MUMBAI: The scion of a Bollywood filmmaking dynasty is forging a career in Hollywood in a bid to emerge from the shadows of his legendary father — and challenge common stereotypes of India.

Uday Chopra, younger son of the late Hindi film director Yash Chopra, set up a subsidiary of his father’s production house in Los Angeles and this year appeared on the Cannes Film Festival red carpet alongside Nicole Kidman.

His three-year-old company Yash Raj Films (YRF) Entertainment co-produced the recent “Grace of Monaco” starring Kidman, upcoming Jason Bateman comedy “The Longest Week” and is finalizing the script of “Seducing Ingrid Bergman.”

The job has made Chopra one of only a handful of Indians in Hollywood, where he hopes to match the success of his father and award-winning filmmaker brother, Aditya Chopra, back home.

“I know that even in my greatest success I would be lucky to get the success they enjoy, and I will always be looked upon as the third Chopra in a way,” the 41-year-old told AFP in Mumbai, India’s entertainment capital where he was born.












“When I first went to LA, the idea was to do romantic comedies because that’s a genre we have done successfully in India,” he said.

“I thought I would convert some of my Hindi material to English but I soon realized that comedies are in the space of the big studios, which means big budgets and big stars.”

Chopra then opened up to new possibilities, and one of his upcoming projects is “a female-centric thriller based in India.”

“It’s a completely American movie but with India as a backdrop. I can leverage my strength in India as a line producer,” he said.

The reviews of “Grace of Monaco,” the opening film at Cannes, have been far from complimentary, describing it as “airless,” “fantastically silly” and even a “fire risk.”

Chopra admits that the criticism hit him hard and has affected the movie’s success.

“Maybe Cannes was the wrong platform for a fairytale film with a happy ending,” he said.