New Delhi, Nov. 22 -- There is no single architect of today's Bollywood, the $2-billion Hindi-language film industry that churns out nearly 2,000 films annually for a global audience of three billion. But if forced to choose, one name stands apart: Yash Raj Chopra-who took a massive creative and financial risk in 1970 to establish Yash Raj Films (YRF), the blueprint for the modern, integrated Bollywood studio.

Like the Warner Brothers in Hollywood, he didn't just make films, but built a vertically integrated empire that would define an industry. His journey from refugee's son to the King of Romance is a case study in blending commercial acumen with artistic vision, building an enterprise that is today worth more than a billion dollars. ...