General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20264 min read

Chandni (चाँदनी)

Chandni (चाँदनी) is a 1989 Hindi-language romantic musical drama directed and produced by Yash Chopra for Yash Raj Films, starring Sridevi in the title role alongside Rishi Kapoor and Vinod Khanna. Released on 14 September 1989, it tells the story of a young woman whose fiancé Rohit disappears from her life after an accident, her friendship with Lalit, and Rohit's return just as her life takes a new direction.¹^•²

Key fact	Detail
Release	14 September 1989, Hindi language, produced by Yash Raj Films¹
Director / producer	Yash Chopra, who also produced the film¹
Lead cast	Sridevi as Chandni Mathur, Rishi Kapoor as Rohit Gupta, Vinod Khanna as Lalit Khanna, with Waheeda Rehman as Mrs. Khanna³
Music	Composed by Shiv-Hari, lyrics by Anand Bakshi, choreography by Saroj Khan¹
Runtime	3h 6m per IMDb; 180 minutes on streaming platforms²^•⁴
Reception	IMDb 6.7/10 from about 2,400 votes; Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer 78% from one review, with 500+ audience ratings²^•⁵
Availability	Streaming on Netflix, with rental or purchase on Apple TV in several markets⁴

Spoilers

Plot

Rohit, from a wealthy family, meets the lively Chandni at a family friend's wedding and falls in love with her during the mehendi ceremony. Because Chandni comes from a poorer family, Rohit's family does not welcome the match. When Rohit falls from a helicopter while scattering rose petals for Chandni, he is paralyzed from the waist down; his family blames her and humiliates her, and Rohit, not wanting to be a burden, asks her to leave his life. A heartbroken Chandni moves to another city and starts working.⁶

There she meets Lalit, who is fighting the demons of his own tragic memories, and the two find solace in a new friendship. Lalit's affection gives her life a new direction, and he falls in love with her, until the day Rohit, having recovered, knocks on her door.¹^•⁶

Production

Origins. The film came at a point when Yash Chopra, the maker of Deewaar, Trishul, and Kaala Patthar, was disenchanted with violence and action films. He has said the idea for Chandni was primarily to make a film with songs as the highlight, just as action had been the mainstay of many of his 1970s hits.⁷ The story was written by Kamna Chandra, with a screenplay by Umesh Kalbagh and Arun Kaul and dialogues by Sagar Sarhadi.¹

Crew. Manmohan Singh served as director of photography, Keshav Naidu as editor, and V. M. Gaekwad as art director; the costume team included Bhanu Athaiya and Neeta Lulla among others.¹ The film also marks the start of Aditya Chopra's film career, as he worked on it as an assistant director.⁸

Reception and significance

The Tuli Research Centre describes Chandni as marking a grand return to romance in Hindi cinema, reviving the genre and asserting Yash Chopra's commercially successful comeback amid the action-packed films of the 1980s. Together with Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak and Maine Pyaar Kiya, it revived the romantic musical genre associated with the golden age of 1960s Hindi cinema.⁹

Commentators have singled out Sridevi's character. A Hindustan Times retrospective argued that the film offers the most complete example of the quintessential "Yash Chopra woman", a flesh-and-blood heroine far removed from the filmi tropes of the time, such as the spoilt rich girl or the self-sacrificing martyr.¹⁰ An academic study of romance in Chopra's films describes Chandni as a bright and spirited soul, the antithesis of the damsel in distress.¹¹

The National Film Award catalog records that Yash Chopra received other awards for Chandni (1989) and Darr (1994), in addition to National Film Awards for popular and wholesome entertainment.¹² IMDb lists 2 wins and 6 nominations in total for the film.²

Legacy

Chandni is regularly grouped with Silsila (1981), Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995), and Mohabbatein (2000) as part of the run of popular love stories through which Yash Chopra led audiences weaned on action films into a new era of romance.¹³ A later survey of the Bollywood musical-romance template lists it among the films that aided the industry's growth in that mode, alongside Saajan, Hum Aapke Hain Kaun, and Dil To Pagal Hai.¹⁴ The film remains in circulation on streaming services; as of recent checks it streams on Netflix in the United States, the United Kingdom, and India, with rental and purchase options on Apple TV.⁴

References

Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Indian films (individual works) › Hindi films of the 1980s

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026

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