B.R.Chopra- A Legend Ahead of his time.
My first B.R.Chopra movie was Dhund. I was just a kid of 12 that time, when i saw it on video. Honestly i had no clue about the movie, except the fact that it starred Zeenat Aman, on whom i was having a major crush( matter of fact I still do). The starting scene, was pretty much eerie too, showing off mist covered landscape, and Naveen Nischol walking to a bungalow, and then seeing Danny’s dead body. It made me think, this was some kind of horror movie. But egged on by my friend, i kept watching, and a couple of reels later, was totally drawn into the movie, right up to the ending.
I would rate Dhund as one of the best thrillers ever made in Indian cinema. Dhund is basically the story of Rani( Zeenat Aman) , who claims to have murdered her abusive husband Thakur Ranjit Singh( Danny), to Shekar( Navin Nischol). The suspicion is however on her lover Suresh( Sanjay Khan). The movie is also noted for a brilliant performance by Danny, as the abusive, crippled husband, one of the best baddie acts on screen. For a movie of the 70’s, Dhund was something way ahead of it’s times. Tightly scripted, a screenplay which is razor sharp, use of intercutting flashbacks and a suspense that keeps you guessing till the end, this was as perfect a murder mystery as ever. It makes me cringe when i see stuff like 36 China Town pass off as murder mysteries.
But then as a director, i would always rate B.R.Chopra up there along with Bimal Roy, Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Raj Kapoor, Guru Dutt, Vijay Anand as one of the finest. He was a master of shot taking, and narration. His movies never went overboard, or melodramatic, and most of them boasted of a great musical score. One of the few very directors who managed to balance commercial success with critical acclaim. Most of his movies had the common features- a degree of social realism, good musical score, excellent performances and yes a script.
In the “Boy Meets Girl in Kashmir/Simla” candyfloss era of 60’s movies, he stood out with movies that dealt with varied themes like infidelity( Gumrah),
legal thrillers( Kanoon), . In fact both Kanoon and Gumrah were movies that were well ahead of their times. If not for anything else, B.R.Chopra should be in the Hall of Fame, just for 1961’s Kanoon. During a German film festival, one of the movie makers remarked that Indian movies were basically song and dance affairs, this motivated him to do Kanoon a movie with no songs. In fact making a movie without songs in the 60’s and that too, casting Rajendra Kumar, by then famous for his romantic image, as the main lead, was like shooting yourself. Kanoon was another exemplary thriller, which had Rajendra Kumar as a lawyer, who suspects his prospective father in law, Judge Badri Prasad( Ashok Kumar) of murder, and defends an innocent person accused of it. The movie has a totally Hitchcockian feel to it, as it moves along with enough twists and turns till its ending. Splendid performance from Ashok Kumar as usual, and this was one of the few ocassions, where i could actually tolerate Rajendra Kumar on screen.
In fact Dada Moni, seemed to give his best for B.R.Chopra, as can be seen in Gumrah(1963). Ashok Kumar plays a widower, who is married to his wife’s sister, Meena( Mala Sinha), after his wife dies in an accident. Meena however meets her former lover Rajendra( Sunil Dutt), and they continue to have an affair. Neena however has to deal with a blackmailer Leela( Shashikala), who threatens to spill her secrets as also the fact that Rajendra is just playing around with her. In case if you are wondering, yes this movie was remade as tha turgid Dharmesh Darshan flick Bewafa, with Akshay Kumar playing Sunil Dutt’s role, and Anil Kapoor playing Ashok Kumar’s role. Only difference is that Sunil Dutt’s character is far more grey in Gumraah.
While i have not seen Sadhna, i did hear that it is one of his best movies. However Naya Daur in 1957 is a classic by itself. The original inspiration for Lagaan, it is totally epic in its style and treatment. Dilip Kumar, plays Shankar a tangewalla, who is best buddies with Krishna(Ajit) and lives in a village. When their owner’s son Kundan( Jeevan) wants to modernize things, and introduce a bus service, the tangewallas are up in arms, as this would affect their livelihood. Kundan then puts a condition, that the tangewallas could continue their living, provided they are able to beat his bus in a race. Shankar accepts the bet, and movie is about how he succeeds finally. There are many similiarities between Naya Daur and Lagaan.
The track of Krishna falling out with Shankar, and collaborating with the villian, is similiar to the track between Aamir Khan and Yashpal Sharma in Lagaan.
The romance between Aamir Khan and Gracy Singh in Lagaan, has shades of the Dilip Kumar-Vyjayanthimala love track in Naya Daur.
Dastan in 1972, starring Dilip Kumar and Sharmila Tagore, is again another underrated movie. Dilip Kumar plays a lawyer Vishnu Sahay, who finds himself a murder suspect, and what is worse is told that his real name is Anil Kumar. To make things worse, when he goes back, he finds that his wife Mala(Bindu) is having an affair with Rajan( Prem Chopra). Things take an even curious turn, when he is informed that he is a Diwan, and he meets another girl Meena( Sharmila Tagore). This is pretty much a Hitchcockian style thriller, with plenty of twists and turns.
In fact infidelity and intrigue seemed to be B.R.Chopra’s favorite themes, as he again explored the same in Humraaz(1967). Here we again have Sunil Dutt playing a stage actor Kumar , who is married to a wealthy girl Meena( Vimmi). Things take a curious turn, when Meena keeps meeting a stranger, and is killed. The suspect could be Meena’s former love Rajesh( Raaj Kumar) with whom she had a secret marriage, and also bore a child out of wedlock. Or could it be the mysterious S.N.Sinha, whom the investigating officer feels is Kumar himself? The movie has some great performances from Sunil Dutt as Kumar, Raaj Kumar as Rajesh and Balraj Sahni as Inspector Ashok.
In fact i think thats what B.R.Chopra’s strength was, most of his movie had strong storylines, much different from the standard Bollywood stuff. He was one of the few originals, who was genuinely hatke, without making a song or dance about it. In 1978, he directed one of Hindi cinema’s best comedies, Pati, Patni Aur Woh, revolving around the idea of the 7 year itch. In fact he starts off the movie in a very novel way, showing the Adam-Eve story, and then depicting that Adam and Eve on Earth are now Ranjeet( Sanjeev Kumar) and Sharada( Vidya Sinha), who meet, fall in love and get married. It seems happily ever after, until Ranjeet gets the 7 year itch, and begins to fall for his pretty secretary Nirmala( Ranjeeta). One of Sanjeev Kumar’s best comic performances, some of the scenes would leave you with splits. For me the best was in the climax, however, when Sanjeev, after all that has passed, again begins to flirt with his new secretary, played by Parveen Babi in a cameo role. Another superb comic scene is Sanjeev waking up the neighbours, with his singing, just in order to know the time.
To B.R.Chopra also goes the credit of directing two of the best Muslim socials, Nikaah and Tawaif, though have not seen the later. Honestly speaking, i was never much a fan of the Muslim social genre, too long, too wordy, and most of the language would just go over my head. But Nikaah was one Muslim social i really liked. I recall having the casette in our home, and we would play it again and again. One reason, why Nikaah works is that, B.R.Chopra, like most of his movies, makes this a social commentary on the triple Talaaq( in fact the movie’s original title was Talaaq, Talaaq, Talaaq) and its misuse. Quite radical for those times. Nikaah introduced Pakistani actress singer Salma Agha, as Nilofer, who endures, a loveless marriage with Wasim( Deepak Parasher), a rich Nawab as well as a succesful architect. During an argument, in a fit of anger, Wasim, utters the triple Talaaq, and divorces Niloufer.
Haider( Raj Babbar), a magazine editor and poet, offers Niloufer a job. Haider who was in love with Niloufer during her college days, still loves her, and slowly she finds herself getting attracted to him. Wasim on the other hand is repentant about what he has done, and wants Niloufer back. The movie again had a great performance from Raj Babbar, while this must be the only time, when i could see Deepak Parasher and Salma Agha on screen, actually acting. The movie was also famous for it’s hit score. The appeal of Nikaah lies in the fact that B.R.Chopra gives a very contemporary look to the movie, and ensures that the actors don’t end up as caricatures. While every one praised Insaaf Ka Tarazu, to be honest i did not like the movie much, just seemed a typical zakhmee aurat taking revenge kind.
It is quite coincidental that both Mahendra Kapoor and B.R. Chopra passed away around the same time. For Mahendra Kapoor sang some of his best songs for B.R.Chopra movies.
In fact Mahendra Kapoor-B.R.Chopra-Ravi, was one of the best combinations, with some wonderful songs like “Chalo Ek Baar Phir Se”, ” Kisi Pathhar Ki Moorat Se”, ” Tum Agar Saath Dene Ka Vaada Karo”, ” Neele Gagan Ke Tale”, ” Beete Hue Lamhon” to name a few. Of course the O.P.Nayyar score for Naya Daur, would be forever evegreen. Take your pick from the patriotic “yeh desh hai Veer javanon ki” to the frisky tangewala song “Maang ke saath tumhara” to the inspirational “saathi haath badana”. I would like to publish a separate post later about these songs in more detail.
And finally i would forever remember B.R.Chopra, for making my Sunday mornings worthwhile with the TV version of Mahabharat. Critics might have derided it for its tacky effects and hammy acting, but as far i was concerned, i could care no less. For me Mahabharat is something close to my heart, and i would give all kudos to B.R.Chopra, for the way he conceptualized and bought the epic alive on the small screen. I just loved the title song, as well as the shloka at the end of each episode.
Tags: Ashok Kumar, B.R.Chopra, Deepak Parasher, Dilip Kumar, Kanoon, Mahabharat, mahendra kapoor, Naya Daur, Nikaah, Pati Patni Aur Woh, Raj Babbar, raj kumar, Ravi, Salma Agha, sunil dutt
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Partho Sen-Gupta
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“Naya Daur” is my faurite Film (not the color one)
and Like the way B.R. Chopra movies open ,
with Shloka from geeta
“Karmanye Vadhikaraste Ma faleshu Kadachan”
You are right when you say as a director he was in top 7 best ever in hindi commercial cinema.Seen most of his films and I think he was a great visionary and wayy ahead of his time.My personal favourite is Humraaz though!!!Sunil Dutt and Ashok Kumar gave their best performances in his films.Among the actresses Mala Sinha was in top form in his early films.But the winner in all his films was the subject..
BR Chopra’s Naya Daur is one of the best Hindi films ever. Superb story, terrific performances and great music. I’ve been lucky to see the b/w version on screen in a matinee repeat run in Pune as a kid. And was as wow then as am now when i see it on dvd.
I was dubbing for Johnny Gaddaar (with Dharamji) in BR Studios and the studio was just next to his house. I was really keen to just go and say hello and meet him but didnt dare ask as i heard he was not keeping too well.
But just being in the dubbing studio felt good. IT’s got photos and stills of all their productions.
I collect posters i asked the staff people whether i can get a copy of some BR FIlms posters/booklets. I got half a dozen terrific posters, some terrific stills and booklets. Dhool ka Phool, Ittefaq and some more.
Dont know if anyone here has seen ITTEFAQ but it was a spine chilling thriller. Produced by BR FIlms and directed by Yash CHopra and starring Rajesh Khanna (even before Aradhana, I think) and Nanda in a superlative performance.
I still remember my cousin sister had seen the movie and i as a half pants kid got thrilled and terrified just with her narration. she was couple of years older than me, and we were alone in the house that night. I wanted to use the loo and was so terrified that i asked her to stand outside the door and keep talking to me.
The BR studio staff also gave me a copy of a b/w photograph which is right now on my softboard. It’s a pic of K Asif, BR Chopra, Mehboob Khan, Raj Kapoor and Bimal Roy at a function. They are all in fine suits and obviously at some important function.
Today, BR saab left us to join his friends.
Sriram, Ittefaq “is” a spine chiller. BR repeated his experiement that he made in an earlier movie – Kanoon. The experiement was No Songs! BR had an interesting anecdote about Kanoon. He walked to theater where Kanoon was released and went to the pan shop outside the theater. He asked the panwallah “How is the picture?” The pan wallah not realizing,he is talking to BR, said “Picture nahin chalegi. No songs in it. Bakwas”… silently BR went walked away. Two weeks later he went to the same paan shop and asked “How is the picture?”… the panwallah promptly replied “SUPERHIT! I saw it and was stunned!”
I remember watching Naya Daur on DD National as a 4-5 year-old kid in the mid-eightees at a neighbour’s place (Younus uncle in Vasai’s Manickpur)at night fighting sleep. The feeling is still etched in my memory. It was one of the first films i have seen. Since then i must have seen more than 10,000 films till now including world cinema and i put Naya daur as one of the best films in the world. Later i learnt about the legend who made such great films. The film world will miss him.
Hi oz,
You know, if ITTEFAQ was made today, there’d probably be an item title song. Something like Zindagi ittefaq hai, which is incidentally from BR Chopra’s Aadmi aur Insaan. Great song of course.
@Sriram,
I can totally visualize what you just said!!!
a great legend…
i am yet to watch most of his movies….but his teleserial Mahabharat was according to me one of the finest….
was glued to it in my growing up years….
sunday mornings were reserved….
sadly mahabharat has been reinvented in the K format and no one rightly cares to watch it…
he televised such a mammoth epic with such great aplomb……
we were fortunate to watch it in the 90’s…..
but later generations are and wont be that lucky…..
coz no one would telecast an old serial..even if they do no one would watch it……
and how many people would actually read the mahabharata ?
ITTEFAQ was great stuff,
yesterday “KAUN” was running on one of the TV channel ,
and I remember ITTEFAQ,.
…
@Ratnakar
I love those Poster you post
watched kanoon a few months back courtesy of RK’s post..
http://passionforcinema.com/kanoon-1960-first-songless-hindi-film-by-br-chopra/
and have now put ittefaq and dhundh on my list.. another post on dhundh by RK..
http://passionforcinema.com/dhundh1973-a-murder-mystery-with-super-class-music/
Ittefaq was produced by BR Chopra but directed by Yash Chopra
Shekhar @ 9:
You beat me to it with the comparison between Ittefaq and Kaun.
And Naya Daur – well…who can forget India’s first “sports” movie?
RIP Chopra sahab!!
By the way, how come nobody mentioned Waqt? It was produced by BR Chopra and directed by Yash Chopra.
@ Shekar, yes ur right Naya Daur is a classic for sure. And that shloka wud always be an memory for me.
@ Anindya: One of the top directors for sure. Humraaz was a really good movie. I think it was again made into some crap flick called Imtihaan i think with Sunny Deol, Raveena Tandon and Saif Ali Khan. Humraaz had really good songs too and i liked both Sunil Dutt and Raj Kumar in it.
@ Sriram
It is a pleasure to have you on my comments space, Sir. I just loved your Johnny Gaddar. Naya Daur was a classic all the way. Great performances from Dilip Kumar, Ajit, Vyjayanthimala, Jeevan. In fact one more thing i liked about B.R.Chopra’s movies was that the ladies had strong characters. For instance in Naya Daur, when Dilip Kumar tells Vyjayanthimala, that if he had known that his friend Ajit loved her too, he would have given her up, and she retorts back saying, don’t think so lowly of me.
Or in the climax in Nikaah, when Salma Agha, asks both Raj Babbar and Deepak Parashar, whether they really consider her feelings at all. Ittefaq was a great movie, in fact i wanted to write about Yash’s movies under the BR banner, but could not due to lack of space.
Yash Chopra made some of his best movies Ittefaq, Waqt, Dhool Ka Phool, Dharamputra under the B.R. banner. Aaradhana had already released, and Rajesh Khanna was already a superstar by then with Aaradhana and Do Raaste, it was very brave of him to act in a songless movie like Ittefaq.
In fact even during his superstardom days, Rajesh Khanna acted in some real off beat stuff like Ittefaq, Aavishkar.
Oz, there is one more anecdote about Kanoon too. BR had been to a movie festival in Germany, and one of the delegates there, remarked what is there to see in Indian movies, except songs? That remark motivated him to make Kanoon.
@ Jai
Yeah watched Naya Daur, many times in my home. My father is a hard core fan of Dilip Kumar, and this was one of his favorite movies. It is surely one of the finest movies made to date in Indian cinema.
Some of my friends found the message Luddite, but in reality, it was a plea to be more sensitive to the people whose lives are affected by industrialization.
@ ashwin
Mahabharat would forever be special to me. I think that was the last time i watched every episode of a TV serial, without missing even one. For me i just loved the shlokas at end of each episode.
And to date Mukesh Khanna as Bhishma, Puneet Issar as Duryodhan, Arjun as Arjun, Nitish Bharadwaj as Krishna, Rupa Ganguly as Draupadi wud be forever etched in my mind.
In fact for me the battle scenes and graphics were way ahead of their times.
@ Shekar, well i love those old movie posters, brings back childhood memories to me
.
Karthik, do watch out for Dhund, it is one of the best thrillers made in Indian cinema so far.
Honestly i cringe when Abbas Mustan call their movies as thrillers. None of their works would ever even come close to Dhund or Kanoon.
Loved Dhund, Waqt, Ittefaq, Naya Daur as a kid. As you say, a director ahead of his times. May his soul rest in peace.
BR was a great filmmaker there is no doubt about that.But I don’t think that Mahabharatha was well made inspite of its big budget.Since it was Mahabharatha and there were no rival
channels it was a huge success.I found bharath ej khoj and
chanakya more interesting from that period
Abbas Mastan movies are copied from foreign movies and are also poorly made.In fact if u look at standard of thrillers are poor in Hindi cinema when compared to Malayalam and Tamil movies
I found Johny Gaddar and Manorama Six feet under to be two good thrillers
Hi all,
Of course BR was way ahead of his time. His movies had some strong message to give, and look at the gamut of topics he covered in his movies.
Sadly Yash Chopra just fell away after splitting with his elder brother. Not that his movies were bad but they didn’t have the same sensibilities like Dhool Ka Phool etc etc.
but I digress. Back to BR while all of his movies had as far as I can tell original plots, Insaaf Ka Taraazu was an almost frame by frame lift of the English flick, Lipstick. It starred the two Hemmingway sisters, Mariel and the other one in the roles played by Zeenath and Padmini Kolhapure.
And funnily I caught Lipstick only because it was released in the you-know-what kind of theater with a poster that promised a lot of other things but never got around to showing it. :( Gimme my money back!!!!Ah those were the days, cutting school/college and heading off to those seedy cinema houses.
Also if I am not mistaken Burning Train was also a BR production. dunno about the direction though. Again harking back to the disaster movies that Hollywood churned out in the late 70s and early 80s.