At 77, Prem Chopra has completed 50 years in Bollywood and 45 years of marriage with Uma and both, he says, he cannot live without. Playing a negative character on screen all his life has taken a toll on him but he feels he has done his job well. He could easily crush anyone on screen but dealing with this mean man image in real life was a big challenge, something that Chopra mastered over the years. His eldest daughter Rakita Nanda, who recently chronicled him in a book, says the world may see her father as an iconic villain but to family he will always be Prem, the family man. Deebashree Mohanty talks to Prem Chopra to give you his side of the story
My three daughters and wife are my pillars of strength. like any other human being, I have also seen many ups and downs. I wouldn’t have lasted all this while in the industry if it was not for my family and some great friends in the industry
— Prem Chopra
Our father is our pride. He has never been an absentee father. Coming home after hectic shoots, papa still smiled while changing our nappies or holding our milk bottles. I have yet to see a more patient man
— Rakita Nanda, eldest daughter, computer wizard and author
Main woh bala hoon joh sheeshe se pathar ko todta hoon, Prem Chopra said silkily in Souten (1983) and it was enough to scare away his youngest daughter who had accompanied him to the film premiere. So scared was she that she refused to acknowledge him as her father and started sobbing inconsolably. She didn’t want anything to do with Prem Chopra. When stars walked up to her father to praise him for his convincing work, she was puzzled. “When we were young, we always wondered why, if dad was such a horrible guy who did so many bad things to people, were people still smiling around him,” Rakita recalls. She tells you how Prem Chopra had to sit down with each of his daughters and explain to them individually why he was doing what he was doing before signing up his next baddie role.
But his troubles did not end with that discussion. Prem Chopra owed — and gave — an explanation to everyone in the family and many strangers too, who would randomly come up to him with weird queries like ‘why do you misbehave with women, aapke ghar mein bhi to betiyan hai...”.
“There was a time when I was ashamed to make public appearances but my paaji (father) taught me to take things in one’s stride. The fact that people shouted ‘apni biwi ko chhupa lo, Prem Chopra park mein aaya hai...’ was proof that I was doing my work well. And that was all that mattered,” Chopra, now 77, says, recalling how many of his family members stopped visiting him after he flowered as a villain on screen.
“It was not humanly possible for me to make everyone understand. Once, my wife’s niece’s son Nikhil came to our house as a child. When he saw my shoes he yelled, “Prem uncle ke joote, jaldi bhago”. He ran out of the apartment and didn’t even wait for the lift. He ran down 14 floors despite my family trying to convince him that I was out of the house, he just wouldn’t budge. He refused to return,” Chopra remembers with a chuckle.
But today, as he sits in his living room in Pali Hills, watching his favourite movies with his grandchildren, he is surprised to see how incredulous they are. “The twins, Vaaryan and Vihaan, for instance, do not believe that the person they see on screen is their nana. For them, their grandfather was born bald. Khyana, Veer and Risha laugh at my antics as if I was playing a joker, not villain. Sanchi, my eldest granddaughter (15), is very fond of reading. She has the unique knack of reading scripts in one hour flat. And she comes up with interesting observations. She liked the first script of Chalo Driver and has been waiting for its release ever since I signed it,” Chopra who has six grandchildren, says.
Ask him what has changed in the field of villainy in this decade and Chopra chuckles. Exposure, easy availability of information and technological advancement are the main culprits for simply mean being not enough for today’s youth. “Don’t take me wrong. I love to be with the times and am crazy about latest gadgets. But, today’s generation is bombarded with information. I feel they mature earlier than usual and that is not always good. There is violence in everything, including games and cartoon serials, so the definition of ‘menacing’ has also evolved,” he explains.
Reminiscing, he adds that the villains of yore are now extinct. “During my time, there was a plot with a hero, heroine and villain. There was a strict demarcation between the three and every filmmaker followed that rule. But now, even the main protagonists want to dabble in on-screen negativity. This dilutes the villain-hero line. But then if it works at the box office, so be it,” Chopra says, adding that at the end of the day, it is the BO that talks.
But he still holds the view that the villain in Bollywood is better off than the actor. “If a movie flops, all the blame is carried by the hero and director. The other actors do well, based on their performances. So, negative characters and comediennes are a safer bet,” he points out.
This was the primary reason he decided to change track from trying to be a dashing hero to becoming a villain. It was in the early 60s that Chopra got a taste of cinema when Punjabi producer Jagjit Sethi gave him the break as a hero in Chaudhary Karnail Singh, a Punjabi film. His debut film was a Hindu-Muslim romantic love story set against the backdrop of Partition and it became a big hit winning the National Award. According to the grapevine, he was paid Rs 2,500 at that time which was considered a huge deal. Then he met Manoj Kumar who offered him a positive role in Shaheed and Chopra’s passion finally came alive on 70mm.
But it was only after the success of Woh Kaun Thi and Upkaar (he played negative roles in both) that he considered leaving his regular job of a circulation manager with The Times of India to pursue a full fledged career in Bollywood.
“I saw the ugly face of Partition and what it did to families. But thankfully, we survived our worst nightmares. My father was a senior bureaucrat and gave us a decent upbringing. We were a close-knit family who ate and prayed together. My mother passed away due to mouth cancer, leaving my nine-year-old sister Anju and five of us to my father. We brothers took this responsibility seriously and Anju was our top priority,” Chopra says. His father passed away in the 80s and since then Prem Chopra is estranged from two of his brothers owing to property issues.
“My father was made to sign a will favouring one of my brothers, taking away my rights. It was a bungalow that I had built with my money in Delhi which was jointly owned by me and my father. I had got my brother a job in Delhi and put him up in the house. We were not a rich family as my father was a Government employee and honest to the core. My brothers at that time were not settled and I had to help them in any way possible. Which I did. My aim was to secure my brothers’ lives and give them respectable statuses.
“My only issue with my father was that if he wanted to give away something that was mine, he should have just asked me and I wouldn’t have had any problem with it. But he didn’t and I feel betrayed, something I will carry to my grave,” Chopra insists.
He, however, chokes up on the memories of his father. “Paaji wanted me to come over to Delhi for a chat. Today, I feel maybe he wanted to explain the will. But that very night he passed away in his sleep. I was very attached to him and his loss was a huge setback. But I wish, we had spoken about this will before he left this world,” he says. Chopra, known to be a benevolent man in the industry, had left no stone unturned to get his brothers in good positions but was felt let down by them.
Two of his apartments in Mumbai were sold off by his brothers for a paltry sum because they needed the money. His daughters might feel that he has been used by his relatives but he is quite unwilling to cry over spilt milk. “I am good at ‘moving on’. life teaches you that,” he says.
Ask him about his favourite roles and suddenly Chopra is tongue tied. “How can I pick one when there are hundreds. I can say Uphaar because that role made me realise that I could pull off a grey shade quite well. I was not the initial choice for that role though. Rajesh Khanna was supposed to be essaying it and his clothes had already been stitched for the role. On the day of the shoot, he changed his mind and I was asked to fill in. Ever since Uphaar, there has been no looking back. So that movie is close to me. But so is Kati Patang and Souten and also some recent movies. Bobby has an interesting tale too,” Chopra says, adding that Prem naam hai mera was his best cinematic moment of a career spanning 400 films.
“It was 1973. I was a star already but had not worked with Raj Kapoorji, so was excited to be even offered a guest appearance in Bobby. I reached the set and asked for the dialogues and he said, ‘It’s Dimple Kapadia’s debut. The moment she enters, you will hold her hand tightly and say, Prem naam hai mera...Prem Chopra’. I looked at him very surprised and unbelievingly. At that time I was disappointed as this would set a wrong precedent for my other films. But he would not take a no. ‘I will compensate you with a full-fledged role later,’ he promised me. I remember chatting with Prem Nath who was on the set with me that day and he had said, ‘This film will do marvels at the box office and you will get publicity worth millions. Your one liner will be well remembered’,” he recalls.
After Bobby, Chopra was on a train back to Delhi. As soon as he got off the train, there was a huge crowd. “They kept requesting me to repeat that one dialogue from the film. And that’s when I understood how iconic it had become,” he adds.
Chopra also has this unique feat of having worked with the entire clan of the Kapoors from Prithviraj to Ranbir and Kareena Kapoor. But he tells you that this was just a happy coincidence. “It is not intentional groupism or anything of that sort but I have been lucky to be cast with some of the greatest talent in Bollywood. I have worked with their wives as well and these are moments I cherish,” he says.
Apart from a knee surgery in 2010, Chopra is healthy, fit and as agile as it gets. “I keep up a very active lifestyle. My morning doesn’t start without a two-hour jog followed by some light yoga. Then I unwind at the nearby club and relax with friends over a cup of coffee or a good book. I can survive on autobiographies. They are the purest form of art for me,” the biggest Dilip Kumar fan, says.
So, what is his favourite read till dateIJ ‘Prem Naam Hai Mera...’ by Rakita Nanda, of course, he says before pushing off for Saturday tea with his family, which by the way, is quite as illustrious as him. His three son-in-laws are actor Sharman Joshi (married to his youngest daughter Prerna), singer and actor Vikas Bhalla (married to Punita who owns the pre-school Wind Chimes in Bandra) and film publicity designer Rahul Nanda who is Rakita’s husband.
At present, Chopra is considering a few Punjabi scripts and some Bollywood movies including a comedy film with Paresh Rawal and other leads.
