Prem Chopra I acted in most of the films he directed,including the only two that made a markHare Rama Hare Krishna and Des Pardes. He had rung me up some days ago to tell me that I was to be a part of his sequel to Hare Rama. . We bonded very well. Devsaab was a gentleman to the core. Being an actor himself,he would always enquire after a shot whether the artiste was happy with what had been filmed. On the sets,he made work easy with his sense of humour and I remember that the effect of his energy remained in me for days after the last day of shoot! I recall ace cameraman Fali Mistry being told by Devsaab in Kathmandu,We will take the shot from the top of that peak. That particular mountain looked pretty intimidating,but suddenly we found Devsaab up there,cajoling Mistry to climb up. He told me that he wanted to write and direct films himself because he felt that he was the best person to deal with the subject. He wrote dialogues in English and translated them into Hindi.But he was open to change if we disagreed with the translations! I asked him one day how he was just keeping on making movies when filmmakers retire if they have two flops in a row,and he answered,Prem,I dont look back at yesterday,and tomorrow is uncertain. I enjoy what I am doing today,If the audience does not like a film of mine,I will make another,because I want to keep working.
