Basu Chatterjee, legendary filmmaker, passes away at 93
They called it middle- of- the- road cinema back then. It was all about serving entertainment on the big screen with a slice of realism, telling stories of real people, drawing humour out of everyday miseries and joys. Indeed, today’s content- driven ‘ small film of Bollywood, which primarily regales the urban multiplex crowd with its stories of realism, owes its roots to the middle- of-the- road wave that swept mainstream Bollywood in the seventies and the eighties. No mention of that genre would be complete without three names — Hrishikesh Mukerjee and Basu Chatterjee, the creative geniuses that propelled the genre, and the incredible Amol Palekar, the actor who defined the everyday hero for both these filmmakers. While Hrishida passed away a while back, Basu Chatterjee, the other titan of the seventies small wonders in Bollywood, breathed his last on Thursday.
For the record, Chatterjee, at 93, passed away owing to age-related ailments. His mortal remains will perish with the last rites, to be performed at the Santacruz Crematorium on Thursday afternoon. The creative artiste who redefined the Bollywood hero in his time will continue to live in the works. And his films did redefine the Bollywood hero.
That was a time when Bollywood commercial cinema was seeing an unprecedented surge in popularity with the advent of Amitabh Bachchan’s iconic Angry Young Man protagonist and the larger-than-life awe that it inspired among the masses. Almost every other commercial hero of the industry was trying to replicate the formula. Chatterjee’s brand of the everyday hero came as an exception to the rule, celebrating the inherent flaws of life and personality in which he revelled.
The creative artiste who redefined the Bollywood hero in his time will continue to live in the works
The realistic, guy-next-door-hero, who stood as an alternative to the larger-than-life male protagonist of masala cinema of the era, was typified best by Amol Palekar in films like “Chhoti Si Baat” (1975), “Chitchor” (1976), “Rajnigandha” (1974) and “Baton Baton Mein” (1979). While Chatterjee was an expert in serving his gentle societal comments through his films, he did it mostly using the tool of humour in his brand of middle-of-the-road entertainment. Among Chatterjee’s other best-known films are “Piya Ka Ghar” (1972), “Khatta Meetha, Chakravyuha” (1978), “Priyatama” (1977), “Man Pasand,” “Hamari Bahu Alka, Shaukeen” (1982), and “Chameli Ki Shaadi” (1986).
He carried the trademark, believable world of his stories onto the small screen, too. With the advent of the eighties, Doordarshan took TV entertainment into every living room. Among a slew of filmmakers of the era who were brimming with ideas, Chatterjee found the small screen a natural platform where he could try out telling stories that were considered risky for the Bollywood screen.
Among his successful television serials are “Rajani” (1985), a series about a do-gooder homemaker played by the late Priya Tendulkar, who goes about busting societal ills. “Kakkaji Kahin” (1998), starring the late Om Puri, was a brilliant satire on Indian politics based on Manohar Shyam Joshi’s book, “Netaji Kahin”. Born in Ajmer, Rajasthan, on January 10, 1927, Chatterjee is survived by two daughters, Sonali Bhattacharya and Rupali Guha. Younger daughter Rupali is also a writer-filmmaker.