‘Prem naam hai mera..’: Bollywood ‘bad man’ who turned his name into a catchphrase

New Delhi, Sep 23 (SocialNews.XYZ) His lustful gaze, his lustful grin and a voice that could range from silken menace to a cajoling plea were all he needed and no woman who saw his sly gaze was safe. With the havoc he wreaked on screen, Prem Chopra had only to mention his name to establish his notoriety.

In “Bobby” (1973), in which Raj Kapoor gave him a cameo but did not reveal its exact extent, Chopra was dismayed to discover that he had delivered only one line of dialogue — half a dozen words.

But those six words – “Prem naam hai mera, Prem Chopra,” as he clutched the arm of the runaway young heroine – immortalized him in Indian films and popular culture. As Chopra recalled in his first-person biography, the dialogue “which I was not happy with, made me a brand for life. Overnight, it became my trademark, synonymous with me.”

More than thirty years later, it resurfaced in Bollywood — by Ranbir Kapoor in “Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani”, Ajay Devgn in “All the Best: Fun Begins” (both 2009) and Chopra reprised it in a flashback sequence in “Golmaal 3” (2010).

And in his heyday, Chopra, who turns 89 today (September 23), once made headlines for delaying a train to Delhi — over the same dialogue.

He recalls riding a train back from Dalhousie to Delhi after filming for “Kala Sona” (1975), “when the ticket inspector and the rest of the staff recognised me” and “must have informed the railway authorities in advance that I was on the train, because when we reached the station, there was a huge crowd shouting for me”.

“The TT asked me to come out and wave to the crowd. When I stepped out, they just wanted me to say that one line… The train stopped at every station until we reached Delhi, and I repeated the performance at every stop. The next day, a Delhi newspaper headline said that the train from Dalhousie to Delhi was delayed by an hour because of Prem Chopra.”

But Chopra, who like many other star-obsessed youngsters dreamed of becoming a hero, using his dashing good looks, fair skin and theater acting experience to do so, found that fate had a different path for him.

After his first foray into the Bombay film world failed in 1955, he returned in 1960 and became a hero – in the Punjabi film “Chaudhary Karnail Singh” (1960), but he never got a big break. In the meantime, on his father’s advice, he looked for a job and eventually landed a supervisor in the distribution department of the Times of India, responsible for East India.

It seemed his luck was changing when legendary director Mehboob Khan offered him a key role in his next film, but it was stalled due to his illness. Meanwhile, Chopra accepted a negative role in “Woh Kaun Thi” (1964) and the success of the supernatural thriller sealed his fate.

An angry Mehboob Khan told him that he had been impatient and would always remain a villain. However, an assistant to a major studio executive asked Chopra if he wanted to become a popular actor, earn money and have a house and a car. Since he said yes to all three questions, the actor was advised to forget his heroic ambitions and remain a villain.

He took the advice and flourished, getting to play loose – or worse – with Hema Malini, Nutan, Asha Parekh, Sadhana, Saira Bano, Sharmila Tagore, Dimple Kapadia, Zeenat Aman, Rekha and others. On the other hand, it also meant getting thrashed by every male star of his time – Manoj Kumar, Sunil Dutt, Dilip Kumar, Dev Anand, Rajendra Kumar, Shammi Kapoor, Shashi Kapoor, Dharmendra, Rajesh Khanna, Amitabh Bachchan, Jeetendra, Rajinikanth, Rishi Kapoor…

Positive roles like the brave younger son of Raja Porus in “Sikander-e-Azam” and the fearless revolutionary Sukhdev in “Shaheed” (1965) were overshadowed by the heartless lover of “Kati Patang” (1970) or the headstrong western child Omkara of “Purab Aur Paschim” (1970), the criminal mastermind Drona in “Hare Raama Hare Krishna” (1971), Shambhu Singh of “Kranti” (1981), the scheming businessman of “Trishul” (1978) or “Dostana” (1980), the money-hungry mine owner Seth Dhanraj in “Kala Patthar” (1979) and more.

Somewhere in the early 90s, he got tired of being beaten up and followed predecessors like Pran in character roles. The truck driver in “Bunty and Babli” (2005), the grandfather in “Rocket Singh” (2009) and the mafia boss in “Agent Vinod” (2012) are some examples.

Chopra has a unique track record: he has worked with the entire Kapoor family, spanning four generations – from Prithviraj to Kareena and Ranbir, and both generations of Bachchans, Dutts, Deols and both Khannas (Rajesh and Vinod). But he still hasn’t said goodbye to the camera.

(Vikas Datta can be reached at [email protected])

Source: IANS

About Gopi

Gopi Adusumilli is a programmer. He is the Editor of SocialNews.XYZ and President of AGK Fire Inc.

He enjoys designing websites, developing mobile applications and publishing news articles on current events from various verified news sources.

When it comes to writing, he enjoys writing about current world politics and Indian movies. His future plans include developing SocialNews.XYZ into a News website that has no bias or judgement towards anyone.

He can be reached at [email protected]