The soulful storyteller passes away

He made mythology popular on television by offering Mahabharat to viewers and showed the beauty of family ties on the big screen through ‘Baghban’ and ‘Baabul’. Ravi Chopra made many films and TV shows that showed his impressive range as a filmmaker.

Ravi Chopra, who was hospitalised in Breach Candy hospital here, passed away on Wednesday. He was reportedly suffering from a severe lung ailment since the last few years. He is survived by his wife and three children. He was 68.

Born in 1946, he hailed from the illustrious Bollywood Chopra family. His father was late filmmaker B.R. Chopra, and his uncle was late filmmaker Yash Chopra, who helmed romantic films like ‘Kabhi Kabhie’, ‘Silsila’ and ‘Dil Toh Pagal Hai’. The Bollywood connection doesn’t end here. He was also cousin of Aditya and Uday Chopra. The multi-talented Ravi directed one of the most popular mythological TV shows Mahabharat. The drama, produced by his father, ran from 1988 to 1990.

He had also directed the television mini-series Ramayan, which was aired in 2002. As an executive producer, his project ‘Cooking with Stella’, a light comedy, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2009.

If one goes by reports, he was expected to make a comeback to the small screen with another mythological series titled Vasudev Krishna. If the audience lauded his work onscreen, he impressed celebrities offscreen too.

‘Happy New Year’ director Farah Khan described Ravi Chopra as “one of the nicest, kindest and big hearted soul”.

Actress Divya Dutta, who worked with Ravi Chopra in ‘Baghban’, said he was one man who was “full of life”. Musician Vishal Dadlani called him “one of the most gracious gentlemen”. Actor Rohit Roy had kind words for the filmmaker. He said Ravi Chopra was “definitely the nicest man I've ever worked with in the film industry”.