With this also came the realisation that struggling is much more difficult on an empty stomach. So Prem Chopra took up a job in the circulation department of a newspaper to support himself. The job proved to be lucky, as he got his first break while on an errand. In a very filmi way, he was spotted by a production manager while commuting in a train. Accompanying the production man to Ranjit Studios, in Dadar, Chopra bagged the lead role in a Punjabi film, Chaudhari Karnal Singh. The success of this film brought a few more Punjabi movies his way. Already established as a regional actor, he got his first Hindi movie, Mein Shadi Karne Chala, in the early '60s. After that there was no looking back, and then came films like Woh Kaun Thi, Shaheed, Teesri Manziland Upkaar.

"I became the topmost bad guy of the times, with Woh Kaun Thi," he says. While he played a very patriotic role, of Sukhdev, in Shaheed; Prem Chopra became a star with Upkaar in 1967. Meanwhile he continued with his first job, giving it up only after the success of Upkaar. "I used to ask for leave, telling them that I am going to get married. And then I used to come back and say that it got cancelled," laughs Prem Chopra.