Mere maamooli mukut mein ek bahut hi anmol ratan ....Dr b r chopra

Ali Peter John 

I find it extremely difficult to believe how some great people have come into my life and made it rich in many ways , in fact  richer than some of the richest men in the world. I sometimes even feel like challenging the most powerful and wealthiest people anywhere to have the kind of "wealth":I have in my unique treasure house. 

Like, can anyone have a friend like the great Dr Baldev Raj ( B. R.) Chopra, undoubtedly one of the greatest filmmaker in India and even anywhere where films are made and talked about ? 

I had just joined "Screen" and had started writing some important and some not so important articles. My editor had asked me to meet Dr Chopra and I was literally terrified about meeting a man who I had only heard of but who I knew because of his formidable reputation as a filmmaker. I had to meet him in his office at Anand Bhavan and the first thing Dr Chopra said was, "I too started my life as a film journalist. I have been reading some of your articles in Screen     and I must say that you write very well".

It was a compliment I had received for the first time and that too from a giant of a man like Dr Chopra. It had given me a big boost and had added layers of confidence to a newcomer like me.

That first meeting led to hundreds of other meetings with the man who had given the film industry the kind of reputation very few had, especially   at a time when it was the done thing to look down on the film industry and everything associated with it. It was during these meetings that Dr Chopra that I learned lessons about Indian Cinema and lessons about how to be a good human being which according to Dr Chopra was much more important than being anything great in any field of life.

A time came when our meetings grew into a weekly affair and we had grand lunch sessions in his office where thare was a sumptuous spread of lunch together with some hectic discussions about films, politics and other interesting subjects  and Dr Chopra always had his team of writer's with him during lunch time and among the regulars were Dr Rahi Massoom Raza,  Satish Bhatnager, Dr Achala Nagar, and Ram Govind and he also had his only son, director Ravi Chopra with his wife, Renu who looked after the arrangements for the lunch and also took part in the discussions and who was a favourite of Dr Chopra who called her " beti. 

Dr Chopra was always extra kind to me and even used to ask his wife, Prakash to make a special dish for me. He once asked me to bring my three year old daughter Swati to his office and when we reached his office, he had. brought a very expensive dress for her and was so accurate about the size Swati would need that the dress fitted her to a tee and Swati did not part with that dress for several years. 

He made it a point to let me be one of the first to know about the new films he was planning to make and I feel privileged to say that I was one of the first to know about his ambition to make Mahabharat, the serial which went on to make history. I was also privileged to listen to Dr Chopra telling me the story of a film he wanted to make with his friend Dilip Kumar. That story was ultimately made with  Amitabh Bachchan and was directed by Ravi Chopra when Dr Chopra had first shown signs of falling a victim to Alzheimer's. The name of the film was Baghbaan. 

We were having our first awards and I had managed to that Dilip Kumar to agree to be the Chairman of the jury and I needed someone equally important to be the vice Chairman. I had to only mention this to Dr Chopra and he agreed unconditionally and like Dilip Kumar, he never missed a single screening and took active part in all the discussions . 

I had an editor called B.K Karanjia who was a dear friend of Dr Chopra. We had come very serious problems between ourselves because of his corrupt  ways. Karanjia tried his worst to get me out of Screen. And in one of his dirty moves against me, he wrote a letter to Dr Chopra asking him to write to the Indian Express and complain to Mr Ramnath Goenka telling him about how I demanded money for every word I wrote. Dr Chopra sounded very sombre when he called me to his office.

And after having cups of hot tea,  Dr Chopra placed the letter Karanjia had written to him and told me, " Karanjia is my friend m, but I refuse to do what he has asked me to do even though he has promised to do all the publicity for my films. I know what Ali is and I just cannot betray him for my own benefit." Karanjia had written a similar letter to Mahendra Kapoor, the singer who needed publicity for his son Ruhaan who had made his debut as an actor, but the singer too called me to his house on   Peddar Road and showed me the letter Karanjia had written to him and said, " Mujhe Karanjia Sahab ki zaroorat hai, lekin Ali ko nuksaan kerne se nahi. Maine agar aise kiya toh muje bhi aur Ruhaan ko bhi badduaa lagegi. Main kya aise kar Sakta hun kya, Ali sahab ? " Karanjia never tried such nasty  games with me again. 

I was releasing my autobiography and I knew that Dr Chopra was very sick and would not be able to attend the function. But he came to know about it and on the evening of the function m, I was thrilled to see him drive into the auditorium in  a wheelchair and the way he held my hand and looked  into my eyes, I felt like he had written a book about me. 

I kept meeting him even. when I knew he was not even aware of what was happening  around him, but just being with him was a source of inspiration. Dr Chopra attended office every morning and stayed in office till lunch and kept looking at all his writers and his daughter in law Renu and then felt restless and had to be driven home in one of the latest brands of a Mercedes which his son Ravi kept presenting to him from time to time

And what is still a wonderful mystery about Dr Chopra was how even when he was critically sick, he remembered ( ? The 7nt of every month which was salary day in the office.

He signed hundred and seventy salary cheques. He had always cared for his staff and had always paid them their salaries and bonus in time,  sometimes even when B R Films was facing a financial crisis. ..  

AISE LOG SIRF EK BAAR AATE HAI AUR PHIR KABHI NA AATE HAI, NA BANTE

HAI, CHAAHE KHUDAH CHAAHE YA KISMAT