Ravi Baldev Raj Chopra is the only son of B. R. Chopra and Prakash Chopra. He was born when his father was a leading film journalist, who later became an editor in pre-partition Pakistan. His parents reached India in the thick of the freedom struggle as refugees. His father, after continuing as a journalist for a while, started his struggle as a filmmaker and within a matter of years rose to become the name behind B. R. Films, one of the most prestigious Film Industry banners in India. Ravi who was educated in Bombay decided to follow in his fathers footsteps even while he was in college. His father gave him the freedom to join him as an assistant and learn the art of filmmaking the hard way. Ravi proved to be a quick learner. He kept making progress with every film his father made. He later had the opportunity to work with both his father and his uncle, Yash Chopra, who was also growing into a major force to reckon with. It was in the early seventies that he branched out as a director on his own with a film called 'Zameer', made under his father's banner with an almost unknown actor called Amitabh Bachchan and a very popular and successful actress Saira Banu. The film could not make the kind of impact it should have.
He then made what was called India's answer to Hollywood, 'The Burning Train' which failed to take off. He continued working with his father and faced his greatest challenge during the making of 'Mahabharat', the epic television serial which has gone down in the history of Indian television. He came back to films and made 'Bhaghban', a social family drama at a time when people were in no mood to accept such films since their minds seemed to have been corrupted by the kind of senseless entertainment offered to them in film after film.
"Bhaghban' proved to be one of the biggest hits which encouraged Ravi to make "Baabul', another family drama about a young widow and the fight of her father-in-law to deliver her from the plight she is placed in by tradition and customs. Ravi hopes to continue making films the way his father used to make them, with enlightenment blended with entertainment. Ravi also hopes to make other kinds of films and encourages new talent to keep his father's banner flying high. He is now joined by his two sons, Abhay and Kapil, who have been trained in film-making in the west but have their roots firmly in tact with their motherland. Ravi together with his sons have only one common goal and that is to see that the banner floated by B. R. Chopra more than sixty years ago keeps flying for a long long time.
