One of India's most respected film personalities, Baldev Raj Chopra (better known as B.R. Chopra) has been an architect of what is now known as the golden era of the Bollywood industry. Having converted offbeat stories into immortal classics like _Waqt (1965)_qv and _Naya Daur (1957)_qv, he commands high regard in the world film fraternity.B.R. Chopra was born in Lahore, 1914, to an accountant in the PWD administration of the British Punjab administration. After graduating, he did his M.A. degree in English Literature from Lahore University. Having a deep-rooted fascination for films, he switched over from a higher education to film journalism, surprising his family. He began his celluloid career writing and editing film reviews for the Cine Herald journal.When the partition of India occurred in 1947, B.R. became a victim of communal riots. His house having been burnt down, he migrated to Mumbai to live up to his dreams. In 1949, he produced his first film _Karwat (1949)_qv. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a flop. In 1951, he tried again as the producer and director of the film _Afsana (1951)_qv - and hit gold. His movie, a tale of mistaken identity with Ashok Kumar in a double role, was a runaway hit and went on to celebrate its silver jubilee.Encouraged by this success, B.R. formed his production company, B.R. Films, in 1955, and started off on a roll with the release of Ek Hi Raasta (1956), a drama about widow remarriage. He churned out a string of successful films, the most notable being _Naya Daur (1957)_qv, _Sadhana (1958)_qv, _Kanoon (1960)_qv, _Gumrah (1963)_qv and _Humraaz (1967)_qv. He also gave his younger brother, Yash Chopra , his first directorial opportunity with the box-office hit _Dhool Ka Phool (1959)_qv and in the subsequent years Yash made four more films for B.R., including _Waqt (1965)_qv and _Ittefaq (1969)_qv.B.R. has always endeavored to make socially relevant films, which at the same time try to cater to popular sentiment. For instance, Naya Daur (1957) told the story of a traditional rural community threatened with modernism and mechanism; B.R. perceives mechanism as evil and has the protagonist, a horse carriage rider, defeat an automobile in a race! B.R. has also made films that were regarded as ahead of their time - _Kanoon (1960)_qv was a courtroom drama without any songs at all (music being essential of all Hindi films, this was a novel technique); _Gumrah (1963)_qv told the tale of a woman resuming her affair after marriage; and _Ittefaq (1969)_qv showed the heroine as a murderess of her own husband!B.R. continued to make films into the 1970s and 1980s, and met success with _Insaf Ka Tarazu (1980)_qv, focusing on the issue of rape, and _Nikaah (1982)_qv, a Muslim love triangle. His son Ravi did try to keep the banner going but none of the films did well except for _Aaj Ki Awaz (1984)_qv, another courtroom tale, and the family epic Baghban (2003). However, B.R. Films turned to television in 1985 and made several successful television programs, the most successful of the being the serial _Mahabharat (1988)_qv, based on the Hindu epic. Perhaps the most popular serial in the history of Indian cinema, it entered the Guinness Book of World Records by registering 96% world viewership. In 1999, B.R. was awarded the Dadasaheb Phalke Award for his contribution to Indian Cinema.It was another triumph for the movie mogul...

Elder brother of Yash Chopra and Dharam Chopra .

Father of Ravi Chopra

Member of the jury at the Berlin International Film Festival in 1963