Remembering Ravi Chopra By Juhi Chawla

The actress pens a heart-felt obituary to bid farewell to the maverick filmmaker

I know what loss feels like because I’ve experienced too many personal losses. You value people only when theyre gone. The only thing Im at peace about is that his sufferings are over. Ravi Chopra has been relieved of all the pain he was experiencing all these years. His family is relieved of the pain of seeing their beloved father, husband, brother, uncle suffer and die in morsels every single day.

I vividly remember Bade Chopra saab (BR Chopra) was among those few people who my family knew. He was someone I could approach for work with my portfolio. He was someone I could request for work. And during our interactions, I met his son who was so full of life, entertaining and energetic. He always had a repartee. That was Ravi Chopra for me. Our conversations were always fun, and we were always competing to have the last line and the last laugh. He was extremely polite, gentle, helpful and a complete happy Punjabi at heart. He looked like he was khaate-peete ghar ka banda.

Bade Chopra saab decided to cast me as Draupadi in his Mahabharat in the 1980s. Around the same time, I landed the lead role in Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak. When I told Raviji and his father about it, they let me go and that too with a lot of warmth, grace, dignity and blessings. They didnt hold me back. And thats how my career in Bollywood began.

After that, we kept in touch. I met Raviji and his family on festivals, occasions and even otherwise. We always had a hearty laugh. We always had a lot to share, a lot to speak. But we could find another opportunity to work together. And many, many years later, I was offered Bhoothnath. I loved the script and the character.

But I was happier that Raviji had come on board as a producer because finally, life gave me an opportunity to work with people I could not work with earlier. He never interfered with an actor or a directors work, though he was a director himself. He always allowed people to have their own space. We had a lot of fun making that movie because he would drop by on the sets and hang around with us. He never made us feel that the producer of the film is around. It was always a friend.

And then began the deterioration phase. He fell ill. But we didn't lose touch. I often dropped by to see him and we chatted for hours. In the last four or five years, I couldn't make too much time because I was going through an emotional turmoil at home. Bobby was in the hospital and my days went by getting in and out of the hospital till he passed away. Whenever I could make time, I would speak to Ravijis wife Renu and shed always say that Raviji will recover and hes stable. On my numerous visits, there were noticeable changes in his health: he had shrunken in size, he couldnt talk much and eventually, he didnt even recognise me.

And then today, on my birthday, he bid adieu to the world. He withered away. I will miss him... and so will so many people for whom he was the centre of their universe.