B.R. Chopra. To those familiar with the world’s second largest film industry, the very name evokes respect usually reserved for living legends. Not just because he came from a humble background and soared to become a king of entertainment. Not just because he made blockbusters and logged more successive hits than most of his contemporaries. Not just because he created the world’s most successful TV series. And not just because he created a vibrant film company that does not merely survive but thrives in a highly competitive market even 52 years after it was born.

All these indeed add to his stature but more than anything else B.R. Chopra’s name evokes respect bordering on awe because he used his finely-honed social antenna to pick out bold subjects, taboo in their time, and then had the courage of conviction to deal with them on celluloid: widow remarriage in Ek Hi Raasta (1956), the man-machine conflict in Naya Daur (1957), the courageous prostitute in Sadhna (1958), the unwed mother in Dhool Ka Phool (1960), the adulteress in Gumraah (1962)…