Veteran Bollywood actor of yesteryear and also popular villain, Prem Chopra, who made his mark in the 60s and 70s in the film industry, said he is happy playing the bad boy on-screen. Very recently on the occasion of his book launch he said, “I was an honest and hardworking actor. I am happy with the kind of work I have done and have no regrets. I am happy being the villain”
The book has been written on him by Rakita, his daughter. She is married to Rahul Nanda, an award winning film publicity designer. The 230 page book chronicles the life as well as career of Prem Chopra – one of the most loved villains of the industry. The 78 year old legend even delivered his eternally famous dialogue “Premnaam hai mera…. Prem Chopra”. This famous line also has been used as the title of the book.
During the book launch the actor recollected his college days when he fell in love with acting while acting in theatre groups.He had won a few prizes and accolades even then.He did plays in Hindi, Urdu, Punjabi and English during his B.A which made him realise that he wanted to do films but when he broke this to his father, he refused but later gave in to his son’s determination. He is one of the very few artists who have ruled the industry for half a century spanning from the black and white era to the new millennium.
Once he reached Bombay he worked at the circulation department of Times of India as a circulation inspector for Bengal Orissa and Madhya Pradesh. He travelled for 20days a month for his job and the rest 10 he would dedicate to finding acting jobs. Although Mehboob had met him in his studio and decided to cast him as a hero, fate intervened and Chopra ended up doing the role of a villain for Raj Khosla’s film ‘Who KaunThi’. Since then he had been typecast as a villain. Later on he went on to do more roles as a villain in hits like ‘Upkar’ ‘TeesriManzil’ and many more.
The book contains many anecdotes from the actor’s life. Contrary to his characters in the reel life, he is a very soft-spoken and calm person in real life. He is a very devoted husband and the doting father to three daughters. The book was released in the presence of family and friends along with a host of well-known faces of the industry. Among those who attended were veteran actors Amitabh Bachchan, Anil Kapoor, Akshay Kumar, Manoj Kumar, Jeetendra, RandhirKapoor, Rishi Kapoor and other celebrities like VidhuVinod Chopra, Rakeysh Om PrakashMehra, RakeshRoshan, R Balki, and Abbas Mustan among others.
Amitabh Bachchan was quoted as saying “We have shared some wonderful moments together. I loved working with him. He is a good actor.”
While Manoj Kumar said his personal belief was that Chopra’s talent was not tapped properly. Akshay Kumar wished that his daughter would one day write a book on him. Anil Kapoor too hailed the book.