Daag (1973)Starring Sharmila Tagore, Rajesh Khanna, RakheeProduced by Yash Raj Films; Directed by Yash Chopra; Music by Laxmikant-PyarelalYash Chopra went on his honeymoon, and when he returned he decided to break away from his brother BR Chopra’s banner to form his own movie production company. So the question: who influenced Yash Chopra to branch off and blossom separately from his brother’s banner?The fruits of severance were sweet. Yash Chopra’s first independent production Daag, released on April 27, 1973 set the box office aflame. It also brought Rajesh Khanna back into the race, putting to rest all the speculation regarding his shaky box office standing after his marriage with Dimple Kapadia in 1973.Based Thomas Hardy’s The Mayor Of Casterbridge and Gulshan Nanda’s novel Maili Chandni (talk of chalk and cheese!) Daag is the story of a man named Jattvibeil (Rajesh Khanna) who’s separated from his wife Sonia (Sharmila Tagore) on their honeymoon when he kills his villainous boss (Prem Chopra). Considering both the leading man and the director had lately returned from their own honeymoons such murderous thoughts regarding the romantic vacation seems rather strange.From these melodramatic beginnings, Yash Chopra built a dreamy peachy love triangle where Jattvibeil is caught between Sonia and Chandni (Rakhee), the woman whom he marries to build a new life. In a stunning bohemian finale Jattvibeil settles down with his two wives at the end, hopefully to a blissful menage a trois.Yash Chopra recalls how much skepticism there was about the film’s ending and about the leading man’s box office standing. Those who saw the film at previews predicted doom. But Chopra persevered. The film went on to celebrate a jubilee run all over India. Even now Yash Chopra feels Daag to be a much bolder film than his recent taboo-breaking romance Lamhe.The main focus of media and audience speculation was the rivalry between the two leading ladies. Though Sharmila Tagore had the meatier role, plus all the songs composed by Laxmikant-Pyarelal from the solos (Jab bhi jee chahe, Hawaa udey kaise) to the duets (Ab chahe maa roothe ya baba, Hum aur tum) it was Rakhee Gulzar who walked away with all the critical praise and awards.The director admits to an undercurrent of tension between the two leading ladies, fuelled by the fact that Rajesh and Sharmila were close buddies whose proximity made Rakhee feel isolated and persecuted. Reportedly a major confrontation sequence with Sharmila was missing from the final print of the film.In many ways Daag is the true and proud precursor to Yash Chopra’s Kabhi Kabhie. Dreamy, poetic, snow-scaped and serene, every pore of Daag suggests love, romance and music. While the ongoing rivalry between the two leading ladies was widely reported not too many people know about the tensions that prevailed between  the music directors Laxmikant-Pyarelal  and lyricist Sahir Ludhianvi, who was reportedly appalled by the composers’ limited knowledge of poetry. For his next film Deewaar Yash Chopra had to chose between Laxmikant-Pyarelal and Sahir. He chose the poet.Daag was one of the last films where the romantic Rajesh regaled his fans with his image and personality of the ladies’ man. Women in the audience swooned when he recited Sahir’s Main to kuch bhi nahin and sang Mere dil mein aaj kya hai to Sharmila in Kishore Kumar’s voice.Melodramatic and moody Daag is the first Hindi film that tacitly endorses bigamy. It was released a few months before Raj Kapoor’s Bobby. Ironically Bobby was the beginning of Dimple Khanna’s chequered stardom. Daag was the beginning of the end for Rajesh Khanna.