Hrishikesh Mukherjee - R.I.P. - I

Born on September 30, 1922 at Calcutta in West Bengal, one of the finest filmmakers of all time, Hrishikesh Mukherjee passed away on August 27, 2006 at the ripe old age of 84. He is survived by 2 sons and 3 daughters. He died after a couple of months of prolonged illness. He was admitted to Leelavati Hospital due to renal failure and was on dialysis for sometime. He passed away at around 4.30 pm on August 27, 2006.

Personally, Hrishikesh Mukherjee was one of my favourite filmmakers and most importantly, a story teller par excellence. The art of storytelling, unfortunately has died with the sad demise of Hrishi daa and it is very unfortunate that inspite of having all the best technology at its disposal today, Bollywood cannot boast of even one genuine story teller. Even during his time i.e., 60’s and 70’s, Hrishi daa was peerless.

Some of the leading actors of the 60’s and 70’s have given their best performances under the direction of Hrishikesh Mukherjee. Actors like Dharmendra, Rajesh Khanna, Amitabh Bachchan, Jaya Bhaduri, Sharmila Tagore, Amol Palekar, Rekha etc. have given their best performances in Hrishikesh Mukherjee films.

May his soul rest in peace.

Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna - VII

And last but not the least is Masoom (1983) directed by Shekhar Kapur and starring Naseeruddin Shah, Shabana Azmi, Saeed Jaffrey, Tanuja, Jugal Hansraj and Urmila Matondkar. Music was by Rahul Dev Burman and lyrics were by Gulzar. Once again, the music was terrific.

So, although Karan Johar may have made Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna with on such a lavish canvas with a star cast to die for and which may eventually become one of the biggest blockbusters of all time, Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna can never find a mention alongwith films like Arth, Silsila and Masoom.

Anybody, any thoughts?

Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna - VI

Coming back to genuinely good cinema, in case somebody were to ask me about my favourite movie on infidelity / extra marital affairs, I can readily think of three awesome films that have been based on extra marital affairs and the directors have dealt this sensitive issue very beautifully.

First on the list is Arth (1982) directed by Mahesh Bhatt and starring Shabana Azmi, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Smita Patil and Raj Kiran. Music was by Jagjit Singh and Chitra Singh. This definitely remains one of Mahesh Bhatt’s best films of all times and one of the better Hindi films with unforgettable music.

Second is Silsila (1981) directed by Yash Chopra and starring Amitabh Bachchan, Shashi Kapoor, Rekha and Jaya Bachchan. This movie had the casting coup of the century as the rumour of Amitabh-Rekha romance was at it’s height. The music by Shiv-Hari is timeless and the lyrics were by Javed Akhtar.