You may call it hibernation or you may call it self imposed exile.. but the fact is that I have been out of writing reviews at MS for nearly 6 months now. The reason? Well… I don’t know… it may be the way things have been going at MS of late, it may be the fact the MS is no more the place it used to be or it may be plain simple lethargy….
Anyway… The shock of losing one of the greatest movie makers of our times has definitely given me a jolt to write something… for a person, who has done miracles in the industry.
Biography.
I don’t want to write much on his times and events. Here is a brief snapshot.
Hrishikesh Mukherjee can not be classified into any of the categories that the great directors are normally classified into. He was not a serious movie maker like Bimal Roy or Guru Dutt. He was not a glam – feel good director like Yash Chopra or Raj Kapoor. He was not a populist director such as Manmohan Desai or BR Chopra.
He is a man who has given us the best of comedies: Golmal, Rang Birangi, Chupke Chupke
He is a man, who has given us several satire – comic – meaningful movies: Khubsoorat, Bawarchi
He is a man who has given us landmark serious movies – Anand, Abhimaan, Mili
He is a man, who has given us love stories with difference – Bemisaal, Jurmana, Chhaya
And of course, he has given one of the best tele serials (My favourite Serial of course!!) – Talaash.
Starting his career as the assistant director to Bimal Roy, he directed his first film with Mussafir (1957). Then with Anari, Asli Naqli and Anupama, he had set himself well in the industry.
Recipient of President’s Medal for Anuradha (1960), he also received the Dada Saheb Phalke Award in 2000. His last film was Jhhoot Bole Kawaa Kaate.
His Uniqueness:
1. Theme:
He often made movies with a unique theme. The themes often mixed social issues with a cosmopolitan background. Even if we see his early prominent works, the same is immensely visible. It may be the rich – poor particition in Anari (later used as a hackneyed plot in movies) or the man on death bed in Anand…. Always we saw social issues in urban backdrop.
2. Characterization:
Every movie director takes his strength from his characters. And for the more professional ones, the characters have always been special. It may be Raj Kapoor, Bimal Roy, Guru Dutt or Hrishikesh Mukherjee, the characters were special.
Can we forget the immortal Anand? Probably the strongest character ever created on screen? Or Mrs Disha (Anari), Pyare Mohan (Chupke Chupke) or the height of comedy…. Utpal Dutt in Golmaal.
In fact, if we look closely at his movies, many of the actors / actresses have been identified by the roles in his films.
Lalita Pawar may have done several roles as a vamp, but its Mrs Disha that immortalized her. Even today Jaya Bachchan is referred to as Guddi and for Rajesh Khanna Anand is definitely the role of his glorious career. Both Utpal Dutt and Amol Paleker are remembered by their roles in Golmaal while Om Prakash had a high point of his career as Jijaji in Chupke Chupke.
Hrishi da used to breathe life into his characters. Perhaps that’s why even the guest appearances seemed like integral parts in his movies. Remember Asit Sen and Johny Walker in Anand? Both of them put together won’t have more than 15 minutes screen presence, but still were integral parts.
3. Variation
Hrishikesh Mukherjee has used variation in his movies to bring new meanings to his stories.
Simple example can be seen in Anand and Guddi. Both these movies, made around the same time dealt with totally different subjects, but with the same underlying meanings. While in Anand, Rajesh Khanna was braving the fact that he was going to die with his humour, in Guddi, the common girl was living in the make believe world of glamour. But ultimately they meant the same – pretention and how reality can be different from what we see.
Similary, Bawarchi had a divided family and Khubsoorat had a well knit family.. both trying to find the meaning of living life to the fullest. Both these topics were dealt with great ease.. a trademark of Hrishikesh Mukherjee.
While Abhimaan dealt with the male ego and the intolerance of the female counterpart getting more limelight, Anari was more of self respect and the same male ego that gets urt with betrayal.
In simple terms, the same underlying meaning was dealt with different pictures.
4. Humour and Emotion
No other movie maker has ever used humour to deal with serious topics as Hrishida has done. I am a great fan of Bimal Roy and Guru Dutt, but they dealt with serious topics seriously.
Even a movie like Anand had its lighter moments. His other films of seventies – Chupke Chupke, Bawarchi, Golmaal, Khubsoorat, Rang Birangi…. All were subtle comedies while dealing with serious topics….
At the same time, he has dealt with subjects deep with emotions and sentiments with equal ease. May it be Anupama, Guddi or Abhimaan… he has done full justice to the more serious films.
5. Music
Hrishikesh Mukherjee belonged to that genre of film makers, for whom music was an integral part of films.. not an ancillary part. If the loneliness of Anand could be seen by Zindegi Kaisi hai Paheli Hai, the pangs of separation can be seen in more humorous Chupke Chupke – Ab ki saajan saawan mein.
And of course, there are more serious numbers as can be seen in two Jaya Bhaduri movies – Bolo re papihara in Guddi and Nadiya Kinare in Abhimaan.
The desperation of Dharmendra is seen in Anupama with Ya dil ki suno duniyaawalon, while the frustration of Raj Kapoor comes out with Sbkuchh Sikha Humnein in Anari
6. The Hrishida Touch
Every director has a unique touch of his own. The same was the case with Hrishida. Each of his films had that aroma… the essence of a perfect film without extravagant locale or even much of outdoor shooting. So it may be his projects such as Anand or Bemisaal, or partnering in direction such as Sadma…his mark was unmistakable.
So much so that, in spite of making two similar films – Jurmana and Bemisaal with similar casting, the treatment of the two movies were entirely different… still with the unique touch of Hrishi da.
And of course, who can forget Mili… in spite of being so similar to Anand, still so different. If we look at Anand and Mili together… the message is clear… every person can not be an Anand on death bed, Mili was different, but still she was special.
Finally:
I feel with the loss of Hrishikesh Mukherjee we have lost one strong pillar of the film industry. He has been a director, producer, editor and above all a movie maker par excellence.
I pray for his soul to rest in peace.