This Actor Went From Working At A Newspaper Agency To Becoming Ace Bollywood Villain

The actor in question, right off the bat, has enjoyed a career in front of the camera, spanning six decades and counting. Soon after he stepped in front of the camera to commence his journey in Bollywood, he took to antagonistic roles like fish to water. As a matter of fact, he did it so well, that playing the villain soon grew into becoming a trademark for him. Can you guess who this is?

From working in a newspaper agency to Bollywood's reigning villain

The actor in question, started his journey in Mumbai, not as a struggling actor, but with a role in the circulation department of a leading daily newspaper. He was responsible for looking after Bengal, Orissa, and Bihar and was required to tour 20 days a month. However, bitten by the acting bug, he ensured to complete his 20-day long tours in just 12 days by calling his agents to meet him at the station so that he could return quickly. The remainder of the time would be spent going from one studio to another.

A major hint that gives this veteran actor's identity away, is his evergreen dialogue - "Prem naam hai mera, Prem Chopra". Having featured in over 380 films across a career spanning sixty years, Prem Chopra is the original Bollywood bad guy. An interesting piece of trivia about the actor, is that he ha featured as the villain in 19 Rajesh Khanna films. More recently, Prem Chopra held a supporting role in Sandeep Reddy Vanga's Ranbir Kapoor led blockbuster, Animal.

Prem Chopra was offered his first role during a train journey

As per a Pinkvilla report, Prem Chopra, in a previous interview, had revealed how he was offered his first Punjabi film, Chaudhary Karnail Singh, that too as the lead actor, during a train journey. However, before the film saw the light of day, the actor lost his mother. Nonetheless, the film went onto win a National Award for Best Feature Film in Punjabi following which Chopra began receiving offers from Bollywood.

Chopra balanced his time between the newspaper job and kickstarting his acting career. It was after the release of films Teesri Manzil and Upkar that he started receiving more offers to play the villain. After Upkar in 1967, he left the newspaper job to pursue acting full time, and the rest is history.