HRISHIKESH MUKHERJEE 100th BIRTH ANNIVERSARY: Today marks the 100th birth anniversary of legendary filmmaker Hrishikesh Mukherjee. Born on 30 September, 1922 in Kolkata, Mukherjee passed away at the age of 83 in Mumbai on 22 August, 2006. One of the finest filmmakers in Indian cinema, his movies, mostly revolved around the middle-class lifestyle. Megastar Amitabh Bachchan, who has done movies like Anand, Chupke Chupke and Abhimaan among others with Hrishikesh Mukherjee, had called him a “father figure”.
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Here’s a look at what Amitabh Bachchan said about Hrishida over the years:
‘UNBELIEVABLE EXPERIENCE’
“Working with Hrishida was an unbelievable experience because his style of filmmaking was never to compromise on quality and on the story ideas,” Bachchan told BBC News soon after Mukherjee’s death in August 2006.
“…WE NEVER HEARD ANY STORIES’
“We never heard any scripts, never heard any stories – we just came on the sets. He told us to stand there, walk here, say it in this manner, speak like this – that’s how he used to direct all of us. So our input was nothing at all. All that you see in his films is entirely his input,” he told BBC News.
‘A MASTER EDITOR’
“He was a master editor and knew his craft incredibly well – he would shoot a scene and you would know nothing about it till you saw it,” Bachchan told BBC News.
‘MY GODFATHER’
“It is today the birth anniversary of my godfather in the industry, Hrishikesh Mukherjee, a master and a genius in his own way. His mastery over the middle-of-the-road cinema has still to be replicated. He knew how to say the simplest of the stories in the most exciting and attractive manner,” Amitabh posted on his blog on Mukherjee’s 92nd birth anniversary in 2014.
‘HUMAN EMOTIONS WERE HIS ABSOLUTE FORTE’
“His films revolved around that typical middle-class home, its problems and its issues. Human emotions were his absolute forte and he could bring out emotions in the most non emotional manner,” Amitabh wrote in the blog in 2014.
‘HIS ONLY BELONGINGS BEING HIS CHESS SET’
“Dressed in his typical kurta and pyjama and sandle, he would drive in sitting on the front seat of his Fiat, the older model, his only belongings being his chess set and later on when he suffered from extreme pain in his legs, a stick,” Amitabh added in the 2014 blog.
‘FIRST TO KNOW ABOUT MY WEDDING PLAN’
“When Jaya and I decided to get married, he was the first person after our parents, whom we met to inform of our decision. Him and Khwaja Ahmed Abbas, my first film director,” Big B wrote in the 2014 blog.
‘NINE MOVIES WITH HRISHI DA’
“Hrishi Da was godfather to us. His kind of cinema has disappeared and we miss that much, but there are a few who endeavour to bring back those stories of old and present them to us. If I remember correctly, Hrishi da was the one director with whom I have worked the maximum number of films – nine in number…,” Big B posted on his blog remembering Mukherjee on his death anniversary in August 2015.
‘HE LOVED PETS, PLAYED SITAR’
“Loved pets, dogs, many of them, some of great pedigree, and some he would just pick up from the street. Played the sitar, had pet names for all his favourite actors and never ever allowed us to give another take if we desired so. ‘Pay for that extra film you will use’, he would demand, if we insisted,” Amitabh wrote in August 2015.
LAST MEETING IN HOSPITAL
Remembering Hrishikesh Mukherjee on his 92nd birth anniversary in 2014, Amitabh wrote in his blog: “During his last days he [Hrishikesh Mukherjee] was in the ICU (Intensive Care Unit) in hospital. I had gone several days to see him, but did not want to see him in the condition he was. Then one day I did. His entire body riddled with tubes and wires, of all kinds of machine … eyes shut and the ventilator heaving his body to breathe.
“Suddenly he woke up. His eyes opened. He saw me and his face brightened! Through all the tapes and bottles and wires his eyes beckoned me to come closer to him. When I did, he with great effort, pulled out his hand away from all the pipes and tubes on them, gestured me to bend down, and then with that weak trembling hand, put it on my head and asked me to leave …
“The next day he passed away,” he wrote.
HRISHIKESH MUKHERJEE AND AMITABH BACHCHAN’S MOVIES TOGETHER
- Anand (1971)
- Abhimaan (1973)
- Namak Haraam (1973)
- Chupke Chupke (1975)
- Bemisal (1973)
- Mili (1975)
- Alaap (1977)
- Jurmana (1979)
- Amitabh Bachchan was also the narrator in Hrishikesh’s Bawarchi (1972) and played cameos in Guddi (1971) and Gol Maal (1979).
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