Exclusive | Prem Chopra on Life, Movies and Friends: 'Every Morning, There Is a Message From Amitabh Bachchan'

Prem Chopra is 90. One of Hindi cinema’s most essential, prolific and lasting villains, he has seen most of his on-screen heroes pass on before him — Jeetendra and Amitabh Bachchan may be the two exceptions. In November last year, Chopra was diagnosed with severe aortic stenosis (a heart valve condition) and underwent minimally invasive surgery. He injured his knee some years ago while attending a function in Dubai. He now walks with a cane, politely waving off offers for assistance, with a straight-ahead look to allay assumptions of frailty.

Cane and Able

The Hollywood Reporter India meets Chopra at his 14th-floor duplex in Mumbai’s Pali Hill, where he’s lived since the ’70s (Chopra’s preferred term is ‘penthouse’). It’s a spacious, old-school apartment, with a deck and a swing. In the bedroom, Uma Chopra, his wife of 57 years, is wrapping up her afternoon siesta. Old statuettes line the decor — on display is a 1976 Filmfare trophy for Best Supporting Actor for Do Anjaane, one of his most acclaimed roles.

Ask what an average day looks like and Chopra confirms it is characteristically unhurried. “I wake up and do some light exercise,” he says. “Television is a major engagement for someone my age. I watch all the cricket matches. Whenever I can, I visit my friends at the Otters Club or the Khar Gymkhana. It’s a calm, restful life.”

He’s warmed up to technology and stays happily busy on WhatsApp. One of his close WhatsApp pals is Amitabh Bachchan. “Ever since I fell ill, every morning there is a message from him: ‘Get well soon, Prem’. ‘Prayers for you’. Maine bola usko, yaar main theek ho gaya (I told him, buddy, I have recovered). But he persists sweetly.”

Partners in Crime

Chopra was hospitalised around the same time as Dharmendra, who passed away at 89 in November last year. The actors were lifelong friends, both born in pre-Partition Punjab (like Dharmendra’s character in the 2026 film — his last — Ikkis, Chopra’s ancestral home is in Lahore, Pakistan).

Chopra’s dearest memory of working with Dharmendra is from the 1973 spy thriller Keemat. He’s mentioned this in his biography, Prem Naam Hai Mera, Prem Chopra, written by his daughter Rakita Nanda, and published in 2014. The title is of course a nod to his now-iconic line from the film Bobby (1973). That defining one-line has been parodied to death in popular culture, a verbal chestnut beyond taste and time.

“In one scene, I had Dharmendra and Rekha tied up in my villain’s lair. There were six ferocious dogs with me, three on either side. As I started laughing maniacally, the dogs stood up, scaring the hell out of me! Dharmendra was cracking up off camera. He was a jolly fellow!”

Hard at Work

Chopra has acted in close to 400 films; the majority of them were villainous roles. He fell into the typecast with the runaway success of Woh Kaun Thi? (1964) and never looked back. He’s made his peace with his legacy, though it wasn’t always thus. In his prime, he could not attend weddings and family functions without spooking female guests. “My father had to explain to them that I am a good person,” he says with a laugh.

He narrates a story about English actor Sir Laurence Olivier playing Lago (in Shakespeare’s Othello) on the British stage and, for his pains, being pelted with a shoe by an audience member. Chopra has his own shoe story, too. As a child, Nikhil Nanda, father of actor Agastya Nanda, and Uma Chopra’s niece’s son, once got so mortified that he refused to enter his grandaunt’s home. He had seen “Prem Chopra’s shoes”— a visual shorthand for danger in several films.

The times, Chopra agrees, have changed. “Audiences are more emancipated now. They appreciate complex performances, even in commercial films.”

Chopra has travelled widely, for leisure and for work. The Great Gambler (1979) was shot in Cairo, Lisbon, Venice and Rome. He’s enjoyed trips to Beirut and Oslo, though London remains his favourite city of all to visit. “It gives you the feeling of being in a bigger Mumbai. Whenever I am in London, I don’t go to see the pictures. I go to the theatre.” He’s seen Sammy Davis Jr. and Dustin Hoffman on stage. “They were such hardworking, extraordinary actors,” he says, betraying a pang for his days as a young theatre actor in Shimla.

Last Orders

Tea arrives. Chopra pops a cashew nut into his mouth, chews it slowly and meaningfully. Jaggery is spooned into the tea. “Cheers,” Chopra says. It’s hard to square this grandfatherly figure with the Chopra of his biography in his suits and sideburns, enjoying post-shoot drinks with Dharmendra and Rajesh Khanna. Pressed for a drinking story, Chopra gladly obliges.

“Shashi Kapoor, Shammi Kapoor, Amitabh Bachchan and I were once in Delhi for a shoot. We kept drinking into the night. When someone parted the blinds, it was morning! We had a 9 a.m. shift so we ran immediately.”

He also reminisces about another old friend and fellow actor, Rajesh Khanna. In the twilight of his stardom, following a string of flops, Khanna became a heavy drinker, Chopra says. “He lost the topmost position in Hindi cinema. There was a lot of frustration. You cannot avoid ups and downs in this profession. He couldn’t adjust.”

Chopra had a bit-part in Animal (2023), playing a quietly fearsome Sikh patriarch named Dalbir Singh. He’s adored by a younger generation for his performance in Rocket Singh: Salesman of the Year, also with Ranbir Kapoor (“Great guy, very respectful”). Chopra says he was approached by director Vivek Agnihotri for a cameo appearance in a streaming project, which he did. Beyond that, he’s refused film offers in the last few years. His health is a consideration, but also the quality of roles. “Unless something truly extraordinary comes, I don’t feel like doing it.”

He’s amassed enough lifetime achievements awards to have a sense of humour about it. “I have one more Lifetime Achievement Award to receive on 8 March. It’s hard to turn down the poor chaps when they ask me.”

There’s a lull as we wind up the interview. “I have no regrets,” Chopra says, unprompted. He stares at the crowded skyline outside the window. I expect a wistful epiphany, some words of wisdom to live by. Instead, Chopra is sharp and matter-of-fact. “That’s Sanjay Dutt’s house, by the way,” he points out.

MEMORY LANE

While in Goa recently, this reporter came upon a poster of Chopra’s 1980 Indo-Russian film Alibaba Aur 40 Chor at a restaurant, Kopi Desa Agonda. In the flashy Soviet-era co-production, Chopra, regally costumed, complete with a plumed headdress, plays the caliph of an imaginary Central Asian nation, and is memorably hoodwinked by Dharmendra and Hema Malini during the song “Jadugar Jadoo Kar Jayega.”

“It was a superhit film in both nations!” Chopra exclaims at the mention.

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