India's film legend B.R. Chopra takes his last breath

One of the most prominent Bollywood film personalities, Baldev Raj Chopra, well known as B.R. Chopra, died on Wednesday (November 5) at the age of 94 following prolonged illness. He took his last breath at his residence in suburban Juhu, Mumbai.

The filmmaker is renowned for his socially relevant films like 'Naya Daur', 'Gumrah', 'Humraaz', 'Dhundh', 'Insaaf ka Tarazoo' and 'Nikah'. With those social dramas, he certainly shaped the film industry of today, moreover, his early period can be well considered as a landmark in Hindi film making.

Born in undivided Punjab's Ludhiana town in 1914, Chopra, who started his career as a movie journalist after completing his masters in English literature from Lahore University, moved to Delhi and then to Mumbai. He first came into prominence in 1957 as a producer of the movie ‘Naya Daur’. And in the late 1980s he became a household name with the most successful television serial ‘Mahabharat’.

Chopra, with his cinematic excellence, was able to manage a sense of balance between commercial and intellectual films to create some unique celluloid products. In fact, he successfully blended ? what he was master in ? a socially relevant theme in a commercially viable film without deviating from the original concept.

As a producer, he made 28 movies under the banner B.R. Films and directed 18 movies with all earmarks of success. 'Ek Hi Raasta' (1956), 'Sadhana' (1958), 'Dhool ka Phool' (1959), 'Kanoon' (1960), 'Gumrah' (1963), 'Waqt' (1965) and Humraaz (1967) were some of the other films that the legendary filmmaker made.

He also promoted his younger brother Yash Chopra as director with 'Dhool Ka Phool', who also gave one of the biggest hits 'Waqt' in 1965. B.R. Chopra’s son Ravi Chopra carrying his father’s legacy forward, too, came into direction with ‘Zameer’ (1975).

BR Chopra, whose last directed film was 'Kal Ki Awaaz' in 1992, also penned stories like 'Baghban' (2003) that was directed by his son.

A filmmaker par excellence, B.R. Chopra won the Filmfare award for 'Kanoon', in 1961. He was conferred with government's highest honour to a film personality - the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 1998.

Chopra was also presented the ‘National Citizen Award’ for the TV serial 'Mahabharat' and received the National Awards for 'Dharmputra' 'Gumrah' and 'Humraaz' as Best Director.