Legendary filmmaker Baldev Raj Chopra (B R Chopra) passed away on Wednesday morning.

B R Chopra, 95, died after a prolonged illness. Born in 1914 in Ludhiana, he studied at the Lahore University and moved to Mumbai after the partition of India in 1947.

He started his own production house B R Films in 1955 and went on to produce and direct hits like Naya Daur, Gumraah and Humraaz through the 50s and 60s.

He also gave younger brother Yash Chopra his first directorial opportunity with the box-office hit Dhool Ka Phool.

B R Chopra was known for making films based on powerful offbeat themes such as Dhool Ka Phool (1959), Waqt (1965), Naya Daur (1957), Kanoon (1958), Humraz (1967), Insaf Ka Tarazu (1980) and Nikah (1982).

Whether it was issues relating to adultery (Gumraah), the politics of rape (Insaaf Ka Tarazu), Muslim matrimony laws (Nikah), rehabilitation of prostitutes (Sadhana) or widow remarriage (Ek Hi Raasta), he always had a sharp, clear and effective non-formula tale to tell. He laid great emphasis on the story because he himself had started out as a writer.

B R Films foray into television in 1988 resulted in the historic Mahabharat series on Doordarshan, which became the first Indian serial to enter the Guinness Book of World Records for having been watched by 96 per cent of Indians

More recently B R Chopra was credited for writing the successful Amitabh Bachchan - Hema Malini starrer Baghbaan - a story he had penned much earlier with Dilip Kumar in mind.

In 1999, in recognition of his huge contribution to cinema, B R Chopra was awarded the Dadasaheb Phalke Award.