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'He led... we followed'

Lata Khubchandani

He is the greatest star that India has ever known.

He set trends, scaled heights unforeseen, unthought of before in Hindi cinema.

If Manmohan Desai or Prakash Mehra made a superstar out of Amitabh Bachchan, it was Hrishikesh Mukherjee who was responsible for making an actor out of him.

From the no-nonsense doctor in Anand, the witty scholar in Chupke Chupke, the complex, introverted man in Mili to the arrogantly insecure husband in Abhimaan, Amitabh has essayed a plethora of characters to choose from -- all grounded in reality.

Here, Amitabh recounts the almost dreamlike experience of working with Hrishikesh Mukherjee:

I'VE never worked for an image.

Let me tell you that much before Zanjeer came on the scene and established my so-called image, I had acted in Hrishikesh Mukherjee's films.

I continued working with Hrishida even as I worked with Salim/Javed, Prakash Mehra and Manmohan Desai.

Hrishida is like a father figure to me and Jaya (Bachchan). Almost a gurupita in a sense.

Working with him is an unbelievable experience. He had a style of filmmaking inimitably his -- never compromise on quality; or the story. He never pandered to base instincts. Instead, he chose to chart a path -- neither too artistic nor too commercial -- all his own.

SOME of most of the interesting characters that I ever essayed have been in Hrishikesh Mukherjee films -- be it Anand, Mili, Chupke Chupke, Bemisal, Namak Haram or Jurmana -- they have all been exceptionally well-etched.

He afforded me the greatest opportunity to perform.

You know, we never heard any scripts, never heard any stories... we just reported for work on the sets.

He would tell us, 'Stand here...', 'Walk this way...', 'Say it like this...' And we did.

That was his style of working. That's the way he directed us.

Our input was zero.

If it happened to be a complex character like the one in Mili, we would sit together. He would give a one-line description... and then guide you as the scenes came.

IT was as if the characters unfolded before our eyes.

You always felt secure in the knowledge that you were in the hands of a master. And that he would mould you. That is why we never had to worry about anything.

He was the one who used to challenge us. And he was the one who would guide and direct us. We were just his followers.

The reason why his films found such appeal was that his characters were as close to reality as you could get. Also, the situations that he put us into were so genuine and real that it afforded us tremendous opportunities to emote.

Everything you see in his films is entirely his effort, his conception. His knowledge of his craft was immense -- all we had to do was leave ourselves in his hands.

He was also a master editor. He could shoot a scene and you would know nothing about it till you saw it. And yet when you saw it finished, you wondered at his amazing coneptualisation, his attention.

He could shoot the last shot first, put something in the middle days later -- and in the end, it all just fit so well. It was marvellous to work with a person so gifted.

HIS career is replete with delightful subtleties which, today, we know and recognise as great cinema.

I would find it very difficult to pick just one memorable character among the ones that I have played. There was Anand and Abhimaan and Mili... all of them unbelievable moments in filmmaking.

Speaking of which, do you remember that last scene in Anand?

I was supposed to cry... The truth is that I was -- in fact, both Rajesh and I were -- laughing hard! My chin was tickling his stomach... There's hardly any difference in the sound when one cries and laughs.

Luckily, our faces were not seen -- it was a top angle shot. We were convulsing with laughter!

And do you know that the most number of films that I worked in, with one director has been Hrishida, and not Prakash Mehra and Manmohan Desai?

They just don't make people like Hrishikesh Mukherjee any more.