The Master Storyteller

Vidhu Vinod Chopra does not know how to mince words, and that is true of his filmmaking too

- SUHANI SINGH

“I am such an arrogant a**hole,” says filmmaker Vidhu Vinod Chopra after an exercise in self-admiration. It’s an honest declaration that many in the audience—Naseeruddin Shah, Kamal Haasan, Shabana Azmi among them—would agree with. They have all gathered at a PVR multiplex in Mumbai to celebrate 45 years of Chopra’s films. It has been a week-long run of films he has produced over the course of his fascinating career. They are seminal films of Hindi cinema— Parinda (1989), 1942 A Love Story (1994), Munna Bhai MBBS (2003), Lage Raho Munna Bhai (2006), 3 Idiots (2009) and PK (2014). But Chopra isn’t content walking down memory lane. At 71, he is still doing what he knows best—telling stories, his way.

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