The Man Who Laughed His Way Through Life Now Leaves To Enthrall Heaven With His Infectious Laughter

Ali Peter John

His office in a corner on the ground floor of Mehboob Studios was like a Mecca for all strugglers ,new actors , aspiring directors and writers and even editors of leading mazagines and struggling journalists like me .On the walls of his office were photographs of his guru , Raj Khosla and his best friend Kabir Bedi . This office was next to a room which Mehboob khan and his wife Sardar Akhtar had gifted to Dev Anand where he stored all the costumes he wore in different films starring him ,a room which he rarely used and gave me the privilege of going with him to and showed me all the clothes and even

gave me a running commentary about them....

Johnny Bakshi arrived in the compound of the Studio in an Ambassador car and his loud laughter arrived before he could.He was dressed in the most natty clothes and cowboy boots most of the time and he always had books about films and legends from Hollywood in his arms .

He had several visitors waiting for him and he received all of them very warmly and then met all of them turn by turn.I was in one such small group of vistors and I still find its difficult to know how he took a liking for me ,which continued for the next forty years ....

I had first met Johnny Bakshi when he had produced his first film ,

"Manzilein Aur Bhi Hai".It was a controversial film directed by a new comer called Mahesh Bhatt (Johnny and Mahesh Bhatt were assistants of Raj Khosla before they could branch out on their own). The Censors had threatened to ban the film and there  were mass protest against their decision led by eminent man like K.A.Abbas , R.K.Karanjia and some leading lawyer and activits from Bombay .I was in the crowd of protestors at a public meeting at the Patkar Hall.It was the first time I met Johnny Bakshi and had a brief talk with him . The film was finally passed  , was appreciated by the ctirics , as a film ahead of its time for the common man to accept it .

Johnny Bakshi went on to produce other films like "Vishwasghaat "with Sanjeev Kumar in a double role .He also made films like "Mera Dost Mera Dushman"in which he had brought in Smita Patil as the leading lady of a commercial Hindi film after her making it big in what was called art films . Johnny made "Raavan "again with Smita and two actors called Vikram and Gulashan Arora who was a young businessman who wanted to be an actor .I remember seeing the film and how I couldn't make sense of what the film was about and what it  was trying to say .I was however confused further when a name like K.A.Abbas who I had the  greatest respect for , wrote his entire column ,"Last Page"praising the film , but whatever anyone did to improve the status of the film , it  bombed at the box office.

Johnny was a good friend of almost every star of the seventies and eighties and directed his last film "Khudaai"with Rajesh Khanna when he was slipping from his position as the superstar .The film as was accepted could not even be saved by "Khudah "or his "khudaai ". Johnny never produced or directed a film after "Khudaai"...

But , he continued to be one of the most active members of the film industry . He was in the forefront of every move , movement and protest to save the intrest of the industry.He was on the Executive Committee Member of IMPPA for more than twenty five years and even till he died this morning after a massive heart attack when he was eighty-three years young.....

I had a very close association with him and there were times when I met him every week and he was always very warm and even entertaining when he imitated legends especially Dev Anand who he held in the highest esteem . Johnny was very close to all the three Anand brothers , Ketan , Dev and Vijay (Glodie) and all the other younger Anands in the Industry.He was very encouraging and kept inspiring young man to aim higher in life .

Johnny had started off as a boxer in Punjab and was known as a efficient and good boxer but his love for films over powered his passion for boxing and he reached Bombay where the heart of the film industry beat and he never went back into the boxing ring again...

He was always enamoured by legends from Hollywood and great leaders and politicians .It was his intrest that made him name his three sons , Brando (insipred by Marlon Brando), Bradman (inspired by the cricketing legend Sir Don Bradman) and Kennedy (inspired by President John F.Kennedy, the dashing young President of America)

We were together at the Grand Hotel in Calcutta where I had taken Rajesh Khanna for an event in which a friend called Anjan Chatterjee , who now owns the chain of the Mainland China hotels all over India and Rajesh Khanna had brought with him his friend, Pawan Kumar , the first secretary of both Amitabh Bachchan and Shatrughan Sinha and who stayed on to be Shatrughan's secretary and still is

The last time I met him was at the book launch of the multi-talented Amit Khanna who was one of his very old and dear friends . The function was being   held in the one- time recording hall of Mehboob Studio,it was exactly the place outside where his office was once . Johnny was in his eighties and still very well -dressed and was still full of life and laughter .

There may be imitations of other men , but I know that even if god himself had tried , he would not succeed in creating another Johnny Bakshi .