“No situation in life is so serious that one should lose one’s sense of humor.”
– Hrishikesh Mukherjee to his granddaughter Sujata Banerji
He was a multi-dimensional man with an incomparable mind. My love affair with Hrishikesh Mukherjee began years ago as a child, because of the music in his films. Soon I was bowled over by a body of work, which was so out of the box in so many ways and yet so familiar, evergreen and timeless. I watch the movies over and over again and love every frame, with the same intensity that I felt when I first saw each film.
It’s a love affair that will probably continue as long as I live, unless Hrishi da reincarnates himself and returns and I can then get in the interminably endless line of admirers clamoring for attention. A friend said he wanted to do the smart thing and not stand in line with me. He would prefer to come back as one of Hrishi da’s dogs, considering they were the most pampered species in what seemed quite a mad cap household.
Zindagi Kaisi Hai Paheli Hai – Kabhi to Hasaaye, Kabhi Ye Rulaye
This song from Anand which talks about life being a puzzle, that makes you laugh and cry alternately perhaps sums up the key philosophy of Hrishi da’s films. Whether it was an Anuradha, where a famous singer sacrifices her career for her husband-a sacrifice which goes unappreciated, or a Satyakam where an idealistic man married a rape victim; or a Golmaal and Chupke Chupke where the main characters come with totally crazy schemes to be one up on others; or the murder mystery Buddha Mil Gaya, where the two main leads try to figure out who dunnit in the most hilarious manner, it all seems so familiar, believable and immensely enjoyable.
Amitabh Bachchan said to me in the last tribute we did, that if Hrishi da had picked up a man from the street and made him act before the camera, he would have been able to get him to act the same way. It was just that he chose professional actors like them to do it instead. That is how real his films seemed.
No matter what the theme, his films are sprinkled with life’s lessons, with life situations that could happen to anyone no matter how whacky they seemed. And that was because the man was a keen observer of humanity.
Most people who knew Hrishi da knew what a wicked, and risqué sense of humor he had. He also knew how to laugh at himself. Hrishi da was a very strict disciplinarian on sets- so strict that once Amitabh Bachchan said loudly within earshot – Kaun kehta hai Hitler mar gaya? (Who says Hitler is dead?)
And what does Hrishi da do? He incorporates the phrase in his film Golmaal!
His daughter Jayasree, and daughter in law Swati recall how Hrishi da kept a diary in which he meticulously recorded everything. “Every time he would come to visit us in Boston,” recalls Swati, “ he would make notes-the cost of gas, how much we paid for our last car, the names of all our friends, their phone numbers.”
Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s films and their characters were so believable because they were so close to the people we meet in real life. How real? Swati and daughter Priyanka laughingly say many of the family members have made it to celluloid thanks to Hrishi da’s keen recording of everything in his diaries and astute observation skills. “If you see the movie Kisi se na Kehna, the character of Ramesh Chandra, the bright, shy, obedient son, is based on my dad,’ says Priyanka. “And the daughter in law is loosely based on me. Even a fight I had with baba made it to the film,” says Swati with a laugh. Other movies like Abhimaan and Anupama were also based on singer Kishore Kumar and his ex wife Rupa Ganguly and another relative, says son Pratip. His friendship with Raj Kapoor inspired Hrishi da to make Anand. Rajesh Khanna’s character in Bawarchi was based on Hrishi da’s own father who was a chemist and used to concoct all kinds of things from Kohl for the ladies, to fire crackers in his lab.
Swati says while the whole family was acquainted with classical music, she used to listen to Neil Diamond and Abba. “Baba was aghast when he mentioned Zakir Hussain one day and I said excitedly – I know him, I know him – because he is so handsome! Baba looked at me and said What? is that all you know about him. Is this the girl I married my son to? You have to go and get some classical music records and listen to them.” Her comment about Zakir Hussain also made it into the film, where Utpal Dutt goes to see this modern girl as a prospective bride and asks her if she listens to Ravi Shankar. The girl retorts – oh he is only famous abroad, but I like that guy Zakir Hussain because he is so hot!”
Jayasree says there were times they would fight with Hrishi da as they discovered some of the daily events making their way into his films. “Mostly he let them be but at times he would remove them quietly if he felt it really bothered us.”
Jayasree recalls her earliest memories of her father were of a man who would arrive in Calcutta (where the kids were being raised by their mother Rani and grandparents while Hrishi da was trying to make it in films) his arms full of books, many of which they were too young to read.
“Baba would have Tagore’s poetry, Gulliver’s travels and he would read them himself, till we could. I don’t ever remember him bringing a doll or some such toy. It was always books.” The love affair with books was among the many gifts Hrishi da bestowed upon his children and grand children.
Jayasree says in spite of the big house on Carter Road in Bombay, the entire platoon of kids and grandkids would plonk themselves in Hrishi da’s room. “It would be the most uncomfortable place because he would turn the air conditioning off, or the fan or close the windows if he was feeling cold and we would keep on chatting nonstop, talking to him, talking around him, talking over his head. At times he would yell, “ Out! All of you!” But we’d stay put! Baba listened to everyone. He wrote us such beautiful letters, creating a poem for each child. I wish I had kept those letters. He was an amazing story teller, but the stories were never about kings and queens. They were always about animals-how a little mouse was lost, how a fish disobeyed her mother and swam upstream where she was caught by a fisherman. He would compose a song and we would sing that sad song about the story and cry!”
Golmaal Hai Bhai Sab Golmaal Hai… Seedhe Rastey Ki Yeh Tedhi Chaal Hai
This song that says nothing is as simple as it seems, and the straight road seems crooked as well- could very well describe the craziness in the Hrishikesh Mukherjee household, where nothing was simplistic and some people, like Hrishi da’s newly married son in law Ashutosh Banerji, may have tried to find some order in the chaos-but it seems pretty much everyone including him ended up being part of the madness and go with the tedhi flow!
Ashutosh is married to Jayasree, the oldest daughter. She says she was married off not because she was of marriageable age at a tender 18 years, but because for seven generations there had not been a girl in the family, and everyone and anyone even remotely related to the clan wanted to see their precious girl being married off in a big event.
Ashutosh Banerji says he had no idea about all that behind the scenes stuff-he fell for this beautiful girl, with a far away dreamy look in her eyes. “ I found out later all people who are myopic have that look!” he says with a laugh, “ but at that time, I fell for “that” look.
Hrishi da became a very young father in law, to Ashutosh, who was however in for the surprise of his life when he arrived one fine morning with his wife, to visit him in Bombay, expecting a grand reception reserved for Indian sons-in law. Instead this is what he experienced.
“The gentleman (Hrishi da) was half reclining on the bed, with 4-5 chairs in the room, which were occupied by some of his favorite dogs. So here I was, the oldest and I thought most cherished son in law, standing on one foot, then the other not knowing what to do, and he would not ask his dogs to make place for me. He saw my discomfort and burst out laughing and so did I, and at that point the complicated and formal relationship between a father in law and son in law disappeared and we became friends.” And finally a dog did graciously decide to vacate a chair and the son in law who was a stickler for hygiene found himself seated on a chair full of dog hair.
“He (Ashutosh) used to bring his own towels and grumbled that there is no hygiene in our house,” laughed Jayasree. The wheel was about to come a full circle for Ashutosh Banerji but he didn’t know it then.
Ashutosh soon saw his father in law making friends as easily with his colleagues. “He had this fascination for chess and I remember coming in one day at 3 a.m. and trying to find the fastest way to get to my bed, only to be baited by the man to play chess with him at that unearthly hour. I tried to play in a way that I lost quickly but he said, “ No, No, try again. “ This went on for 6-7 games till he caught on that I was really tired and that was my polite way of trying to escape and he finally let me go!
The son in law also bonded with the grand father in law, Hrishi da’s dad, Sheetal Chandra Mukherjee who remained in Ashutosh’s eyes a “ sprightly young man” . “ In fact I could do certain things with him that I couldn’t with Hrishi da, like sharing an occasional drink, since Hrishi da did not drink. He would also visit us and take on responsibilities like going grocery shopping, refusing to let the servants do it. Off he would go, this fit and sprightly character to get the freshest of fish and vegetables from the market.”
Hrishi da’s oldest grandchild Sujata Banerji says before Swati came to their home after marriage, the place was chaotic but what was overflowing in that house, along with a million people, and a huge number of dogs, was generosity and abundance of love. “We never had a single conversation at home that involved anyone from the film industry, and so the few memories I have are of Rekha removing all my clothes and putting her wardrobe in my closet. Another memory I have is of Jaya Bachchan staying at our house when I was very small and Amitabh Bachchan was courting her then. He used to come to see her in his white fiat and they would talk incessantly into the wee hours of the morning non stop till my great grand mother said to him one day in exasperation-“ Don’t you have your own house?” I remember Raj Kapoor walking in totally drunk one night and saying-Hrishi tu mera baap hai.”(Hrishi you are my father). All of them seemed like the people next door to us.
The Carter Road House in the 1970s was a mad house. It had a palm tree growing though it because my grand father didn’t have the heart to cut it down. There were 10 dogs each with their own personalities. You open different rooms in the house and you find strangers inhabiting them-some of them must be the film stars I didn’t recognize but there were also the cyclists trying to break the world record, a sadhu(holy man) from Pondicherry ashram and all kinds of other weird people who stayed for a couple of weeks and moved on. The kitchen was always busy because you didn’t know how many people were coming for lunch or dinner, and you didn’t recognize most of the people on the table. If someone from the street decided to come in, eat and leave, we wouldn’t have noticed. There was always so much happening- Who was related to who, no one knew. Who would stay for how long, nobody knew!”
Rajeev Pandya, whose father J. Pandya was a close friend of Hrishi da and both made films together, grew up in front of Hrishi da and then became an assistant director with him. He recalls how much of a prankster and Gol maal man Hrishi da was. “He used to encourage Faroukh Shaikh to tease Deepti Naval who was always too serious on the sets, sitting in a corner, with her big spectacles always reading a book. She had come from abroad, and only knew Gulzar uncle then. Dada would tell Faroukh, “Go go, pull a prank on her- dekh kaisi serious look de rahi hai-Gulzar ban rahi hai-( look at her serious “look” she is morphing into Gulzar) and Faroukh would always oblige. Faroukh is so brilliant and so well read. He would take one of his fat philosophy books, give it to Deepti and say- kindly read this one page and then we will discuss it. She’d get flustered and we’d all be laughing.”
Rajeev also recalls a film sequence being shot in Mahableshwar, where the actress Rekha was to walk down a hill, lost in happy thoughts walking towards the sunset and she was to turn around and walk back, up the hill only when Hrishi da said “Cut”. We had already been instructed to pack up and disappear. So there was Rekha merrily walking and walking and walking down the hill waiting for dada to say cut. Finally she turned around and every one had vanished. She was SO furious and we had a hearty laugh.”
Another time Dharamendra who had become a macho superstar was to come to shoot for Satyakam. He was wearing this really exciting white leather outfit made for him for another film and came straight from shooting. He was so excited about the outfit, thinking he had really arrived and was no longer that gauche young Jat from the village. So he strutted in his newly acquired feathers, thinking Hrishi da would be bowled over by his new hip persona. Instead, recalls Rajeev with a laugh, “ Hrishi da with a straight face told his staff to make Dharam ji lie down, and cover him from top to toe in a white sheet. Then he turned to Dharam ji and said-aaj tumhara death scene shoot kar rahe hain(We are shooting your death scene today). Dharam ji says the wind went out of his sails rather quickly, while everyone on the sets was probably busy snickering away!”
Another time, Hrishi da was in a hurry and couldn’t find his fake upper lip teeth, remembers Swati. “The assistants who were as nutty were running helter skelter looking for those teeth until one of them tried to borrow his second son’s fake teeth. “ Tutu, said the assistant, give your fake upper teeth, or the producer will lose his money if we get late and we will all be yelled at! That is how mad everyone was,” says Swati laughing.
Na Jiya Lage Na, Tere Bina Mera Kahin Jiya Lage Na
In Anand, the heroine sings this romantic song saying she can’t live with out the hero. In real life if Hrishi da had one passion other than film making it was his love for animals. They couldn’t live without him and he without his favorite dogs, which at one point numbered eleven, says Jayasree. ‘I remember baba asking me for a Pekinese on top of that and a harried Swati calling me behind his back asking me if I was her enemy-and that there was no way there would be a Pekinese added to the existing platoon of spoilt canines”.
Hrishi da’s grand father was a zoo keeper and lived in a bungalow within the zoo, recalls Sujata. “They used to live inside and Buju Buju (a name she gave Hrishi da lovingly) used to save lunch money over weeks and months to buy those little birds that were bought to be fed to the snakes. He would buy as many as he could afford and then set those birds free. And then came the dogs. Growing up we learned that each dog had his own personality.’
“If a dog was on the sofa, we dare not ask them to get down, recalls Swati-they would growl and stay put. Husband Pratip recalls their oldest dog was Boodhi – a Pomeranian Pekinese mix who lived very long thanks to the love and care lavished on her. “ I remember Boodhi was our first dog and it was 1957. Baba brought her home, this little thing, on his red file which had the script for Anari.” Hrishi da was heart broken when she died and didn’t even want to shoot when she was sick.
Swati remembers another dog who was abused by a young girl who named her Dimple after the then superstar Rajesh Khanna married Dimple Kapadia. “ She would kick and hurt the dog, till her mother came and gave her to Baba. She was renamed Sweety and became the Queen of all she surveyed thanks to Baba spoiling her. This dog would chew paan (betel leaves) and sit on the sofa lording it over, and if I asked her to move, she would growl at me like who are you to tell me to get up-I’m the queen here.” Hrishi da would come back from work and dinner would be served to him on a tray near his bed. “ All the dogs would be sitting around Baba, and he would lovingly feed them-Sweetu-here have this chocolate, so and so, you have this.”
Little did the meticulous Ashutosh Banerji know that Hrishi da’s love for dogs would rub off on him. “ When my father finally got himself a cocker spaniel,” recalls Sujata, ‘ he became worse than my grandfather. “ So there was my dad, who would make it to my grand father’s home, sit disapprovingly on a dog hair infested chair, while two dogs would sit on each side of him, much to his dismay, and he’d keep threatening-I’m not coming back to this unhygienic household. And then the man finally got himself this cocker spaniel and was ten times worse than my grandfather. Oh has she been fed, has she been brushed, Oh isn’t she looking sad today. I don’t think I will go to work. When she died both my parents were a wreck,” says Sujata.
“Indeed the hair was never a problem, when I got my own dog,” acknowledges Ashutosh Banerji with a laugh. “Every bit of that dog became a part of my being. In the morning when I would get up, the greeting which I got from the dog, and the mournful looks she gave me when I was leaving would make me reluctant to go to office. The joy with which she greeted me when I returned made me feel like a celebrity! She made me feel wanted ALL the time. She died recently and that day I realized why Hrishi da was so attached to his dogs. Their love is irreplaceable.”
Sujata adds that apart from the dogs the most spoilt and pampered domestic help in the entire state of Maharashtra was found in the house of Hrishikesh Mukherjee. Swati and daughter Priyanka agree. “We had to switch off from our favorite program, if the regional news that one of the servants liked was on,’ says Priyanka, “ If we came home after 10 p.m. we either fixed something for ourselves or slept hungry because the servants got up early and had to get their 8 hours of sleep.”
“The domestics would be sprawled on the sofa watching TV,” says Sujata. “ at that time it seemed irritating but that was our earliest lesson at social equality taught first hand. Strangely today we seem to have imbibed the same attitude and the most pampered domestic help can be found in the homes of our family.”
Ashutosh Banerji recalls that Hrishi da’s driver and Ashutosh’s pet name were the same-Gopal. ‘There were some very humorous moments when I was around and Gopal was summoned. When it was suggested that he call the esteemed son in law Gopal, and the driver by the nickname of Tambi which means younger brother in the South, where he was from, pat came the authoritative response, “Gopal the driver will not change his name-if the son in law however wished to change his, Hrishi da had no objections. It was so typical of Hrishi da. He always stood up for the underdog.”
His younger brother Kalika Prasad recalls that Hrishi da was very kind to Gopal. He gave money to educate both his daughters and contributed to their marriage. He looked after his unit the same way. ‘ That was how my brother was- before anyone came to him, he would himself go and ask the servants or the unit staff if anyone needed anything. He noticed everything. If an assistant didn’t show up for a couple of days, Hrishi da would send someone to find out if something was wrong.”
Maine Tere Liye Hi Saat Rang Ke Sapne Chune
The rainbow colored dreams that this song talks about were also woven in real life by Hrishi da who was a doting grand father, and great grandfather to his grand kids and great grand kids. Not just that, he also became a deeply involved father figure to so many youngsters whom he took under his wing. It ranged from his crew, and the young actors who worked with him to even his own brother Kalika Prasad who was more than a decade younger than him.
“Everyone around him was his beta (son),” recalls Ashutosh Banerji, “and the number of betas he had around him throughout his life was fantastic! Babu(Pratip) should not feel like the only, lonely son! He has brothers scattered all over the world who were the adopted sons of Hrishikesh Mukherjee and loved him. He was very sincere about it. When he called someone son, he meant it from his heart and took on the full responsibility of a father.”
Hrishi da was a keen observer of humanity and a social animal who loved interacting with people, embracing them, warts and all, with generosity, humor and love and forgiving them as quickly as he wanted to be forgiven himself, when he growled at someone who was being tardy at work. He would make up in a way that was so loving, his irritation was forgiven and soon forgotten.
“Baba was not around when we were growing up, because at that time he was trying to make a mark for himself in films,” says Jayasree, “but whenever he was, it was wonderful. The most remarkable thing about him was the fact that he never ever said to us-I will NOT let you do this, or you cannot do that. He would simply say I don’t like this, I don’t think that is good, and that was enough for us. We would not do it because we felt that if he didn’t like it, something must be really wrong.” Jayasree adds her father always said the most important thing was one’s health- nothing else was worth stressing over. She remembers how her younger sister was tense about exams while doing her Masters and decided to skip that year as she was not prepared. My father convinced her that in the end we don’t have to prove anything to others-we are only answerable to ourselves.”
Ashutosh remembers Hrishi da’s obsession for cricket and how his wife Jayasree and he would talk for hours over the phone when any cricket match began. “The conversation between my wife and Hrishi da was worth hearing when the cricket season was on. It began with a ball by ball commentary though she was in Calcutta and he in Bombay –starting from the toss, to who should bat and who should not bat, and what should be the batting order. Missed chances, umpiring mistakes, quality of umpire, players, fielders, bowlers, captaincy, and critical analysis of every ball would follow. This would go on continuously. Later towards his last days, he was so ill and they put a tube inside him. He was in such pain and we could not even talk but all he wanted to know even then were the world cup results.
Another thing that was really funny was his love for people. So often, he would call me complaining about the various ailments that were troubling him and I would take special leave to go down, and the moment the doctor would come Hrishi da would forget all his woes and start happily chatting with the doctor-“Beta kaise ho? Bahu kaisi hai?(Son how are you? How is my daughter in law?) I would say-I’ve come all the way from Calcutta, just for a week. I’m rounding up all these doctors to make sure whatever it is that is troubling you can be taken care of-please tell them what is wrong; and he would brush me aside-arrey nahin Gopal kuch nahin hua-nothing is wrong with me. And then as soon as I would go back to Calcutta, Hrishi da would call and there we would go again with him complaining-Oh I’m having this problem and that problem!”
During the last days I would go see him 2-3 times daily and he was very sick and in pain but I had better know what happened in the match where Argentina played in the World Cup, what were the scores, which player did what. And then we would discuss his ailments!”
Sujata Banerji, who held the privileged position of being the only grandchild and great grandchild till she hit her teens, says because Hrishi da became a grandfather in his early forties, her memories are that of a vibrant young man who walked in, emanating vigor, energy and vibrancy.
“He brought in so much excitement with him every time he entered the room, and his hand gestures were very extravagant. He would do these very special things, like flying to Lucknow where my father was posted, just to spend an afternoon with me. He had a very high perception of what a child liked. I loved to paint, so boxes of crayons and paints were brought to me, Once in Bangalore while shooting, he bought every single Enid Blyton book in the store and those were sent in crates to my room. My first bi-cycle, my first music system, all appeared magically even before I said I want it, so I assumed that’s what grandfathers were for.”
As Sujata grew up, she says their relationship changed. They developed a shared interest of books and cricket as well as politics. Sujata remembers waking up in the morning at 5 a.m. and starting a long day of watching cricket on the television, and how her grandfather recorded every single one day international match and watched those matches again and again.
“We spent hours companionably going through every newspaper published in Bombay. It didn’t matter what the news was-it could be sports, what happened in Nicaragua or some sidey bi-election locally, we would discuss it all. My views may have been immature, under developed, or foolish at that time, but he let me nurture and develop them myself. I once gave him a book which I signed “From one creative person to another”-the cheek and arrogance of a young person!”
For Sujata, one of the greatest gifts Hrishi da gave her was imbibing a sense of identity with her culture. As a rebellious young rock music loving teenager, she may not have paid attention, but her grandfather doggedly kept at it telling her that if she did not have a cultural identity or a sense of who she was, it would “make me adrift and unsure. How true. I finally got it. We talked about spiritualism though neither of us were ritualistically religious, we were patriotic but not jingoistic. For a young girl it was marvelous to have a grandfather who listened to her views with such interest and respect. After that you have such a feeling of worth that no one can take it away from you.”
Hrishi da was a brilliant chess player and while he was able to teach his equally brilliant son Pratip and later hold him a chess hostage as Pratip remembers laughingly, he couldn’t pull that one with either Kalika or Sujata. Both refused to fall into the chess trap. “ We were both so competitive and no matter how much he loved me he would have never let me win,” Sujata laughs.
When Sujata went away to the university Hrishi da would send her letters discussing the minutest family details-how Kalu the dog was jealous of Swati’s new born son. When Sujata was to get married, Hrishi da was so involved with her wedding details that one would think he was the father and not the grandfather. When she was working at the Economic Times, he would call her to discuss the corporate world. When she got pregnant he took great delight in her pregnancy. “ He had a marvelously developed feminine side and the kind of conversation I would have with him you’d think I was talking to a maiden aunt. When my first son was born he bestowed upon him such lavish love and affection it was awesome in its purity.”
Even when he was sick in his later days, his body caught in a nightmare of endless dialysis and pain, Hrishi da acted like a hard disk of the family computer. “His room became a news room,” says Sujata, “and he’d keep us informed of all the significant events in the lives of all the family members. Who was doing what, who was taking an exam, who was ill, who was expecting a baby and made us more involved in their lives. People like us who could get about and pick up the phone and call each other but didn’t. He put all of us in constant touch with each other and gave us such a feeling of security like we were under the shade of a huge Banyan tree shielding us forever.”
Sujata says she never thought of interviewing her grandfather in spite of being a journalist with the Economic Times. She was busy talking to corporate heads, and because Hrishi da kept his family so far removed from films, she never saw him as this great film maker. He was just Buju-Buju for her. Even when it came to movies, he steered her towards the movies of Satyajit Ray and not his own-such was his humility. “ The film world was always around us but when you live on the beach, you stop paying attention to the ocean. Sometimes even my closest friends didn’t know what my grandfather did. One of them saw all his film trophies and absent mindedly though he was a sportsman!”
Swati Mukherjee says her relationship with Hrishi da was close and informal but he was always the head of the family. “ So it was really funny when once he came to visit us in Boston and my little son Abhishek who was Baba’s only grandson and his darling, retorted when Baba said something to him, “ Puti Baba, you can’t say that. You are NOT the boss of this house.” Baba was stunned and it took him a few seconds to digest that before he retorted back-I’m the boss of your father!” It was quite funny.”
Swati remembers how her love for ice cream and the fact that she was a bit chubby when she got married became the bane of her life. “You know you have those strict Mother superiors in Catholic schools. Baba was the Father Superior when it came to my weight. There was a Producer who wanted Baba to make a film with him and would you believe what Baba made him do? It was that producer’s job to take me for a walk every day up Pali Hill. Can you imagine, here I was, a newly wed, panting daily behind this man. Pratip would tease me the moment he heard Baba yell, “Go Father Superior is calling you.” And off I would go for this long walk.”
Pratip remembers that till the last day his father’s memory remained so sharp. “So many times my uncle and I would be talking and trying to remember something. Then my uncle would say- why are we tiring our brains, lets ask him and Baba would be reading the paper and would have the answer without even raising his head.” Sujata says the doctors were amazed that as he lay there dying he couldn’t speak but his eyes were alert and shining. ’Usually they say that the brain shuts down first in preparation, and they could not believe how in spite of all his organs failing he stayed so connected with the world till the end.”
For Priyanka, Swati and Pratip’s daughter, the memories of her grandfather are as rich and vivid as her older cousin Sujata’s. From her first pet, to telling her never to speak ill of others and no matter what she did, to give it her hundred percent, Priyanka says Hrishi da shaped her personality in more ways than one. The fun began right as soon as they woke up and Hrishi da would indulge in silly rhymes and limericks twisting titles to make her laugh-“For instance the serial Saas bhi Kabhi Bahu thi was renamed Dahi bhi kabhi chach thi,” says Priyanka with a laugh.
Her grandfather regretted the fact that he couldn’t continue a career as a scientist and so he wanted his kids and grandkids to do something different than him. ‘May be that is why he kept the family away from films and we never discussed films much at home. I do remember though when I was 16 and had gone to India, I had the biggest crush on Aamir Khan. I’d talk about Aamir Khan all the time, till one day my exasperated grandfather, said, “ Come here- I want you to watch something and he put on Guddi for me(about a star struck young girl who finally realizes how fake the world of glamour really is.). He did however introduce me to Aamir Khan which was a big deal because I was never allowed to meet anybody from the film industry. So it was really nice of him to have done that.”
Priyanka says her grandfather became her closest friend first and grandfather later. He offered unconditional love to all those who came into contact with him and it showed. “When he said something it was not to either hurt you or make you happy-it always came from your well being in mind.”
“He always told me that a woman can be strong and dignified at the same time. That dignity must be reflected in how she carried herself, what she wore and how she spoke. Having five pretty granddaughters all growing up at the same time must have been nightmarish for the poor man!”
Hrishi da wanted his granddaughters to stand on their own feet and be admired not because of him but because of their own accomplishments. He wanted them to be successful and happy. When they were together, Priyanka and Hrishi da discussed everything besides movies. “We talked about life, the letters I had written to him, how I was doing at work, what I planned to do with my life, The best piece of advice he gave me was to remember that when I got married, I was not just marrying the guy but his entire family, so to really consider that and I did. As a result when he met my husband Nick and his family they really got along. My mother in law and Puti baba are totally alike.”
Priyanka says when she heard actors talking about how strict her grandfather was on the sets, but very loving off it, she realized that he was the same person every where. “The cap of the contact lens case is always to be closed, if I ever colored my hair I wouldn’t hear the end of it, and I had to hide all my new shopping or convince him they were bought at a throw away price because he didn’t like wasting money! He would always say that extra money may really help someone poor.
He had an incredible fascination for chocolates but would not eat them himself. He would put them in the fridge then take then out one at a time, and give them to other people while we would try and steal some chocolates back. He loved to eat and ate all kinds of unhealthy food. His favorite line was-what’s for dinner?”
When her closest friend Sarika was diagnosed with leukemia, Hrishi da who had met her when Priyanka brought her to India with her, was there to love and offer positive words to both. When Sarika passed away he hunted Priyanka down and shared her grief.
Priyanka was the family spy who would go and tattle all the family trespasses committed by members, her mom Swati being her main target. “ I would go-Puti baba mom used that phone you told her not to… and mom would say-“Be quiet, you Puti Baba ki chamchi! Poor mom, all of us Mukherjees are naturally skinny and mom has a tendency to put on weight. She’d walk past and Puti baba would say-did you hear that earthquake and keep teasing her! Mom still struggles with it!
Ya Dil Ki Suno Duniya walon. Ya Mujh Ko Abhi Chup Rehne Do
Either listen to what my heart speaks or let me remain silent for now, says this song from Anupama.
Perhaps this song was also written to reiterate the fact that Hrishi da listened to the dictates of his heart when he made films and marched to the tune of his own drummer and would rather make the kind of film he wanted to make- or not make any.
Rajeev Pandya says when Hrishi da made Musafir which was his debut film, it was one of its kind. “The story of three families who come and go through a rental home and their life stories. He took Dharamendra and turned him into a fine dramatic and comedic actor from the macho he man that he was supposedly on screen. He took an Amitabh Bachchan when he was at the peak of his angry young man persona and made him do a sensitive film like Alaap. He took a Bindu, the reigning vamp of Indian cinema and turned her into a sympathetic character in Abhimaan. He took an elderly Ashok Kumar and made him a hero in Aashirwaad recording India’s first rap song-rail gadi rail gadi. He took Lalita Pawar, Jayant and David and an unknown Tanuja and turned them into central characters in Memdidi. He took a Sheetal, who no one knew, a two bit starlet and gave her a proper role in Bemisaal. He took the usually serious Utpal Dutt and gave him the craziest roles in his films. He made a hero out of Deven Verma and Om Prakash in Buddha mil gaya again making a murder mystery when everyone else was busy making musicals. He was the first person to have a woman assistant, Susheela Kamath who later on went on to make a marathi film.
Hrishi da also took a Bhappi Lahiri who gave mostly disco music and got him to create some amazingly soulful melodies in Jhooti and Kissi se na Kehna. ‘His music editing was amazing. He would just take a pencil and say okay cut here and join there and when you heard the song, you wouldn’t know where it was cut in the original. It seemed like that was how it was recorded earlier. “
‘Hrishi da was the toughest task master when it came to work,” recalls Rajeev Pandya. “He was so kind, that at any given time, he would have around 14 assistant directors, but at work there had to be pin drop silence and complete focus, or else you would be in big trouble.
I have never seen a bigger workaholic in my life. He loved making films quickly. He got bored and lost interest if things dragged on. But when he was excited, he would shoot all day and then much to the dismay of all his assistants he would say-come on beta, now lets do the editing and then work all night while we’d plead for a break!” Rajeev says Hrishida treated every one the same way-be it his spot boy or a big star like Amitabh Bachchan. “We all had fun, all the time because it didn’t matter if the film clicked or not, he made them with his heart. The fun part was that every one felt so much at home. He was so brilliant-all the scenes were in his head. He has encouraged so many people to become actors and directors. David Dhawan, was an editor. It was Hrishi da who told him to try his hand at direction.”
Ashutosh Banerji says he accompanied Hrishi da on a couple of film shoots and while he can’t talk about the nuances of film making what he also found very unique was the atmosphere on the sets. “It was characterized by bonhomie and jokes among the actors and an atmosphere of general cheer. However punctuality and time keeping as well as strict discipline was expected. Hrishi da’s command of the spoken Hindi was not very impressive and at times it was hilarious that despite that he would discuss dialogues in Hindi with the dialogue writers and what needed to be changed and throw in some Bengali idiom into the dialogue. I would find it hilarious at that time but when I saw the finished product I had to acknowledge his genius. I would find that here was a movie where every dialogue was in place, and not just an embellishment but a relevant part of the narration and the story. In fact Hrishi da liked to participate and contribute in all aspects of film making. Editing was his forte but you would often find him discussing camera angles with the cameraman, dialogues with the dialogue writer and how something should be written, and many actors have acknowledged his ability to get the best out of them.”
Rajeev remembers how Amitabh Bachchan never moved from the sets when Hrishi da was shooting because he learnt so much. “And you can take anyone-be it actors, writers, anyone- everyone reserved their best for him.
After Musafir which didn’t do well at the box office, Hrishi da started with a clean slate thanks to Raj Kapoor encouraging him and giving him a new cameraman. That is how Jaywant Pathare came in to the scene and was with Hrishi da throughout. Hrishi da’s team of artists always remained the same, as did his crew.”
Rajeev says Dharamendra has often said that the reason why he has given such stellar performances under Hrishi da has been because Hrishi da showed him how to enact every scene otherwise a man from the village like him knew nothing about the finer aspects of acting.
Kalika Prasad says that being that much younger than Hrishi da was like having another father in the house and Hrishi da did more for him than even his own parents did. Hrishi da and his father had a lot in common. They constantly liked to innovate and learn new things, both were deeply into music.
“My brother was a brilliant sitar player and gave performances on AIR Calcutta. He was very fond of Ustad Vilayat Khan and Pandit Ravi Shankar and they had long discussions about music. In films my brother loved Madan Mohan’s music as well as Vasant Desai’s. S.D Burman would come over every morning and share a new composition he had made and my father and Hrishi da would both listen to it. Often the three would have such wonderful discussions on music-the old world music of the Ramayana, dhrupad, dhamaar music which my father loved. I wish I had taped those conversations.”
Priyanka says her favorite film has always been Anuradha, because she felt it was autobiographical. Her grand mother had made similar sacrifices for Hrishi da and had died young. “I felt some of the dialogues were straight from my grand father’s personal experiences.” She remembers writing a thoughtful letter to her grandfather about it which he proudly read to every one. Ashutosh Banerji was totally fascinated by Anupama and how much was conveyed with sparse dialogue in the man’s relationship with his daughter.
Sujata says her favorites changed over the years. When she was very young, she would see Golmaal over and over again and thought there was nothing funnier than Golmaal. Then she fell in love with Chupke Chupke and in her teens she was totally bowled over by Satyakam. “As a teenager your emotions are heightened and this post independence story of the decline of morality, idealism and disillusionment was really identifiable.” Her grandfather gave her the President’s Gold medal which he won for Satyakam and it remains one of her cherished possessions.
Sujata also remembers her grandfather’s complete involvement in all areas of film making and his immense contribution as a result. ‘I was a young child and remember there would be a script lying and buju buju would suddenly pick up a page and change it all, or he would suddenly sit down and write the lyrics of a song and later I would see it attributed to Gulzar. Perhaps Gulzar polished it up later but I know for a fact that it was written by my grandfather. I have seen it with my own eyes. I never got in anyone’s way but I was a very observant little girl. I would be behind the furniture watching everything and I know my grandfather was all over the place, a part of everything and not just working behind the scene.”
Sujata got to write one of the scenes in Kissi se na Kehna where Utpal Dutt on the look out for a daughter in law meets the obnoxious girl who loves rock music. Sujata was also heckled at the Economic Times by her grandfather to write the lyrics for a song in Jhoot Bhole while her scandalized editor saw her scribbling lines to a song that went-if you’re m-i-n-e, mine I’ll be t-h-i-n-e- instead of doing some economic analysis.
It was interesting how Hrishi da always thought out of the box and how the women in all his films, were very strong women but still retained their femininity. “I don’t know where the enlightenment came from as far as the women in his films were concerned because he came from such a conservative and traditional upbringing. I guess that is where the intellect comes in and raises you above your upbringing,” says Sujata.
Another thing that everyone appreciated in his films was the fact that there was never any real villain and there was always a feel good emotion at the end of each movie; even dramatic films like Satyakam and Anand where the lead character dies of cancer.
Kalika Prasad also laughingly remembers Hrishi da’s obsession for taking care of the producer and not wasting his money. “He actually showed up at my house and took away my kitchen cabinet because it fit the kitchen of the serial he was directing on television.”
Swati remembers how when she would beautify the garden or re do things around the house, Hrishi da would be most enamored and decide to shoot in his own house to take advantage of her creativity and save the producer money.
Rajeev Pandya laughingly remembers that often Hrishi da chose his actors again and again because they still fit into the clothes stitched for them for a previous film.
Rajeev also believes that every actor in the film industry who worked with Hrishi da owes his/her acting skills to Hrishi da. “He told all the actors. You are an actor- you are supposed to act, nothing more. Hrishi da never understood realistic or parallel or art cinema as it was called. He found it too contrived. He said-just because you have to show you are out of breath, you don’t have to run around the blocks twice. When Amit ji did his first drunk scene he was not drunk and he was fantastic. He understood what Hrishi da meant. In fact even in one of the jail scenes in Bemisaal, Amit da was wearing a lungi under his prison shirt and not the exact clothes, but he was so outstanding as an actor that no one really paid attention to what he was wearing. Often Hrishi da would see people putting a hanky around their neck to sound gruff and he found all this very funny.”
Priyanka says while they never discussed films when she met her grand father except for that one incident when he saw her obsession with Aamir Khan and made her watch Guddi, the last time she went to see him his health was failing and he was making Jhoot Bole. At that time he did discuss camera angles, and and other aspects of film making with her while she took notes. “It was cool to sit down with him and learn about how he thought of everything.”
Kalika Prasad remembers what a workaholic his brother was. “I remember once he worked for 24 hours non stop and finally collapsed in Mohan studios.” During his professional career Kalika didn’t spend much time with Hrishi da on the sets but later, once he retired and Hrishi da was making a TV serial, he started spending more time with him just to take care of his health.
Kalika Prasad saw how strict Hrishi da was on the sets but how much people loved him. “My brother had no ego – if things were not ready or someone was not being disciplined he would scold the person but within a few minutes he would apologize and make up in more ways than one. Kalika Prasad says his favorite Hrishi da film is Bawarchi. “Rajesh Khanna’s character was based on my father’s and I think the lesson that it taught us that we must stay together and accept each other with all our imperfections as a family is really an important fact of life for happy homes. The dialogue-“It is so simple to be happy and so difficult to be simple’, was special and written by Harindranath Chattopadhyay.
When my brother was sick, he used to be looked after by a ward boy who worked very hard and remained caring, in spite of working on minimum wages. “It made my brother very sad and he told me-“If I get well, I want to make a film on their lives.”
Even though Satyakam remained Hrishi da’s favorite film, Kalika Prasad says his brother confessed that he had the maximum satisfaction making Anand. Later ironically, one of his best friends died of Lympho sarcoma of the intestine, the disease Rajesh Khanna reportedly had in the film.
Kalika Prasad says he feels Hrishi da should not have made Jhoot Bole. “He was in so much pain that he really was in no shape to make that film. He only did it to fulfill the dream of a producer who had always wanted to make the film with him”. Kalika was with him all the time taking care of his health but both Priyanka and he could see Hrishi da’s heart was not in it. He had always wanted to make the film with Amol Palekar and Utpal Dutt but Utpal Dutt had passed away. Many of his crew members had either died or retired. It was not the same familiar comfortable set up that he loved having.
Sab Kuch Seeka Hamne, Na Seekhi Hoshiyari, Sach Hai Duniya walon Ke Hum Hain Anari
If there was anyone who was totally non-materialistic, not at all worldly wise, and offered everyone unconditional love and acceptance, even those who hurt him along the way, it was Hrishikesh Mukherjee. And so this song that says “I learnt everything in this world, but didn’t learn manipulative cleverness, oh its true people I remain a novice”-applies very well to Hrishi da.
Why just Hrishi da, if you get to know any member of his family, you realize they are all chip of the old block-all super achievers in their own field, and yet untouched by any artifice or pretension. They are as sentimental, as emotional and as trusting as perhaps Hrishi da was in his dealing with people.
Bidhu Jha a well known political figure in Canada, says his entire way of looking at films was dictated by Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s films. As a young engineer studying in Ranchi he saw Hrishi da’s editing in Do Beegah Zameen and started dreaming that some day he would make a film with Hrishi da but had no clue how they would meet.
When he finally met the great film maker, he was struck not by the fact that this was the GREAT Hrishikesh Mukherjee, but that he was so unassuming and approachable. He was the every man he portrayed in his films, and he carried his fame very lightly on his shoulders.
Bidhu Jha made Namumkin with him but his relationship with the movie legend, went beyond the film and lasted as long as Hrishi da was alive. Once, Bidhu met Hrishi da when he was visiting Pratip and Swati and they talked into the wee hours of the morning. It was a memorable meeting. “I saw the poet in Hrishida. He became so emotional talking about Tagore’s poetry and the famous dialogue Maut tu ek Kavita hai from Anand, which he had written. I was amazed at the in depth knowledge of literature the man had.”
That night Hrishi da also talked about many of the famous celebrities who were very lonely people inside in spite of their fame.
Hrishi da forged a deep bond with Dilip Kumar as well and remembers one time Dilip Kumar was very sad due to some personal issues and some one told him to go to Khandala and meet this lady saint. Hrishi da accompanied him and when they went to meet the lady, she asked, “Who are you?” Nonplussed Dilip said “I’m Dilip Kumar” The lady smiled and blessed him and then asked, “And what do you do?”
The morose Dilip Kumar came out laughing, and said to Hrishi da “This must be the only woman in the entire country who doesn’t know who I was and her blessing therefore was so genuine.”
Meena Kumari too who was always steeped in personal issues, loved working with Hrishikesh Mukherjee. “It was sad and deeply moving that the film was about to end and there was revelry going on and Meena Kumari who loved the unit said to Hrishi da-“Dada thodi shooting aur badha do varna main phir se tanha ho jaoongi. (Please prolong the shoot by a few days or I will once again become lonely).”
And yet, says Jha, Hrishi da said sadness and tears and melancholy have their own beauty. “Emotional suffering in the human mind can bring its own “sukoon”(peace). The man’s emotions were deeper than the ocean and I said- Dada I have never seen this side of you before.”
On another visit Bidhu Jha discovered that Ashok Kumar had passed away. Hrishi da was very close to him and was relating how Dadamoni as he was fondly called told him-Hrishi no one calls me these days except for you. I gaze out of my window at the golf course behind me and look at the trees, and nature but there is no one to talk to. Imagine all these known friends come to the park but no one comes up to my house to say hello.” It made Hrishi da really sad.
Once Bidhu Jha visited him in the hospital and Hrishi da was lying there. He was to pass away shortly after. “When I touched his feet, his eyes started dripping silent tears. To cheer him up I said dada I’m now in politics and I want to establish an award in your name for films that symbolize the kind of cinema that is close to your heart. Now you must get well and give the first award with your own hands.” He couldn’t speak much but in a whispering tone he retorted at my attempt at cheerfulness and said-“Bidhu, tu pucca politican ban gaya hai.” (Bidhu you have become a hard core politician)
The love Hrishi da had for Amitabh and Jaya Bachchan was reciprocated with the same intensity by both. Its something the entire family talks about. From taking care of his needs in the hospital and ensuring he got the best care, to visiting him regularly, for being there for Hrishi da any time they were summoned and making him an intrinsic part of all special occasions in the Bachchan family, Amit and Jaya have been as much Hrishi da’s children as his own. “Dada loved Jaya as his own daughter and said that there was no actress like her in the country. He made Mili especially for her,” says Jha. “He was so protective about Jaya and Amit and didn’t like some of the angry young man roles Amit was doing, although interestingly it was that anger and frustration he saw in Amitabh’s eyes when he first met him and was compelled him to give him the role in Anand of a young frustrated doctor.”
Jaya was a genuine well wisher, says Sujata. “She was always there, doing everything to make my grand father’s life comfortable in the hospital. Many people say buju buju was a father to them, but if there was one daughter who went beyond the expected to take care of her father it was Jaya. I have so much admiration for her.”
Pratip says he has seen Amitabh Bachchan come in at 4 a.m. to pick up his father for a shoot and touch his feet every time. Rajeev Pandya says even at the height of his stardom, if Hrishi da wanted to see Amit ji and sent a message, he would be there next day exactly at the time he was asked to come, even if it meant canceling other appointments.
There were so many people dropping in on Hrishi da’s sets whether they were acting in his films or not says Rajeev Pandya. He would see Kamal Hassan one day and Aamir Khan playing chess with Hrishi da on another. Dina Pathak was another regular as was Vinod Mehra. “ Dada was so very fond of the late actor Amjad Khan. Contrary to his villainous image as an actor, Amjad Bhai was highly intelligent and the rapport Hrishi da shared with him was amazing. Hrishi da edited his films for free even though Amjad Bhai would get upset with him, but Dada always said-“You are my son. How can I think about money?” His untimely death really devastated dada.”
Rajesh Khanna adored Hrishi da and said from number 1 to 99, there was only one director for him and that was Hrishikesh Mukherjee.
Hrishi da had given every actor that he was close to a nick name, says Rajeev Pandya.
“Amitabh Bachchan was Maharaj, Jaya Bhabhi was Guddi, and so on. They knew who it was when he used those special name to call them on the phone. In turn he was given several nicknames by the actors and family members!”
Kalika Prasad and Priyanka say that the best thing which came out of Jhoot Bole was the long lasting friendship Hrishi da formed with Amrish Puri and Anupam Kher, and the love he developed for Juhi Chawla who became his surrogate grand daughter.
Amrish Puri used to drop in very often and they bonded so well, says Kalika Prasad. “My brother was heart broken when Amrish Puri passed away suddenly.” Kalika Prasad also recalls how Raj Khosla used to come to play chess with Hrishi da, and lose every time. The punishment was to get dahi vada for both the brothers.
“When he came here, he met our friends and they were so surprised because he was such a great intellectual,” says Swati, “he discussed so many things with them and not films. He loved Stephen Hawkins. His mind was always open, he always wanted to learn something new.”
Kahin Door Jab Din Dhal Jaye, Saanjh Ki Dulhan Badan Churaye Chupke Se Aye
Far away as the sun begins to set and the twilight emerges as a shy bride slowly enveloping the fading rays of the sun in her embrace, says this beautiful song from Anand.
And as the sun began to set on Hrishi da’s life, the memories, the emotions, the walking down memory lane brings back nostalgia and a deep sense of loss. Jayasree sits looking at her father’s picture and says she cannot imagine a life without her father’s sparkling energy.
Sujata says her grandfather taught her never to depend on others fro her happiness. Its not anyone else’s job to do that, he said, and if she remembered it she would save herself many heartbreaks. He found joy is simple things. “When you gave him a small gift, he would appreciate it in so many different ways that you wished you had given him fifteen more.”
Sujata thinks of the times when she knew him as this young man bursting with energy and life, breezing with ten dogs excitedly yapping at his feet, her buju buju, bringing with him excitement, energy and a kind of power… and then in contrast, she sees him again, as the years fly past in her mind, a tall, sick man lying awkwardly in a bed, a shadow of his former self, restricted to that room, and it feels as if more than 4 decades have passed.
Just as she feels a wave of anguish engulf her, she looks into his eyes.. “They are still so bright, so full of life, alert and full of humor and mischief, even while the body has completely given up.”
Sujata’s older son Toby has always had a very powerful connection with his great grandfather. Sujata recalls running to MacDonald’s every 15 minutes to get a shake to cater to Hrishi da’s sweet tooth and loving this opportunity to pamper him, while Toby and Hrishi da spent time bonding deeply. “ A few months before he died, the two of them would sit together calmly and discuss how they would continue to meet after he died because it already seemed inevitable. They would practice sitting with their eyes closed, opposite each other on the bed, focusing on how their imagination would help them carry on meeting through eternity.
My grandfather always taught my son that the imagination is more powerful than anything else in the world. And even now my son will tell me-“We met in Venice last week”, or that he was making a Power point and my grandfather told him the third slide was a bit long. My son is very scientific but this is what they worked out, this is what they practiced and it works for them. I wish it was that easy for me. I have dreamed that he is near me and I ask him how do I cope with this loss? And just as he is about to tell me, I wake up.’
Towards the end of his life, many of his friends had passed away, says Kalika Prasad and he took their passing quite hard. As his own body began to fail, he preferred to see very few people, and the rest would talk to him on the phone.
Priyanka who was with him on many such occasions, says many times people would call and she would take the phone call on his behalf because he was in so much pain and he didn’t have the strength to be around so many people.
Nagesh Kukunoor was one of his biggest favorites, says Kalika Prasad. “Each time Nagesh visited him, Hrishi da’s eyes took on a different kind of joyous light and he bonded with him in a special way. He found a kindred spirit with similar sensibilities with whom he could discuss film making in a way he couldn’t with others. He told me-this boy will always shine and stand out, because he doesn’t make fake films-they are as genuine as the person he is.”
Contrary to what came out in the media Hrishi da was not lonely, though the family says he felt that his kind of cinema and he, had both been forgotten by the film industry.
Pratip, was, therefore, overwhelmed to see the outpouring of love not just from people who knew him but those who didn’t, when he was in India for his father’s funeral. “Baba had made his last film Jhoot Bole Kauva Kaatey in 1998 after a gap of a decade or more, and the film was not made the way he would have liked it. So I could not imagine that a man who had stayed away in the last 8 years of his life from films was so loved and admired.”
He was also not financially strapped as was reported.
It angers Swati. “We don’t like discussing finances, but Baba was doing fine. He has always been against the flaunting of wealth or wasting money, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t have it. Baba was very careless. In fact he yelled at me once when he was receiving an award from the President and realized the pocket of his kurta had a hole in it and his hand went through it. It was quite funny. He would not allow me to fuss over him. He said it made him uncomfortable. We were with him for 11 years before we moved to the US with Baba’s blessing because he wanted Pratip to shine on his own, being as brilliant as he was. But all of us visited him very often as did the rest of the family and it really angers me to see these kind of reports about him being lonely and strapped for money.”
Aane Wala Pal Jaane Wala Hai – Ho Sake To Isme Zindagi Bita Lo, Pal Jo Ye Jaane Wala Hai
Nothing describes the feeling that life is transitory and everything passes by in a blink of an eye, more than this song from Gol Maal. Its so important to live in the present moment and cherish every moment you have.
Hrishi da knew that in his own life and he learned this lesson the hard way. Swati remembers- “Baba said he wanted to be the last name in film editing and worked such long hours that at times he’d come home and just pass out with fatigue on the editing table. He said to me, Swati, I never had the time to even look at your mother-in law’s face and when I finally raised my head, my hair had turned white, your mother in law was gone and the children had grown up. I missed out on a lot. Don’t have the same fate as my wife.” I feel so sad that my mother in law didn’t live to see her husband’s glory and she made so many sacrifices. Baba used to say she was not a human being but a devi (goddess).’
“Hrishi da was a yugpurush (living legend) – that is how he should be remembered”, says Bidhu Jha, “because he changed the lives of anyone who came into contact with him, and continues to do that even now, in so many ways. He told me I was an extraordinary man when I was about to name my autobiography -An ordinary Man’s Life Story-and just his saying that made me feel elevated beyond words, because I know it came from the heart.’
Priyanka wishes her grandfather’s health had permitted him to live longer. “He still had so many amazing stories in him, but he saw his legacy continuing through people like Nagesh Kukunoor and others with similar sensibilities.”
Sujata misses that protection, that genuine interest in their lives and the pleasure Hrishi da took in the seemingly insignificant daily chores that made it all seem so extraordinary and really important. “What did the teacher say to my son? Tell me about the food that got burnt yesterday’-it all became magical stories for us to tell him. We began to feel that they were really worth talking about. At the end these moments had no practical use for him because he was no longer putting them in films, but his utter lack of self absorption made us believe that whatever happened in our lives, no matter how drab was so interesting to him. Life is so much more boring and we laugh so much lesser now that he is gone. Everything has sprung back into insignificance; you begin to see it all as ordinary – he was the one who made it otherwise.”
Ashutosh Banerji sums it up well. “Hrishi da was a very unusual man difficult to put in a capsule. He was always friendly, cheerful, encouraging you all the time and totally devoid of any sense of self importance. A person who had acquired his kind of stature, and not just in the film industry, but in any field can change. Fame puts barriers between the celebrity and the common man but Hrishi da totally managed to stay clear of that celebrity syndrome. When I remember the pain this man endured during his last days and with a smile, my problems seem nothing in comparison. The lessons he taught us will last forever.”
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