Prakash Mehra(13 July 1939 – 17 May 2009) was a true entertainer. He changed mainstream Hindi cinema with his sense of drama, Indian emotion, and above all his ear for great music. His songs are still thriving, despite being decades-old. He started off his career with Haseena Maan Jayegi starring Shashi Kapoor and Babita, followed by Mela, and Samadhi which were the perfect formula for a commercial hit.
With Zanjeer, he started his own banner. His combination with Amitabh Bachchan proved lethal at the box office. After Zanzeer seven films of this combination ruled the Box office.
He seemed to know the magic of Amitabh the actor which he successfully used in films like 'Muqaddar Ka Sikandar', 'Laawaaris', 'Namak Halaal' and 'Sharaabi', all of them major hits, one bigger than the other.
Amitabh Bachchan once told that he was a dreamer and was never afraid of taking risks. He wanted to make big things in life. He had a film in his mind to cast the boxing legend, Mohammad Ali, with him. He even scheduled a meeting with him and Ali, at the sports icon's US home in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles.
He was the first filmmaker to name Amitabh as Vijay in 'Zanjeer'. Amitabh was Vijay in more than twenty films, some of them made by Manmohan Desai and Yash Chopra.
Music was the strong point of all his films. He always had the veteran music directors Kalyanji- Anandji to score the music for his films but had Bappi Lahiri in two of his most successful films 'Namaak Halaal' and 'Sharaabi' He himself used to write poems, In fact in many of the songs of his films, he wrote the first few lines which formed the themes of the songs and left the rest of the lines to be written by Anjaan, In his first film Haseena Maan Jayegi, he wrote the hit song "O Dilbar Janiye" sung by Mohammad Rafi.
Prakash Mehra also directed & produced Zindagi Ek Jua with actor Anil Kapoor in 1991, which was not a commercial success. In 1996, he introduced veteran actor Raaj Kumar's son Puru Raajkumar in Bal Bramhachari which was also unsuccessful. This was the last film he directed.
He died on 17 May 2009 in Mumbai of pneumonia and multiple organ failure.
Song of Haseena Maan Jayegi 1968
Song of Zanzeer 1973
Song of Ek Kunwari Ek Kunwara (1973)
Song of Haath Ki Safai (1974)
Song of Hera Pheri (1976)
Song of Muqaddar Ka Sikandar (1978)
Song of Laawaris (1981)
Song of Namak Halaal (1982)
Song of Sharaabi (1984)
No comments:
Post a Comment