Ravi Chopra
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Contents |
The man
'Ravi Chopra has finally found peace'
Meena Iyer
TNN | Nov 14, 2014 The Times of India
Ravi Chopra was to the manor born. The son of illustrious filmmaker BR Chopra and the nephew of the late Yash Chopra brought the epic 'Mahabharat' to every home, over two decades ago. The 68-year-old filmmaker, who had fallen in debt in the last six-odd years because of legal wrangles with a film corporation, was laid up with Motor neuron disease since 2010.
He had been in and out of hospitals in India and overseas. He finally succumbed to a severe lung ailment. Ravi was cared for deeply by his wife Renu and children. Even when he was confined to a wheelchair in the last stages of his life, he would communicate with handwritten notes and a smile.
From the late 50s until 2005, his father B.R. Chopra made noteworthy cinema like 'Naya Daur' (1957), 'Kanoon' (1961), 'Gumrah' (1963) and 'Insaf Ka Tarazu' (1980) among others.
Ravi began his career by assisting his uncle on Ittefaq (1969), and father on 'Dastaan' (1972) and 'Dhund' (1973).
While he could never really deliver thought-provoking fare in his initial phase in Zameer or The Burning Train, he struck gold with 'Baghban'. He did manage to take BR films to heights and built an empire by foraying into ad films and television. Having directed stalwarts like Dilip Kumar and Amitabh Bachchan during his career, he continued to dabble in Hindi cinema almost to his very end. Bhoothnath Returns, the sequel to his hit production venture Bhoothnath, was made during his illness.
While his professional achievements were shadowed by the sad fate that befell him in the last stage of his life, Ravi, in his youth, was flamboyant and friendly. He hung out with superstars Amitabh and Vinod Khanna, the stars of his debut film 'Zameer'. Even though he was the first cousin of the reclusive Aditya Chopra, his best friend was his chacha Yash. This chacha-bhatija not only shared the same birthday (September 27), they also shared a common passion for food among other things.
A superstar wife, who had accompanied a teenage Ravi to a picnic organised by his father to the Aarey Milk Colony way back in the 60s, recalled how bratty he was at that age. She said, "I remember several top actors of that time were present there. Ravi, who was then the spoilt son of a legendary filmmaker in every sense, kept chucking the ice-cream cups in the air just for fun."
The filmmaker
Mahabharata co-director, 68
Avijit Ghosh The Times of India Nov 13 2014 New Delhi
Ravi Chopra co-directed [with his father] `Mahabharata' (1988), one of the most popular serials in the history of Indian TV
Unlike his father B R Chopra, Ravi didn't always make movies with a social conscience. But his `Baghban' (2003), a film his father wanted to make 30 years ago, tackled the problem of elderly among the increasingly prosperous and individualistic urban middle-class. The film, starring Amitabh Bachchan, became a box-office biggie. The Big B connection, which had started way back with `Za meer' (1975), his debut film as a director, endured over dec ades. The successful kiddie-flick `Bhoothnath' (2008), which Ravi produced, saw the actor in another central role.
Born in Lahore shortly before Partition, Ravi learnt his craft assisting father craft assisting father and uncle Yash Chopra, but was trained as a filmmaker in the US. The Hollywood influence was evident in his younger days as a filmmaker.Aaj Ki Awaz' (1984), a box-of` fice smash with Raj Babbar in the lead, was inspired by Charles Bronson's vigilante thriller, `Death Wish'. And at a time when disaster-movies were big in Hollywood, he made `The Burning Train' (1980), one of the most talked-about and expensive box-office duds of its time.More recently , he coproduced two Deepa Mehta movies, `Heaven on Earth' (2008) with Preity Zinta in the lead and `Cooking with Stella' (2009) with Seema Biswas doing the title role.
However, Ravi's finest moment in career came via TV .At the peak of Mahabharat's popularity , streets nationwide would be empty during the telecast on Sundays.
Ravi's father, BR, passed away in 2008 and uncle Yash in 2012. Ravi died due to a lung ailment in 2014. He was 68.
The fate of his best-known films
Ravi Chopra: Lesser Known Facts
With inputs from The Times of India
The Burning Train: Ravi Chopra was the writer and director of 1980's 70mm, stereophonic sound, disaster epic - 'The Burning Train'. This Dharmendra, Hema Malini-headed multi-starrer was panned by critics and failed to generate a buzz commercially. [Nutan sarcastically called the vacuous film ‘The Turning Brain.’] Though the film had a massive opening, it could not emerge as a box office success. This had left Ravi Chopra heartbroken. [The only good thing about it was its technology. The story was awful and the film was boring. It was the no.38 earner of 1980, which would have been bad for a low-budget film, but was disastrous for the most expensive film not only of 1980 but of that half-decade, with a huge star cast and the most expensive technology of that era.—Indpaedia]
Mahabharat: Ravi Chopra also directed one of the most popular mythological shows - Mahabharat. The show ran from 1988 to 1990 and was lauded by the Indian audience. The show was produced by Ravi Chopra's father BR Chopra. The show was also shown on BBC in the United Kingdom. As per IMDB, the approx cost of producing the show was Rs 9 cr.
Aaj Ki Awaaz: Ravi Chopra was keen on casting Kaka as the lead actor in Aaj Ki Awaz. Rajesh Khanna too liked the script but asked Ravi Chopra to wait for one year because of his date problem. Ravi Chopra could not wait for so long and thus went ahead with Raj Babbar. Smita Patil was nominated for the Filmfare Award for Best Actress for this film. The film was the no.20 success of 1984, which, considering its moderate budget, meant that the film had made reasonable profits.
Zameer: Ravi Chopra's debut film was Zameer which was the no.8 hit of the year. therefore, Ravi Copra got off to a very good start. He assisted his father BR Chopra in films like 'Dastan', 'Dhund', etc., the commercial success of which was as follows:
The big-budget Dastan was a below-average earner or a flop, being the no.20 earner of the year on IbosNetwork.com’s list and no.39 on BoxOfficeIndia.com’s chart for 1972.
Dhund, also big-budget, did even worse. It was the no.24 earner of the year on BoxOfficeIndia.com’s chart for 1973 and nowhere in IbosNetwork.com’s list of the top 29 successes of the year.
Baghbaan was Ravi’s one bona fide superhit, being the no.3 earner of 2003. Since it was a medium budget film it probably had the best return on investment that year
Baabul (no.17 in 2006) was as average earner while Bhootnath (no.10 in 2008) a success, even more so because both films were made on moderate budgets. Bhootnath’s success encouraged Ravi to make a sequel, which was a big flop. Around this time, Ravi Chopra incurred debts after his films did not do well.
Filmography
As a producer
1972 Dastaan (Assistant producer)
Associate producer
1980 Insaf Ka Tarazu
1981 Agni Pareeksha
1982 Nikaah
1982 Teri Meri Kahani (telefilm)
1983 Dharti Aakash (telefilm)
1984 Aaj Ki Awaz
1986 Bahadur Shah Zafar (TV Series)
1986 Dahleez
1987 Avam
Producer
1992 Kal Ki Awaz
1999 Eastside
2002 Ramayan (TV Mini-Series)
2004 India,1964 (Short)
2004 Karma (Short)
2008 Bhoothnath
Executive producer
2008 Heaven on Earth
2009 Cooking with Stella
As a director
1975 Zameer
1978 Tumhari Kassam
1980 The Burning Train
1983 Mazdoor
1984 Aaj Ki Awaz
1986 Dahleez
1988 Mahabharat (TV Series)
1991 Pratigyabadh
1992 Kal Ki Awaz
2002 Ramayan (TV Mini-Series)
2003 Baghban
2006 Baabul
As a writer
1980 The Burning Train
1999 Eastside [USA/English]
2006 Baabul
