A Genius Named Hrishikesh Mukherjee

GolMaal, Naram Garam, Chupke Chupke, Baawarchi - a mere mention of these films bring an involuntary smile to our faces. And then, you mention Abhimaan, Satyakaam, Anupama, Anand , Namak Haram. Any person not quite well versed with Bollywood and its films might feel like asking - "Are these films directed by the same person who directed GolMaal and other hilarious stuffs?" You answer in the affirmative and derive an instant response- "Wow. That's incredible."
Yes, its really incredible and surely only a genius like Hrishikesh Mukherjee could have done it. Hrishida, as he was fondly referred to in the film fraternity, started his career as a director with the film Musafir after assisting Bimal Roy for quite sometime. Throughout his career, we could see that Hrishida never went for extravagance of any kind in his films. He kept them simple, portrayed common people and their sentiments on the celluloid and in certain genre of his films, extracted brilliantly, some hilarious situations out of their lives.
The most striking feature of his film career had been that he dabbled successfully in making both comedies and tragedies. Moreover, in both the genres of film making, Hrishida was focussed on communicating a meaningful message to the society.
The songs in his films were mostly composed by the Burmans(S.D. and R.D.) and they gelled well with the plots. A film like Namak Haram, which dealt with the chemistry of true friendship,had an unforgettable song - "Diye jalte hain, Log milte hain. Bade mushkil se magar, duniya mein dost milte hain." A song, whose lyrics was not just great but also extremely relevant to the theme of the film.
Hrishikesh Mukherjee can undoubtedly be credited with launching the career of one of the most prominent icons of Bollywood, Amitabh Bachchan.
The most happening phase of Hrishida's career has been the 1970s, when he was found to work with all the leading actors of the film industry- Amitabh Bachchan, Jaya Bhaduri, Sharmila Tagore, Dharmendra andRajesh Khanna. Later, with Amol Palekar, Hrishida produced some memorable hilarious stuffs like GolMaal. There are few comedies which actually have stood the test of time and one never feels bored to watch them over and over again. Hrishida's comedies belonged to that rare genre.
Frankly speaking, Hrishikesh Mukherjee reiterated the true meaning of a creative genius through his innovative yet simple style of storytelling. As a tribute to this master film maker, i feel one song from his film GolMaal will be just apt - "Aanewala pal, Jaanewaala hai. Ho sake to isme, Zindagi bita do. Pal jo yeh jaanewaala hai."