B. R. Chopra

Today is the Birthday of Baldev Raj Chopra or simply, B.R. Chopra, who was known for producing and directing Hindi films and television serials. He was born on 22 April 1914 in Ludhiana. The ace director, late Yash Chopra was his younger brother. His son is Ravi Chopra, and nephews are Aditya Chopra, film director and Uday Chopra, actor. He did M.A. in English literature from University of Punjab, Lahore. In 1944 his career began as a film journalist with Cine Herald, which was a film monthly published in Lahore. Subsequently, he took over the magazine and ran it until 1947. Chopra began working on a film in the same year titled, Chandni Chowk. The film's production was almost set to start but at the same time, riots took place in Lahore and B R Chopra, had to leave the city alongwith his family.

He shifted his base to Delhi post the partition of India and Pakistan in 1947. He, then, moved again to Mumbai and worked on his first production Karwat in 1948. Unfortunately, the film was a failure at the box office. In 1951, he made his directorial debut with the film, Afsana that had Ashok Kumar in a double role. The movie went on to become a huge hit and gained good recognition to the Celebrity. He then made Chandni Chowk in 1954, casting Meena Kumari in the lead. He established his own film production house named, B.R. Films in 1955 and Naya Daur was the first film to come under this banner in 1957.

This film had Dilip Kumar and Vyjayantimala and became a golden jubilee hit. B.R. Chopra was the key person in shaping up the career of singer Mahendra Kapoor by giving him opportunities to sing in most of his movies. He directed and produced several films like Kanoon, Gumrah, Humraz, Karm, Pati Patni Aur Woh, The Burning Train, Baghban and Babul and produced the popular television series, Mahabharat. His awards are his Achievements and he received many in his film career which include National film awards, Filmfare awards, Dadasaheb Phalke Award, Kalakar awards and others. On 5th November 2008, he passed away at the age of 94 in Mumbai. Taurus was the Zodiac Sign of B.R. Chopra. As a Taurean, he was strong, mentally quick and perfectionist. Sometimes, he was impatient and stubborn about the life's perspective. He used to act only after taking wise decisions, whether it is a matter related to personal or professional life. I shared Babita Kapoor's horoscope.