Updated On: 15 October, 2024 09:10 AM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondent
The director-producer, known for films like Khamosh, Parinda, 1942: A Love Story, and Mission Kashmir, revealed at the IFP Festival that his father slapped him when he first mentioned wanting to make movies

Vidhu Vinod Chopra
Vidhu Vinod Chopra shared a story about how his father reacted when he said he wanted to become a filmmaker. The director-producer, known for films like Khamosh, Parinda, 1942: A Love Story, and Mission Kashmir, revealed at the IFP Festival that his father slapped him when he first mentioned wanting to make movies. Chopra explained that he had to work hard to get into FTII, where he learned filmmaking.
Vidhu Vinod Chopra said, “When I told my father in Kashmir, ‘Paaji, I want to make a film,’ he slapped me and said, ‘Bhooka mar jaayega Bombay mein. Kaise rahega? (You will die of starvation, how will you survive?)’. He couldn’t afford to send me anywhere so I thought about it, I struggled, I topped Kashmir University in Economics Honours, I am First Class First, so I could get Rs 250 as national scholarship from Government of India, which I got.”