‘Prem Naam Hai Mera, popular dialogue of Prem Chopra’ (Bobby, 1973) Famous and one of our favorite villains alias Prem Chopra has turned 86 years old today!
Chopra has acted in 380 films in 60 years. But his most famous are 19 films in which he is an opponent and Rajesh Khanna is the main character. With such a long journey in the film industry, our beloved villain must have some interesting stories to share.
Rooprani Chopra, the third of six children of Ranbir Lal and a Punjabi Hindu family, was born on September 23, 1935, in Lahore. After completing his studies, he moved to Bombay. Do you know how he got his first break? Read – Neha Kakkar Turns Director For Rohanpreet’s Next Song
While Chopra was traveling, he met an anonymous gentleman who asked him if he would be interested in filming and invited him to a studio. Later in the meeting, the man revealed that it was a Punjabi film and he wanted a boy with a Muslim face.
Earlier, Chopra was not interested in working in Punjabi films, however, he felt that any entry into the film industry would help in the future. When the director saw him, he said, ‘I want that.’ “I met Kumar, who was from Pakistan,” Chopra said. He created Chaudhry Jarnail Singh in Pakistan. The title of the Indian version was ‘Chaudhary Karnail Singh’. Jagjit Sethi was the producer.”
Prem Chopra’s first film was Chaudhary Karnail Singh of the 1960s, in which she was cast alongside Jabin, who was a leading actress in Punjabi films in those days. So it was an extraordinary story of how he got his feet in the movies.
What many don’t know is that our two favorite villains worked together before they met on the big screen! Chopra co-starred with our ‘Mogambo’ Amrish Puri in the play ‘Samra / Badla’. Did you know that he had seniors in Puri College? In the play, she played the role of two men in the same night. Later, they acted together in more than 20 films, including Dostana (1980), Nagina (1986), Shahinshah (1988), and Badshah (1999).
All these interesting stories of his life have been compiled by his daughter Rakita Nanda in her memoir ‘Prem Naam Hai Mera, Prem Chopra’, which reveals the story behind the man whom people used to hate!
