Chopra said, “Gulshan Rai felt the film may not do well because of the controversial end. A lot of it had to do with Khanna’s dwindling star status - prior to Daag, he had eight flops on the trot - and the controversial ending of the film where the man goes home with two “wives”. The reaction of the press and distributors was subdued. In an interview with Karan Johar, the late Chopra revealed that his cast and crew were completely by his side to make the film - Rakhee even offered Chopra money in case he needed it to mount his first film, and lyricist Sahir Ludhianvi asked to be paid only once the film became a hit. After directing five films for his elder brother BR Chopra’s banner, Chopra was keen to fly on his own and Gulshan Rai decided to finance him for what we now know as the first Yash Raj Film.
Partly inspired by Thomas Hardy’s novel, The Mayor of Casterbridge and Gulshan Nanda’s novel Maili Chandni, Daag was Chopra’s first film as an independent producer. Khanna, meanwhile, gets to deliver the immortal soliloquay which he turned into his life’s story and often repeated at public events - “Izzatein, shohratein, chahatein, ulfatein, koi bhi cheez duniya mein rehti nahi… aaj main hoon jahaan kal koi aur tha… Yeh bhi ek daur hai woh bhi ek daur tha.” Sonia’s love is eternal as she believes, “aurat sirf ek baar pyaar karti hai… baar baar nahin.” Chandni (Rakhee in a dynamic role, the “twist” in this triangle) shares an unconventional “dard ka rishta” with Sunil. The film is about two women who love a man in their own way. In typical Chopra fashion, all the characters in Daag are essentially good people caught in bad circumstances.
Over the years, the film has acquired cult status as a classic triangle of a man caught between two women. Yash Chopra’s Daag: A Poem of Love is a tale of star-crossed lovers Sunil (Rajesh Khanna) and Sonia (Sharmila Tagore), who encounter all kinds of trials, obstacles and separations on their way to happily ever-after.
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