Chandni (1989 film)

Chandni (Moonlight) is a 1989 Indian Hindi-language musical romance film directed and co-produced by Yash Chopra from a story written by Kamna Chandra with a screenplay by Umesh Kalbagh, Arun Kaul, and Sagar Sarhadi. The film stars Sridevi in the title role of Chandni Mathur, a young, effervescent woman torn between two suitors played by Rishi Kapoor and Vinod Khanna. Waheeda Rehman, Anupam Kher, Juhi Chawla, Sushma Seth, Mita Vashisht, Manohar Singh feature in supporting roles.

The eighties marked a professional setback in Chopra's career, After a series of failed action films, Chopra decided to return to his roots and make a romantic musical, a film with all the hallmarks of what has come to be known as the "Yash Chopra style" – heroine-oriented, romantic, emotional, depicting the lifestyle of the super-elite, with melodic music used in songs picturized in foreign locations. The film marked the first collaboration between Chopra and Sridevi; they would collaborate again for the path-breaking Lamhe (1991).

Chandni was theatrically released on 15 September 1989 by Yash Raj Films. The film emerged as a widespread critical and commercial success, ranking as the third highest-grossing Hindi film of the year, with its soundtrack emerging as the best-selling album of the year as well as the decade, with more than 10 million copies sold. The massive success of the film and its soundtrack was instrumental in ending the era of violent action films in Indian Cinema and rejuvenating the romantic musical genre. The success of the film further reinforced Sridevi's position as the top female star of the era. Over the years, Chandni has been hailed as one of Chopra's finest films.

At the 37th National Film Awards, Chandni won Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment. At the 35th Filmfare Awards, the film received 10 nominations, including Best Film, Best Director (Yash Chopra), Best Actress (Sridevi), Best Actor (Rishi Kapoor), Best Supporting Actor (Vinod Khanna) and Best Supporting Actress (Waheeda Rehman), and won Best Cinematography.