Man who made Big B a superstar dies

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MUMBAI: Legendary film-maker Prakash Mehra, who gave Amitabh Bachchan the first solo hit of his career in Zanjeer and launched him on the path of superstardom, died in Mumbai on Sunday morning.

Suffering from pneumonia and multiple organ failure, Mehra passed away around 7 am, said a spokesperson of the Kokilaben Ambani Hospital, where he was admitted. He was 70 and is survived by sons Sumeet and Puneet. His funeral will take place on Monday afternoon after Sumeet returns to Mumbai.

Born in Bijnor in 1939, Mehra started his film career as a production controller and directed his first film Haseena Maan Jayegi in 1968, starring Shashi Kapoor . He then went to direct all the top actors, including Vinod Khanna (Haath Ki Safai) and Feroz Khan (Mela), but his career graph soared after he teamed up with Amitabh for Zanjeer (1973).

What followed was one of the most fruitful actor-director associations in Bollywood. The duo gave blockbuster after blockbuster-Herapheri (1976), Muqaddar Ka Sikandar (1978), Lawaaris (1981), Namak Halal (1982) and Sharaabi (1984)-though their association ended with a dud (Jaadugar, 1989).

Mehra was also the director who gave Amitabh his most frequently used screen name of Vijay (in Zanjeer); that name went on to be used by several other directors in 19 Amitabh-starrers with amazing success.

The director and the superstar never came together after Jaadugar's failure. The latter's recent visit to the hospital to see the ailing Mehra was seen as an attempt to patch up a wonderful relationship.

Amitabh has also called the Mehras, enquiring about funeral arrangements. Long-time Mehra associate Ramesh Ningoo said: "Mr Bachchan called us about the funeral and spoke to Prakash Mehra's children. Besides, he has been enquiring about his health every now and then.''

A despondent Amitabh reportedly cancelled his shoot and called on the Mehras on Sunday.

However, all rumours about their relationship did nothing to erase the stories of how fate brought Mehra and Amitabh together. The director was looking for a hero for Zanjeer and chanced upon Amitabh only after Dev Anand rejected the role; Amitabh's wife, Jaya Bachchan, in fact, thanked Anand in jest at the release of the latter's book (Romancing with Life) for rejecting the film.

The rest, as they say, was history. Mehra's film-propelled by a powerful yet understated performance of the type rarely seen in Hindi films before and dialogues (penned by Salim-Javed) that people repeated throughout the 1970s and later-went on to become a superhit and created the persona of the 'Angry Young Man', who would leave a permanent imprint on Hindi cinema. A modest Mehra, of course, gave his actor the entire credit for the film's super-success.

Mehra, along with Manmohan Desai, Hrishikesh Mukherjee and Pramod Chakraborty, worked magic at the box office-the first three almost always with Amitabh-and legend has it that Mehra and Desai hated each other with a vengeance because of their rivalry over Amitabh. "Both were extremely possessive about Mr Bachchan,'' a leading film critic said.

But both Mehra and Desai later patched up during the making of Muqaddar Ka Faisla, said Prakash Pange who worked with them.

Mehra went on to make films like Zindagi Ek Jua (1996) with Anil Kapoor and then introduced veteran actor Raaj Kumar's son, Puru Raajkumar, in Bal Brahmachari (which was his last directorial venture). But success, like Amitabh, seemd to have left him forever.

Mehra also owned Sumeet Preview Theatre at Juhu and was often seen sitting outside and getting nostalgic about his films. "He wanted to direct a film again but his health did not permit; his wife Neela's death also left him shattered,'' Ningoo recalled.

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May he rest in peace

...I'll have to see Zanjeer.