Mehra Khanna
• Kunaal Roy Kapur as Taran Khanna, Aditi's husband
• Farooq Sheikh as Sanjay Thapar, Bunny's father
• Tanvi Azmi as Shivani Thapar, Bunny's step mother
• Dolly Ahluwalia as Simran Talwar, Naina's mother
• Evelyn Sharma as Lara Khanna, Taran's cousin
• Poorna Jagannathan as Riana Sarai, Bunny's tour coordinator
• Naveen Kaushik as Sumer Kashyap
• Umar Yadav as Nanoo
• Omar Khan as Dev Johnson
• Anisa Butt as Preeti Salgaonkar
• Nupur Joshi as Esha
• Mayank Saxena
• Mokshad Dodwani
• Kamal Adib as Harish Mehra, Aditi's father
• Rashmi Desai in a cameo appearance with Evelyn
• Nirmal Soni
• Samarth Chaudhary as Professor
• Madhuri Dixit as Mohini in song "Ghagra" (Special appearance)
• Rana Daggubati as photographer Vikram Jaiswal (Special appearance)
• Ayan Mukerji as DJ in party (Special appearance)

Development

Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani was produced by Hiroo Yash Johar and Karan Johar under the banner of Dharma Productions. It was co-produced by Apoorva Mehta and UTV Motion Pictures and written by Hussain Dalal based on a story by Ayan Mukerji. The title was taken from a hit song by the same title, with music by R. D. Burman from the film Jawani Diwani (1972). In December 2011, Pritam was chosen for the first time to compose the music for a Dharma Productions film, steering away from the usual Vishal–Shekhar and Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy, who had previously scored Mukerji's directorial debut, Wake Up Sid (2009).

Casting

 

Ranbir Kapoor was the first to sign onto the film and was under Ayan Mukerji's direction for the second time following Wake Up Sid (2009). Kapoor played Kabir and also pierced his ears for his role. There was a lot of speculation as to who would play the female lead, with Katrina Kaif and Anushka Sharma being the initial choices. Eventually, Deepika Padukone was chosen as Naina, in September 2011, who due to her faith in Kapoor and Mukerji accepted the film "without even reading the script". The film also marked Kapoor and Padukone's second film together after Bachna Ae Haseeno (2008).

Kalki Koechlin and Aditya Roy Kapur were later signed on for the roles of Aditi and Avi, respectively. Evelyn Sharma was confirmed to play a ditzy character. Kunaal Roy Kapur was then signed to play Taran. Farooq Sheikh was cast as Kabir's father, Tanvi Azmi as Kabir's step mother and Dolly Ahluwalia as Naina 's mother.

Filming

 

The principal photography commenced in 2012. Shooting locations included Hidimba Temple, Gulaba, Banjaar, Hamta Pass, and Naggar and other locations in Himachal Pradesh. Some shots were taken at 14,000 feet above sea level and the crew shot at a temperature as low as −10 degrees Celsius. In May 2012, the cast filmed in Udaipur, where Kapoor and Padukone also shot a romantic song. The wedding sequences were shot at the Oberoi Udaivilas hotel in Udaipur.

The unit experienced a difficult shoot in Rajasthan due to the overwhelming heat. Filming also took place in August 2012 in Paris, France on Rue Mouffetard, a street market and in Nice, France. Some other scenes were shot in Filmistan, Mumbai. On 26 January, the crew visited Kashmir to shoot a musical sequence and other scenes. They filmed at locations such as Kongdori in Gulmarg, Pahalgam and Srinagar.

The soundtrack and film score were composed by Pritam. The album featured nine tracks; lyrics for eight tracks were written by Amitabh Bhattacharya, whereas one song "Dilliwaali Girlfriend" was written by Kumaar. T-Series purchased the film's music rights. The soundtrack album was released through ITunes on 28 April 2013, for paid subscribers and was officially released through digital and physical formats, the following day (29 April 2013). The tracks "Badtameez Dil" and "Balam Pichkari" topped the music charts upon release and became chartbusters.

Nokia India announced its association with Dharma Productions for the film. The official trailer was released by Ayan Mukerji, Karan Johar, Ranbir Kapoor and Deepika Padukone on 19 March 2013 at a press conference in Mumbai. Before its release, Kapoor invited all of his fans to watch the trailer.

Pre-release records

• The figures don't include the Print and Advertising (P&A) costs.

Preview screenings of Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani were held on 30 May 2013. The film was released on 31 May 2013 worldwide and on around 3100 screens in India. It is also going to be released in 2023 although the dates have not been finalized. The trailers of Bhaag Milkha Bhaag, Chennai Express, Once Upon ay Time in Mumbai Dobaara! and Satyagraha – Democracy Under Fire were released with the film prints. Eros distributed Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani in Israel. It was subtitled in Hebrew and released on 31 May 2013. The last Bollywood film released in Israel was Devdas (2002).

Hindu College organized a special screening of Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani to create a secure and safe environment for female students on 31 May 2013. It was also notably screened under the "Informative Screening (Feature)" film category at the 2014 Pyongyang International Film Festival in North Korea. Post its release, Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani was made available on Netflix and Amazon Prime Video.

Critical reception

Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani received acclaim from critics, with praise for its direction, story, screenplay, soundtrack, cinematography, production design, costumes and performances of the cast.

Giving 4 out of 5 stars, Taran Adarsh of bollywoodhungama.com noted that it "is a revitalizing take on romance and relationships. A wonderful cinematic experience, this one should strike a chord with not just the youth, but cineastes of all age-groups." Shubhra Gupta of Indian Express with a negative tone stated that, "Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani is a been-here, seen-this, much-too-long glossy creature, and not much else." Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV rated it 3.5/5 and opined that, "Overlong, sluggish and fluffy, it meanders through varied locations as the young lovers/friends seek to reconnect with each other after a few years of being apart." Sukanya Verma of Rediff.com gave it 3.5/5 stars and judged, "Yeh Jaawani Hai Deewani is totally worth it!" Alisha Coelho of in.com praised Kapoor's "ebullient" performance and gave it 3.5 stars out of 5.

Rajeev Masand of CNN-IBN gave the film 3 out of 5 stars, concluding "If you are seeking light-hearted mush, you're looking in the right place". Ananya Bhattacharya of ZEENEWS.com said the film "is no heavy or preachy business. It is meant to be enjoyed and it does its job well. Apart from a few parts where the pace of the film drops badly, Mukerji's handiwork is a breezy, enjoyable one." She also gave it 3 out of 5 stars. Tushar Joshi of DNA opined, "YJHD is a well written film that should be watched for its direction, treatment and some remarkable performances." Anupama Chopra of the Hindustan Times gave 2.5 out of 5 stars and wrote, "there is enough eye-candy in Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani to see you through, but I wish the film had more meat and less dressing. I'm disappointed because there is a truckload of talent here. What rankles is what might have been." Raja Sen of Rediff.com noted that the film was good-looking but lacked a good story. He gave it 2 out of 5 stars.

Box office

India

Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani opened strongly with around 100% occupancy at multiplexes and in the range of 60–70% at single screens where it set the biggest opening for a Ranbir Kapoor film. It holds the records for the fourth biggest opening of all time and highest for a non-holiday release after collecting ₹198 million (US$3.38 million) on its first day. The film remained strong on Saturday and grossed ₹205 million (US$3.5 million). It made ₹630 million (US$10.75 million) on its first weekend, breaking the 3-day weekend box office record previously held by Dabangg 2 (2012). The film remained strong on Monday and grossed the second highest ever Monday collection of ₹128 million (US$2.18 million). It continued its successful run on Tuesday collecting ₹118 million (US$2.01 million) and Wednesday collecting ₹105 million (US$1.79 million), which is the highest ever for any film on that day, bringing its six-day total to ₹980 million (US$16.72 million).

Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani grossed ₹1.06 billion (US$18.09 million) in its first week, becoming the second fastest Hindi film to cross ₹1 billion (US$17.07 million) behind Ek Tha Tiger (2012). It grossed ₹1.75 billion (US$29.86 million) worldwide in the first seven days. The film made ₹283 million (US$4.83 million), in its second weekend, which is the second highest of all time, making its ten-day gross to ₹1.34 billion (US$22.87 million). It had grossed ₹450 million (US$7.68 million) in its second week, bringing its total to ₹1.52 billion (US$25.94 million). It also had a very good third weekend gross of ₹135 million (US$2.3 million) taking its 17 days total to ₹1.65 billion (US$28.16 million). It grossed ₹205 million (US$3.5 million) in its third week making its total to ₹1.73 billion (US$29.52 million). Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani grossed ₹1.76 billion (US$30.04 million) after its fourth weekend. Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani added ₹65.4 million (US$1.12 million) taking its four-week total to ₹1.77 billion (US$30.21 million). Due to a huge reduction of shows from the fifth week, its lifetime total finished around ₹1.9 billion (equivalent to ₹2.5 billion or US$32 million in 2023).

Other territories

Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani collected around $4 million on its international opening weekend and is ranked #2 in 2013. The film collected $1,568,677 at the US box office, opening in at #9 position with an average of $9,743 from 161 theatres. It continued its successful run and netted around $7.5 million in ten days. Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani grossed $8.75 million in 17 days in overseas. It grossed $9.50 million in 24 days in overseas. Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani finished at $10.50 million approx.

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah expressed his displeasure over the attribution of shots in Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani to Manali while they were filmed in north Kashmir's Gulmarg. He stated that apart from the temple and Span resort, all scenes were shot in Gulmarg. Many scenes and song sequences of the movie were shot at locations in the Kashmir Valley including the famous ski-resort of Gulmarg and Pahalgam. Karan Johar's production house later said that the opening credit slate clearly mentions Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, Tourism Minister GA Mir and Inspector-General of Police SM Sahal. The names of the entire crew in Kashmir are mentioned in the film credits.

The film's television release had been stalled. The Delhi High Court on 11 June 2013 issued a ruling restraining the TV release of Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani for allegedly using objectionable dialogues in context of the brand Rooh Afza.

At the 59th Filmfare Awards, Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani received a leading 10 nominations. At the 15th IIFA Awards, it received 8 nominations and won 3 awards. Additionally, it won four Producers Guild Film Awards, two Screen Awards and four Zee Cine Awards.

Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani remains one of the most popular romantic film in Hindi cinema. It was named as one of the Bollywood's top 10 most romantic movies by The Times of India and Filmfare. Time Out placed the film in its "The 100 best Bollywood movies" list. Ineye Komonibo of Marie Claire listed it as one of the 43 best Bollywood movies of all time. Jasmine Ting of Cosmopolitan cited it as one of the best Indian films. Radhika Menon of Paste listed it as one of the fifteen best Bollywood movies.

Ranbir Kapoor and Deepika Padukone's performance has been noted as one of their most notable works. The film consolidated their career. The film is also considered among the best films made on friendship. Padukone's character Naina Talwar, became a popular character. Anmol Mahato of Film Companion noted, "Naina Talwar starts out as a shy, under-confident person who thinks she is not cool enough but evolves into a person, who is unapologetically in love with herself and her regular dal-chawal life." Padukone later went onto to say about her role, "Naina Talwar came fairly effortlessly to me as I recognized a lot of me in the character." Pinkvilla and Cosmopolitan have named Naina among the strongest and inspirational female characters of Bollywood.