Ravi Chopra (27 September 1946 – 12 November 2014) was an Indian film and television director, producer and screenwriter.

Early life

Chopra was the son of producer and director B.R.Chopra and nephew of

Yash Chopra Yash Raj Chopra (27 September 1932 21 October 2012) was an Indian film director and film producer who worked in Hindi cinema. The founding chairman of the film production and distribution company Yash Raj Films, Chopra was the recipient of ...

Aditya Chopra Aditya Chopra (; born 21 May 1971) is an Indian filmmaker, studio executive, producer and film distributor who mainly works in Indian cinema. Currently serving as the Chairman and Managing Director of Yash Raj Films, founded by his father Ya ...

and

Uday Chopra Uday Raj Chopra (born 5 January 1973) is an Indian actor, film producer, screenwriter and assistant director in Bollywood. He is the son of the late filmmaker Yash Chopra and brother of Aditya Chopra. His sister-in-law is the actress Rani Muk ...

are his cousins.

Career

Film career

Chopra started his career assisting his father B.R. Chopra in films like, '' Dastaan'' (1972) and '' Dhund'' (1973). He also assisted his uncle Yash Chopra in '' Ittefaq'' (1969). Eventually, he made his independent directorial debut with '' Zameer'' (1975), produced under the family banner, B. R. Films. In 1980, he directed the ensemble disaster film ''

The Burning Train ''The Burning Train'' is a 1980 Indian action thriller disaster film, produced by B. R. Chopra under the B. R. Films banner and directed by Ravi Chopra. The film featured a huge all-star cast, featuring Dharmendra, Hema Malini, Vinod Khanna, ...

'', which over the years is considered a cult classic. Other films he directed included '' Mazdoor'' (1983), Aaj Ki Awaaz, '' Dehleez'' (1986),

Pratigyabadh ''Pratigyabadh'' is a 1991 Indian Hindi-language film directed by Ravi Chopra. It stars Mithun Chakraborty, Kumar Gaurav, Beena Banerjee, Neelam Kothari and Sunil Dutt. Plot ''Pratigyabadh'' is the story of a simple man ( Mithun Chakraborty) ...

, ''Kal Ki Awaz'' (1992). Then he, along with his father, directed TV series Mahabharat (1988–89) Since 2006, the only movies Ravi produced after his father's death was '' Bhoothnath'' (2008) and '' Bhoothnath Returns'' (2013). Ravi Chopra was served with a legal notice in 2009 by

20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Dis ...

, which charged that his upcoming movie ''

Banda Yeh Bindaas Hai ''Banda Yeh Bindaas Hai'' () is an unreleased Indian Hindi-language comedy film directed by Ravi Chopra, starring Govinda, Salman Khan, Tabu, Lara Dutta, and Boman Irani. It is a remake of the American film ''My Cousin Vinny'' (1992). Cast ...

'' blatantly plagiarized the 1992 comedy My Cousin Vinny. Chopra and the production company, Mumbai-based BR Films, denied the charges in court in May 2009; the movie's release was to be delayed until June 2009 by order of the Bombay High Court. Fox sought damages of $1.4 million; this was the first time a Bollywood filmmaker was taken to court by a Hollywood company over the remaking of a film. Fox had given Chopra permission "to make a film loosely based on the Oscar-winning movie" but concluded the final product was a "substantial reproduction" of the original. The film has remained unreleased even after Ravi Chopra's death in 2014.

Television career

Ravi directed the highly successful television serial ''

Mahabharat The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; sa, महाभारतम्, ', ) is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India in Hinduism, the other being the '' Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the struggle between two groups of cousins in the Kuru ...

'', which aired during 1988–1990, and the television mini-series, ''Ramayan'', which was aired in 2002. He also directed mythological shows like Vishnu Puran and Ma Shakti. His TV series Aap Beeti was one of the most popular TV show on Doordarshan National in the early 2000s.

Death

On 23 October 2012, he was diagnosed with a severe lung ailment and was discharged from Breach Candy hospital after a week. "He was discharged from hospital on October 26," hospital sources said, without going into details. He was being treated for lung cancer at CMC Vellore. Chopra died on 12 November 2014 at Breach Candy Hospital in Mumbai where he had been admitted a few days earlier for a lung ailment. He was 68 years old, and survived by his wife and two children.

Filmography

Films

Television shows

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Chopra, Ravi 1946 births 2014 deaths 20th-century Indian film directors 21st-century Indian film directors Deaths from lung disease Film directors from Mumbai Film producers from Mumbai Hindi-language film directors Indian television directors