New age filmmakers lack passion: Chopra

At a time when Bollywood is churning some of the best content-driven films, veteran actor Prem Chopra feels there’s still a lot of disparity in filmmaking as compared to his era. The veteran, who played villainous roles on-screen during the ’70s and ’80s, has worked in some 380 odd films in his career spanning over six decades.

“In those days, undoubtedly we didn’t have the technical finesse of the present day, such as visual effects, VFX effects etc, but the films were made with more dedication and concentration. They weren’t made in one go and most of the time, a film was made in one or two years. And the results would be fabulous,” he says.

The actor feels that the newage filmmakers unfortunately don’t work in that manner. He says, “Despite the technology available, filmmakers aren’t able to make great films. Earlier, filmmakers used to concentrate more on the story line. They had one schedule and once it was done, they would sit down with writers actors again. They knew that films can’t be made in isolation. They made a film with lot of passion and patience.”

Stating how people used to invest everything they had while making a film, Chopra referred to Raj Kapoor’s Mera Naam Joker(1970). “He was a great filmmaker and he invested everything in that classic. But it didn’t do well. However, he returned with Bobby with new faces. I also had a role in it,” he says.Blaming “commercial viability” that plays a vital role in today’s filmmaking, he says, “Though we were aware of the roles we were playing, we didn’t have bound scripts. Nowadays, the passion is missing. Now films are made fast and they go away soon.”

HT PHOTO Prem Chopra isn’t happy with the new breed of filmmakers