Anniversary special to remember the incredible filmmaker’s magnificent body of work
BR Chopra rose from humble beginnings to become one of India’s greatest and most influential filmmakers.
An incredible career that lasted more than 50 years saw him make all-time classics, cross new
cinema horizons, launch talent like his younger brother Yash Chopra, break new ground and lay the foundation for a successful Indian TV industry.
Born April 22, 1914, the magnificent movie giant was given India’s highest cinema prize, the
Dadasaheb Phalke Award, and continued his creative journey right until the end. He passed away on November 5, 2008, aged 94, and will rightly be remembered on his death anniversary this week.
To mark the occasion, Eastern Eye prepared a watch list of his 20 greatest movies. (Special
mention to iconic TV serials he made like Mahabharat and Ramayan)
Afsana (1951): After a low-key filmmaking debut with Karwat (1949), the journalist turned producer-director announced his arrival with this interesting drama about twins, headlined by established superstar Ashok Kumar. This would trigger a trend of big named Bollywood stars playing double roles on screen. It would also inspire BR Chopra’s 1972 thriller Dastaan.
Chandni Chowk (1954): BR Chopra directed the Muslim social drama starring Meena Kumari, which revolves around an arrogant Nawab who is tricked into getting his daughter married to someone well beneath her social status. Instead of backing down, she goes ahead with the union and faces challenges. The successful film would inspire Chopra to set up his own production banner.
Ek Hi Raasta (1956): The ambitious producer-director finally launched his legendary production house BR Films with this family-drama and was able to take full creative control. That enabled him to make this taboo-busting story of a man who marries a widow with a child, and like most of his subsequent movies, it would be musically strong. It was later remade in Telugu as Kumkuma Rekha (1960) and Tamil as Pudhiya Pathai (1960).
Naya Daur (1957): The man versus machine drama is arguably the greatest film of BR Chopra’s career. The compelling human story starring Dilip Kumar and Vyjayanthimala weighed up old traditions against modern technology. It had many memorable moments, great performances, an incredible soundtrack, and would later inspire many films, including Oscar nominated historical Lagaan (2001). It would also push other filmmakers at the time to shoot on real locations. A colourised version was successfully re-released in 2007.
Sadhna (1958): The top filmmaker tackled another taboo issue with this terrific tale of an honest man who gets a prostitute to pose as his fiancé. She gradually wins over everyone but must deal with the fallout when her secret emerges. The box office hit would get a Filmfare Best Film award nomination and Chopra would successfully remake it 25 years later as Tawaif (1983).
Dhool Ka Phool (1959): BR Chopra produced this film, which was the stunning directorial debut of his younger brother Yash Chopra and the beginning of a remarkable journey for him. The story of a Muslim man bringing up an ‘illegitimate’ Hindu child put across the message of humanity and remains relevant more than 60 years later.
Kanoon (1960): The visionary genius did the unthinkable by producing and directing the first songless film in a commercial Bollywood space dominated by music. The result was a gripping courtroom drama that expanded the horizons of Hindi cinema and offered something new to audiences. It won multiple honours, including a National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi and a Filmfare Best Director honour for BR Chopra.
Dharmputra (1961): He produced this second directorial outing of his brother Yash Chopra, which was based on a novel of the same name. The successful film reversed the troupe of Dhool Ka Phool, with a Hindu family bringing up an illegitimate Muslim child and tackled themes like religious fundamentalism head on. Another film that remains relevant today, it won BR Chopra one more National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi.
Gumrah (1963): BR Chopra made it a hattrick of National Film Awards for Best Feature Film in Hindi with this all-time classic. He produced and directed the movie, which was ahead of its time and revolves around a woman who marries the widowed husband of her sister but remains in love with another man. The conflict of a woman caught between her husband and a former flame would inspire films in subsequent decades like Woh Saat Din (1983) and Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam (1999).
Waqt (1965): BR Chopra produced the iconic film, directed by his brother Yash Chopra, about a family separated after an earthquake and the three brothers growing up in different surroundings. Apart from introducing the multi-starrer, the movie also popularised the lost and found formula in Bollywood. It would receive a Filmfare award nomination for Best Film and had legendary song Aye Meri Zohra Jabeen.
Hamraaz (1967): The cinema genius won yet another National Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi for this suspense thriller and once again dared to be different with the storyline. The twist-laden story loaded with plenty of surprises was different to commercial Bollywood films being made at the time and that connected strongly with audiences.
Ittefaq (1969): Yash Chopra directed another unique film for his ace producer brother with this gripping drama based on Hollywood classic Signpost to Murder (1965). The rule-breaking murder mystery starring Rajesh Khanna and Nanda had no songs. It was loaded with twists and stood out from the musicals being made. Yash Chopra would win a Filmfare Best Director award and there would be a Bollywood remake in 2017.
Dhund (1973): BR Chopra was back on directing duties with this Hindi thriller inspired by Agatha Christie play The Unexpected Guest (1958). The murder mystery was another movie that made audiences think and threw unexpected surprises throughout the story. It would become a huge hit, and like most of his previous releases stood apart from formula-driven Bollywood movies being made at the time.
Chhoti Si Baat (1976): This relatively low-budget coming-of-age romantic comedy was a dramatic departure from the multi-starrers, loaded with grey-shaded characters BR Chopra normally made. He was on producing duties and put full faith in future legend Basu Chatterjee to direct the story of a painfully shy young man’s journey towards true love. It would win a Filmfare Award for Best Screenplay and get multiple other nominations, including Best Film.
Karm (1977): The first movie a young Urmila Matondkar appeared in as a child artist was produced and directed by BR Chopra. The multi-layered film tackled taboo subjects, like an unmarried live-in couple, a child out of wedlock, and superstition. The successful movie, headlined by Rajesh Khanna, had ideas that would later be used in subsequent films.
Pati Patni Aur Woh (1978): Action and masala escapist entertainers were dominant in Bollywood during the late 1970s, but the rule-breaking filmmaker decided to produce and direct this comedy about a married man thinking about cheating on his wife. It would win a Filmfare Best Screenplay award and later have a contemporary Bollywood remake in 2019.
Insaf Ka Tarazu (1980): The unpredictable producer-director delivered this successful revenge drama, which received a Filmfare Best Film nomination. Zeenat Aman headlined the story of a woman who is forced to take the law into her own hands. The big box office hit was later remade in Telugu as Edi Dharmam Edi Nyayam? (1982).
Nikaah (1982): The producer-director offered up another strong female character with his marital drama and gave singer turned actress Salma Agha her biggest movie highlight. She plays a woman, who is unfairly divorced and reconnects with a man who once loved her. The beautifully crafted film, which had multiple award nominations, was elevated further by the great soundtrack.
Aaj Ki Awaaz (1984): BR Chopra produced this action drama directed by his son Ravi Chopra. The story based on Hollywood film Death Wish II revolves around a professor disillusioned with the justice system, who then becomes a vigilante, and takes the law into his own hands. Although the film received criticism for gratuitous violence, it didn’t stop it from becoming a success and getting multiple award nominations.
Baghban (2003): BR Chopra had conceived the story for this family drama in the 1960s and completed the screenplay by the early 1970s. He then finally produced the film, with his son directing, and received multiple award nominations for it. Amitabh Bachchan and Hema Malini played the ageing couple, who are badly let down by their children. (Special mention also to Baabul (2006), which he produced, and put across an important message of a man helping his widowed daughter-in-law find love again).
The actor’s evolving style from youth to maturity getty images
Aamir Khan embracing vintage looks with classic charmgetty images
Bold and dramatic changes defining Aamir Khan’s careergetty images
From rugged to refined Aamir Khan’s versatile appearancesgetty images
Memorable film moments showcasing Aamir Khan’s unique stylegetty images
Aamir Khan’s blend of classic and contemporary fashiongetty images
Aamir Khan’s dedication to authentic character portrayals getty images
Cinematic milestones reflected in Aamir Khan’s on-screen imagegetty images
A seated Jain enlightened teacherAshmolean Museum, University of Oxford
Ganesha from JavaAshmolean Museum, University of Oxford
A Chinese silk painting depicting the BuddhaAshmolean Museum, University of Oxford
ArdhanarishvaraAshmolean Museum, University of Oxford
Head of a grimacing yakshaAshmolean Museum, University of Oxford
NagaAshmolean Museum, University of Oxford
The Bimaran casketAshmolean Museum, University of Oxford
Hunia Chawla
A still from rehearsal
Them performing liveNajmuddin Saifuddin Qawwal Group
The cast of Marriage Material in key moments from the play, including Avita Jay, Kiran Landa, Omar Malik, Irfan Shamji and Anoushka Deshmukh
Sathnam Sanghera’s 'Marriage Material' adapted into bold new play on conformity
The play Marriage Material at the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre is Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti’s adaptation of Sathnam Sanghera’s novel of the same name, which first came out in 2013.
She is lucky to have Iqbal Khan direct Marriage Material. The play, a co-production with the Birmingham Rep, is set in the late 1960s. Mr and Mrs Bains (played by Jaz Singh Deol and Avita Jay) run a corner shop in Wolverhampton. Their younger daughter, Surinder (Anoushka Deshmukh), is 16, her sister Kamaljit (Kiran Landa) is just a bit older.
They have a neighbour, Patwant Dhanda (Irfan Shamji), who, as we shall soon see, is not a very pleasant man. In fact, he comes across just as racist as Enoch Powell, who represented Wolverhampton South West for the Tories from 1950 to 1974.
It will be recalled this was a time when Sikhs working on the buses were told they couldn’t wear a turban. That was a hard-fought battle that had to be won.
The Bains, meanwhile, simply want to get their girls married off.
Nothing new here, I thought.
What makes the tale different is that the plot twists and turns down the generations. Mr Dhanda, who has the makings of a paedophile, makes a pitch for one of the girls when Mr Bains dies early in the play. “A life with no man in the house is no life,” he informs the newly widowed Mrs Bains.
Mr Dhanda has a wife but she has returned to India so he considers himself to be a free man.
Surinder’s English teacher from school, Miss Flanagan (Celeste Dodwell), who is also head of the fifth form, tells Mrs Bains about her daughter: “I don’t want to embarrass you, but she is bright. Ridiculously bright.”
She adds: “Mrs Bains, I think it would be a pity if Surinder didn’t stay on at school.” The initial response from Mrs Bains is not encouraging: “Too much education makes people’s brains get mixed up, they don’t sleep at night…”
But she is finally persuaded that Surinder should be allowed to stay on for a while longer before being married off.
Mr Bains was very old school. When Surinder confides she would one day like to be “a somebody”, he is amused that “my daughter wants to be a somebody”.
“Like you,” she tells her father.
Mr Bains consoles his daughter: “We will find a somebody for you to marry.”
At the point of a possible marriage, however, Surinder is sweet-talked by chocolate salesman Jim Wilson (Tommy Belshaw) into running away with him. They share a love of literature, and he calls her “Sue Bains”. But the relationship does not end well.
Once she has left, Surinder is written off as “dead” by her family. The story that is circulated is that she was only 16 when she was killed in a car crash. That’s better than to let on that she ran off with a white man.
By the time she is reconciled with her sister towards the end of the play, a great deal has changed. Kamaljit married Tanvir Banga (Omar Malik), a young man who helped out in the Bains’ corner shop. When the two sisters meet again, Tanvir has also died. But he and Kamaljit had a son, Arjan Banga (Jaz Singh Deol doubles up for this role after the death of Mr Bains). He has come home after his father’s death to help his mother who is still running the family corner shop.
Meanwhile, Mr Dhanda’s business has prospered. He now has a son, Ranjit Dhanda (the role is taken by Omar Malik after Tanvir’s death), and he is nearly as unpleasant as his father.
Arjan has an English fiancée, Claire (Celeste Dodwell). In London, Arjan worked as a creative director. But after deciding to stay in Wolverhampton to help his mother, he decides he cannot marry Claire because she is white. In other words, Asians are not free of racism, either. Happily, at the end, the couple are reconciled.
As for Surinder, she parted company with Jim Wilson after realising he was all talk, depended on her for money and had failed to earn a penny from his literary pretensions. She had prospered, though, as a hotel owner and had been transformed in time into a well-groomed businesswoman. After being tracked down by Arjan, she decides to return to her roots in Wolverhampton and help Kamaljit run the family corner shop. Perhaps 50 years had passed during the passage of the play.
Being subjected to racism turned some Asians into racists themselves. The word goreh (white person) is repeatedly spat out with venom. Maybe it is worth remembering the play’s audience isn’t exclusively Asian – white folk are watching as well. And maybe some of the toilet humour ridiculing white people, which always makes me cringe, could be cut out.
In Sanghera’s novel, there is a quote from Enoch Powell’s speech in November 1968: “The West Indian or Asian does not, by being born in England, become an Englishman. In law he becomes a United Kingdom citizen by birth; in fact, he is a west Indian or an Asian still... he will by the very nature of things have lost one country without gaining another, lost one nationality without acquiring a new one. Time is running out against us and them. With the lapse of a generation or so we shall at last have succeeded – to the benefit of nobody – in reproducing ‘in England’s green and pleasant land’ the haunting tragedy of the US.”
In Marriage Material, where the acting is marvellous (apart from Mr Dhanda’s Indian mannerisms and accent being overdone) we do travel across a couple of generations.
There is a scene when Tanvir rejects Mr Dhanda’s vision of creating a little Punjab in Wolverhampton.
Mr Dhanda wants to take over the Bains’ corner shop and is putting pressure on Tanvir to sign the papers. He says: “In this country, money is the path to freedom.”
“Sign, please,” he instructs Tanvir. “We must make sure our children learn to behave nicely, according to our rules.”
He insists: “We maintain our identity so we can be ourselves.”
Tanvir disagrees: “We can be us here. With the goreh.”
Dhanda warns him: “Then we will be inviting chaos.”
Tanvir’s comment is telling: “You sound like Enoch.”
Kamaljit, who is expecting a baby with her husband Tanvir, says: “I would like my child to grow up knowing the history of the Gurus and to read the Granth Sahib. And to love their culture.”
Tanvir tells his wife: “I would like my child to go to the finest schools, to cheer for England in the World Cup and eat Yorkshire pudding on a Sunday.”
Kamaljit sets out a dream that has perhaps come to pass with many third and fourth generation British Asians: “Maybe our child can do both.” Much, much later, in a throwback to the past, we learn of Surinder’s O-level results: “Biology A, Chemistry A, English Language A, English Literature A, French A, History B, Latin A, Mathematics A, Physics A…”
Kamaljit tells her younger sister: “Never mind about the B.”
And that is quintessentially Asian. Their acting is outstanding.
Marriage Material is at the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre until June 21, and at the Birmingham Rep from June 25-July 5