Vidhu Vinod Chopra is a maverick in filmmaking, having gifted some epic films to Hindi cinema. Founder of Vinod Chopra Films, Vinod studied at the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune. After his graduation, Vidhu started working as a writer, director, and editor. The filmmaker tasted success with the crime drama, Parinda, and since then, there has been no looking back for him.
With movies like 1942: A Love Story, Kareeb, Mission Kashmir, Munna Bhai MBBS, Parineeta, 3 Idiots and the recently released 12th Fail, Vidhu proved his versatility as a filmmaker. The way Vidhu has been experimenting in his filmmaking has set him apart in his league, where filmmakers are only focused on romance and action.
Vidhu Vinod Chopra is known for his straightforwardness. The filmmaker has been embroiled in many controversies, but his fights and arguments with Nana Patekar once became the talk of the town. While promoting his film 12th Fail on the reality show, Sa Re Ga Ma Pa, Vidhu recalled his ugly fight with Nana Patekar that took place on the sets of Parinda.
For the unversed, the 1989 crime drama, Parinda, directed by Vidhu Vinod Chopra, featured Jackie Shroff, Anil Kapoor, Nana Patekar and Madhuri Dixit in the lead. Talking about his equation with Nana on the film set, Vidhu revealed that it was because of Nana that the filmmaker started using cuss words. In his words:
“I’d seen Nana in a play called Purush, and it’s very important to say this, but those days, I never used to curse. I was a very well-behaved young man from Kashmir. But it all changed because of Nana.”
In the same interaction, Vidhu also revealed the ugly fight that broke out between him and Nana during the shooting of Parinda. Recalling the same, Vidhu revealed that whenever he would direct a scene, Nana would start abusing him, and that was the moment when Vidhu started abusing him back. Narrating how he tore Nana’s kurta during a scuffle, Vidhu shared:
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“There’s a scene in the film where Nana asks if he has tears in his eyes after his wife has died… We’d been shooting all day, and it was late in the evening. Nana declared that he was too tired to continue and that he was going home. I told him, ‘Sure, you pay for the overheads then’. He started swearing at me, I swore back, and in the scuffle, I tore his kurta. The cops on set said, ‘We’re here to protect you, and you’re fighting among yourselves’.”
Born on September 5, 1952, Vidhu Vinod Chopra is a Punjabi Kashmiri. He was born and raised in Srinagar, but his parents are originally from Peshawar, Pakistan. He studied only Hindi and Urdu until class eighth. Vidhu Vinod Chopra's parents wanted him to become a doctor. However, after finishing his BA, Vinod joined FTII to pursue his passion for filmmaking.
He was selected by one of the greatest filmmakers of Indian cinema, Hrishikesh Mukherjee, for his short stories written in Hindi. Vinod made a Diploma film, Murder at Monkey Hill, which won the National Award and was also nominated for the Oscars. With the support of NFDC, Vinod made his first film, Sazaaye Maut, in 1981.
Vidhu fell in love with Ranu Saluja when they were studying in FTII. He got married to Renu at the age of 19 after dating for some years. But soon, problems started cropping up since Renu didn’t want a child. After some years of marriage, the couple parted ways mutually. After his divorce, Vidhu married a short filmmaker, Shabnam Sukhdev, in the 1980s. But again, the marriage didn’t work, and the couple separated mutually.
After two failed attempts at love and marriage, Vidhu was hit by Cupid’s sharpest arrow when he met journalist and film critic, Anupama Chopra. Though their first meeting was not that good, he was later smitten by Anupama, and soon, the two tied the knot in 1990. Despite their different perspectives, Anupama and Vinod bring out the best in each other and stand strong together. In fact, to express his love and admiration for Anupama, Vinod filmed Kareeb (1998) as a tribute to her.
Vidhu Vinod Chopra is an exceptional filmmaker who has dedicated his life to films.
Also Read: Bobby Deol Recalled Horrific Incident When Vidhu Vinod Chopra Bit Manoj Bajpayee's Wife's Right Hand
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