My Top 5 Hrishikesh Mukherjee moments

The doyen of Hindi Cinema, Hrishikesh Mukherjee is no more. His final rites will be performed today. He has left such a legacy that it would be next to impossible for any other filmmaker to contest. There is no one today who even comes close to the genius of Hrishida.

Although it is not possible to pick up the best moments of some of his most famous and highly acclaimed films, the following scenes from the movies come back to my mind repeatedly. Here they are and mind you, they are not necessarily in the same order of my choice.

* Aashirwad (1969) : The song Ashok Kumar sang - Rail Gaadi. It was the first song sung by the actor himself that sounded like the actor after KL Sehgal. Though many other actors sang their own songs in the movies especially Ashok Kumar’s famous younger brother Kishore Kumar, somehow I don’t find them as sung by the actor himself.

* Anand (1971) : When Rajesh Khanna meets Johnny Walker for the first time.

* Guddi (1971) : The moment when the impressionable Jaya Bhaduri meets her hero Dharmendra and gets awestruck

* Abhimaan (1973) : When Amitabh Bachchan comes to bring back Jaya Bhaduri and the way she lowers her eyes and rubs her feet against each other.

* Golmaal (1979) : The way Dina Pathak runs back home as Mrs. Vimla Srivastava, enters the house through the window to become Amol Palekar’s ‘mother’ again as Mrs. Sharma.

I’m sure to regret going ahead with this post because I know very well that the moment I publish it, I would ‘remember’ several other moments. Nonetheless, I am going ahead. Do let me know if you have similar Hrishida moments to share with us.

Finally, I salute Hrishikesh Mukherjee for his contribution towards Indian Cinema. Bollywood would never be the same again, ever.

Also read full2faltu's excellent article on Hrishikesh Mukherjee.