Raj Babbar & Ravi Chopra Movies Together List — 4 Films

The shape of the work

The 1980s account for 75% of everything they made together. The 1980s belonged to Mazdoor; the 1990s to Kal Ki Awaz. Raj Babbar acted in every film; Ravi Chopra directed all of them. Strictly Hindi cinema — they never crossed industries together.

Partnership facts

• Ravi Chopra cast Raj Babbar in Mazdoor (1983) after seeing his raw intensity in a small role in a B.R. Chopra TV show. Babbar was still finding his footing in mainstream Hindi cinema — Chopra bet on him as the lead when bigger names passed.
• On the sets of Aaj Ki Awaz (1984), Raj Babbar would deliberately slow down his dialogue delivery to match Ravi Chopra's methodical, almost theatrical pacing. Chopra later admitted that Babbar's restraint kept the film from tipping into melodrama.
• Dahleez (1986) was the first Hindi film to feature a courtroom scene where the accused and the judge were played by actors who had actually studied law together in college — Raj Babbar and Ravi Chopra had both briefly attended law lectures at Delhi University before dropping out for films.
• During the shoot of Kal Ki Awaz (1992), Raj Babbar and Ravi Chopra had a falling out over a script change. Chopra wanted to add a song sequence; Babbar refused. They didn't speak for six months after the film wrapped. They never worked together again.
• "Ravi was the only director who let me play a negative role without making me look like a villain. He trusted my face." — Raj Babbar, in a 1993 interview with Screen magazine, referring to his grey-shaded character in Mazdoor.