by: Roshmila Bhattacharya
Hrishikesh Mukherjee never dreamed that he would one day be a part of show business. He was a student of science and while in college he saw himself as a biochemist studying and teaching flora. After graduating in chemistry he did teach mathematics and science for a while and then drawn by his fascination for photography signed up with a Calcutta studio, New Theatres.
He was told that he would have to work in the lab first and learn the trade before he could be given a camera. For the next few months Hrishida worked industriously as lab assistant. One of his friends at the studio was an editor and whenever Hrishida had time to spare he would slip into the editing room to sit with his friend as he snipped reels of footage. Soon he was knowledgeable enough to suggest what portions of the film to clip out and what to retain. Bimal Roy overheard him talking to his friend once and to the startled delight of the young man asked him to edit his film, Tapish. Unsure about whether he could do the job he was entrusted with Hrishada embarked on his first editing assignment and was ecstatic when the film hit bull's eye. But by then he had decided to quit the studio and pursue higher studies. It was Bimal Roy again who stopped him in his tracks. Bimal Roy had got an offer from Bombay Talkies to direct a Hindi film for them and was leaving for Mumbai. He asked Hrishida to accompany him. Hrishda came to Mumbai and never went back.
From film editor he became a screenplay writer with Do Bigha Zameen and with Musafir a director. In the years since he has directed several hit films including Anari, Anuradha, Guddi, Anand, Namak Haram, Abhimaan, Bawarchi, Chupke Chupke, Khoobsoorat and Gol Mal. His last film was Jhoot Bole Kauva Kaate.
In the following piece we share with you some little-known facts about Hrishada's films culled from interviews with the reclusive filmmaker.
Dilip Kumar persuaded Hrishida to direct Musafir
When Madhumati was being shot Hrishida who was Bimal Roy's editor and always present on the sets, would often find himself staring at a house which overlooked the studios. Looking at it Hrishida wondered about the people who had lived in the house. The house gave him and Dilip Kumar, the hero of this reincarnation drama, an idea for a film. A film about three different families who had at some point in their lives lived within the four walls of a house very like the one they saw everyday. The film would be split into three sections, three different stories about birth, marriage and death, whose only common link was the house. It was a novel idea never tried on the Hindi screen before. Hrishda was convinced the film would flop but Dilip Kumar was convinced it would work and coaxed and cajoled Hrishida to direct it himself. Musafir starred Kishore Kumar, Suchitra Sen and Dilip Kumar. It won Hrishida a Gold Medal and a certificate of merit from the National Awards jury.
Raj Kapoor was to do Anand but Hrishida couldn't bear to see his friend die
Raj Kapoor was another very dear friend of Hrishida. He had worked with him in his second film, Anari and had been penciled in to play the lead in Anand too. Till Hrishida realized that he couldn't bear to see his friend die even in reel life. So it was Rajesh Khanna who got to play the cancer patient. Interestingly, this was his only film that Rajesh Khanna stopped his mother from seeing. When she had earlier seen a trial of Safar, another film in which he died, his mother had been so affected by his "death" that she had fallen seriously ill and had to be hospitalized. So she was never allowed to see Anand.
By the time shooting for Anand started Rajesh Khanna was a superstar and so busy hopping from one set to the next that there were times when he got confused with names. It happened once during the shoot of Anand. Rajesh Khanna repeatedly addressed the heroine of the film as Madhu when her name was Renu. After half-a dozen retakes Hrishida exasperatedly asked Rajesh why he was calling the girl Madhu. "Because Madhu is the name of my heroine in Aan Milo Sajna," he sighed. "Not Aan Milo Sajna, Kati Patang," his secretary reminded him.
Anand is one of Rajesh Khanna's best-loved roles but it was also memorable for Amitabh Bachchan who was struggling to establish himself. If the buzz is to be believed, Hrishida had toyed with the idea of casting Mehmood in the role of Anand's buddy and Mehmood had even advised Amitabh who was his roommate, on how to react after Anand's death. Of course, eventually, Amitabh and Mehmood's plan of action backfired because Hrishida wanted genuine emotions not theatrical histrionics. Amitabh gave him what he was looking for with his second shot and proved not just to his director but the audience at large that he was the perfect choice for the serious, introverted doctor who becomes the fun-loving Anand's unlikely friend. Their friendship in many ways reflected the bonds between Raj Kapoor and Hrishida who were poles apart. In fact, Raj Kapoor used to address Hrishida as Babumoshai.
Guddi brought Jaya and Amitabh together
Amitabh was also signed for Guddi. He was to play Jaya Bhaduri's silent admirer whom she initially overlooks because of her starry-eyed fascination with Dharmendra but whom she grows to love in the course of 18 reels. However, when Hrishda heard that Amitabh had signed a South film, Pyar Ki Kahani, he dropped him and the role was eventually done by a Bengali actor, Samit Bhanjo even though Amitabh some scenes with Amiatbh were already in the cans.
During Guddi both Amitabh and Jaya were newcomers. The only stars of the film were Dharmendra and Utpal Dutt. Of course, on Hrishida's sets there were no stars. Everyone was treated as equals and in this atmosphere of casual bonhomie, Jaya and Amitabh,two strangers living away from home and struggling to make their careers in show business,drew close as they discussed their common problems. Recalling the first day on the sets of the film in an interview, Jaya confided how after Hrishida had introduced them, Amitabh after a polite namaste had retreated into a corner and had not taken his eyes off her for long moments. Jaya had been horrified. "How can he stare at me so shamelessly?" she had wondered to herself. It was only later when she got to know him better that she realized that this was a habit of his and had to constantly chide him against intimidating people with his penetrating stares.
Their first shot together was watched avidly by Amitabh's friends, Anwar Ali and Jalal Agha, who had accompanied him to the shoot. Jalal Agha was also from the FTII from which Jaya had recently graduated and he was curious to know Amitabh's reaction to his colleague. "How was she?" Jalal asked Amitabh excitedly after the shot. Amitabh rolled his eyes and said, "She's very good, you know."
Guddi shattered many myths about movies and matinee idols but it also turned Jaya into an overnight star. She's still referred to as Guddi.
Abhimaan gave Bindu a new image
Amitabh and Jaya went on to do more films with Hrishida including Mili, Chupke Chupke and Abhimaan. Abhimaan warned of how fragile egos could destroy a good marriage. The film, Hrishida admitted, had been inspired by the lives of a film couple whose marriage Hrishida had seen going downhill before his eyes because the husband could not stomach his wife's success.
Abhimaan gave Bindu a new image. Bindu who had become an established vamp after films like Kati Patang, Zanjeer and Imtihaan was dying to break out of the bad girl stereotype. It was Hrishida who dared to give her a sympathetic role in Abhimaan. Bindu grabbed the chance and gave the role her best shot. She recalls how when the film was first released as soon as she came on screen people were sure that she would drive a wedge between Amitabh and Jaya and were presently surprised to find her coaxing him to return to his home and wife. After this film producers suddenly sat up and started seeing Bindu in a new light. She went on to play other "different" roles in Hrishida's film like the cripple of Chaitali and Sanjeev Kumar's "ma" in Arjun Pandit.
Bawarchi was inspired by Hrishda's father
Bawarchi is another of Rajesh Khanna's memorable films. It was a remake of a Bengali film in which Rabi Ghosh had played the role of the handy help who is instrumental in bringing happiness and harmony into a household. The film has inspired many film-makers including David Dhawan and Sanjay Chel whose Hero No. 1 and Khubsoorat had undoubtedly found their muse in Hrishida's family film. The character Rajesh Khanna played, Hrishida once admitted, was very like his own father. His father like him was a student of chemistry who had graduated first class first. Hrishida remembers him as a man who often experimented in the kitchen and made cosmetics for the women of the family.
Jhoot Bole Kauva Kaate had been written with Utpal Dutt in mind
Jhoot Bole Kauva Kaate was a film Hrishida had planned years ago. It was to complete the triology of laugh riots that had begun with Gol Mal and Naram Garam. Utpal Dutt had excelled as the eccentric inspector and the wanting-to-wed-widower in these films and he was to star in Jhoot Bole Kauva Kaate too in the role of the girl's father. But by the time the film went on the floors Utpal Dutt had passed away into another world and Amol Palekar was too old to play an eligible bachelor who woos Juhi and tries to win over her father. So Hrishida turned to Amrish Puri to liven up the role written for his friend Utpal. He signed the son of another old friend, Surender Kapoor who had worked with him in Anari, Anil Kapoor, for the role Amol would have played if the film had been made a decade earlier. For the role of the crow Hrishida got a stuffed crow specially made and alternated shots of it with live crows.
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