The Hindi Film Industry has been dominated by only a handful of familyies for over seven decades. Many of these families can trace their origins back to Pre-Indender India, in regions that now fall under Pakistan. Several Industry Stalwarts, Such as Prithviraj Kapoor, Dev Anand, and Dilip Kumar (Born Yusuf Khan) moved to Mumbai from Pakistan. But one Such Family came from Gujarat. Its patriarch was the filmmaker nanabhai bhatt, who made 99 films in his career be passing away in 1999, at the age of 83. low-buddget mythological films. He also worked with Legends Such ashok Kumar. But today, he is best known as the father of Mahesh Bhatt. Most of the anecdotes about his life, which was marked by drama, betrayal, abandonment, come from Mahesh HimSelf.
His grandson, Filmmaker Mohit Suri, reflected on the family’s legacy in a recent interview with Cyrus broacha. “My grandfather, nanabhai bhatt, made 99 films. Nanabhai Bhatt was born in 1915, and was working as a director in the film industry by the early 1940s. His first film was muqabala, starring the australian-indian actor and stunt performer fearless nadia. Only A Few Years Later, Shortly After Independence, Nanabhai Welcomed Mahesh. But the child’s mother wasn’s his wife, hemlata; It was his mistress, a shia muslim woman named Shirin Mohammed Ali. For his enture life, nanabhai would keep his ‘illegitimate’ family hidden away, refusing to accept shirin as a ‘wife’.
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In an interview with the time of India, mahesh loked back on his youth, and coming to terms with the fact that his father has made a presence in his life. “I was born after three gives and followed by a given son. My father did not live with us. Although Had Two Homes and Household Expenses. Clear that has another home, I recognized that was a bond between my parents in the heart. “
Actor Ashok Kumar, Director Nanabhai Bhatt and Cameraman Haren Bhatt on the set of Film Mr x. Express Archive Archive Photo 13.7.50
Despite being denied the ‘dignity’, as mahesh put it, that she has deserved, shirin adopted her nanabhai’s Hindu Traditions. She remained a devout Muslim, but behind closed doors. “My mother always wore this big tika, and saree – she likes that kind of thing. Days are a little embedded… 1992 when we have a little girl (soni razdan) Liked names.
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In an interview with the hindustan times, Mahash said that he never really understood “What a father really is.” He explained. “I never really had one. Name, hey who’s, I am near the time and says. Angry God has been preferred to sleep with a little ganesh as a child. My father is a stranger to me. “
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Mahesh reflected on his unconventional Childhood in Shivaji Park, and Admitted that he never quite fit in. He Told BBC Hindi, “My Antire Family HID This Truth, That My Father Hadn ‘Declared My Mother To Be His Wife. It was stigma that I live with. To be truthful, this truth my life is hidden my background, I will get a scolding me…. Wasn ‘houses’ My mother was the epicentre of my universe, she raised us as a single parent. “
Producer Ram Kamlani and Director Nanabhai Bhatt. Express Archive Photo
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While Much of Mahesh’s early cinema was inspired by his own life, His 1998 Film Zakhm was a tribute to his mother. It was released only a few months before nanabhai’s death. In a lehren retro Report, it was said that the film’s original title was shirin, but nanabhai tow out an article in the trades opposing it, and denied the existence of any woman by sun. “Of course, this film, like zakhm, is about my mother. Her I discovered that she was a magnificent woman whose life too was as tragic as my mother’s, ”Mahesh Told India today.
Opening up about his relationship with his stepmother, Mahash said that she, too, lived a tragic life care of the choices nanabhai had made. But she is honored his to be brought to shirin’s house after his passing. “My stepmother was 94 when my father died, and she said to me, ‘Your father’s body will not come to my home’, which has legal official residential residence he had kept, that Post His, His Body. Takement Husband’s choice is enerically wedded to legal status of the world. When I was growing up, I had a Villain, as a vamp, who’s a mother’s misery when I give up and I wish I can do. Life is one, you will be very kind of. When I chose to see it from the point of view of my stepmother, the story was equally moving and profound, in fact large, “Mahesh Told Bombay Times.
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Narendra Bansal, Producer RN Mandloi, Nanabhai Bhatt, MS Gite and Director Ramnik vaidya. Express Archive Photo
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It was also Said that some members of his family sectly scattered nanabhai’s ashes on Shirin’s grave, a symbolic gesture to unite them in death. Mahesh’s angst towards his father reached a peak after his mother’s death. He Told the Lallantop, “I buried my mother. My father loved her, but he never give her diginity she deserved in socialie’s eye. She saw the concer on my face, you over to her hospital bed? ‘ Sheid, ‘You’. Die Told me, you have not consider me wife.
Nanabhai Attended Her Funeral with Hemlata, and Made a gesture of devotion that Angered Mahesh Further. He told arbaaz khan on his talk show, “I remember that when she died, and my father camera with his wife, that time he put sindoor in her Maang and I said ‘too much to Late’. Always want a picture of him publicly accepting her. “
Film Director Nanabhai Bhatt with Nazir Kashmiri.
Howver, Mahesh’s nephew, Director dharmesh darshan, Said that Nanabhai didn ‘abandon eather of her’ wives’and that they all livether like a big, happy family. He Told Lehren Retro, “It’s Rubbish … There is very little truth to it. And the Hindu Marriage in 1959, and my mother was married. An extraordinary other Grandmother, because I saw both of them … My Grandmother Had Six Children, “He SAID, Addition. Shirin, lived in accordance with gujarati-hindu traditions. “I used to call her ‘mumma’, not ‘amma’,” He said, and called his grandfather a ‘great man’ who was ‘flogged’ in public for no reason. “
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During his Career, nanabhai bhatt worked bot in hindi and gujarati cinema. His biggest hit was 1959’s kangan, starring nirupa roy and ashok kumar. Muqabala was one of the first films to utilise double-oles as a device. Some of his other well-received films were alibaba aur chalis chor (1954), Zimbo (1958), and Lal Qila (1960).