Two Good Men And Filmmakers, Rajkumar Barjatya And Mushir Alam Die On The Same Day

Ali Peter John

Anyone who has been in this industry during the last four decades will agree with me that Rajkumar Barjatya and Mushir Alam (of the producers' team of Mushir-Riaz) were sometimes considered to be misfits, because they had none of the characteristics that Hindi film producers are generally associated with. And it is a very strange and even unfortunate coincidence that both of them died on the same day in Mumbai.

Rajkumar Barjatya was one of the three sons of the pioneer of Hindi films, Seta Tarachand Barjatya, the founder of Rajshri Productions,a reputed banner that has been in the business of filmmaking for more than fifty-years. Ajit Kumar Barjatya and Kamal Kumar Barjatya were the other two sons and the combination of the three brothers, Rajkumar, Ajit Kumar and Kamal Kumar were associated with memorable films like Babul,Maine Pyar Kiya ,Hum Aapke Hain Koun,Hum Saath Saath Hain,Hum Pyar Tumhi Se Kar Baithe,Main Prem Ki Diwani Hoon ,Vivah,Prem Ratan Dhan Payo and many others.

Rajkumar, the father of Sooraj Barjatya was known for his choice of subjects and the casting. He played an active role whenever a Rajshri film was on the floor.

Ajit Barjatya, Kamal Barjatya and Rajkumar Barjatya

He was very active till around five years ago. It is difficult to say what went wrong with him in recent years when he behaved in a very strange way. He wore all white, carried a sling bag and attended all the major media meets and events and talked to people at random and even took notes.

The last time, I met him was at the convocation ceremony of Whistling Woods International at which Subhash Ghai and his daughter Meghna Ghai Puri gave him the importance he deserved, gave him a prominent seat and even made him present the students with their diplomas. He had become a regular at all the events held in five star hotels and was hardly recognised by the new generation.

He was a very good host during outdoor shoots and the few events hosted by Rajshri Productions. He seemed to be more excited and nervous about the films directed by Sooraj. People talk about having met him just a few days ago when he was his normal self. The news about his death during the early hours of February 20 came as a big shock for all the industry......

The aura of Dilip Kumar has drawn many to the industry, like Dharmendra, Manoj Kumar and Subhash Ghai. But in the early seventies two men who were in the leather business, Mushir and Riaz came to Mumbai to make films.

And as was natural for ardent fans, they launched their banner, M.R Productions and the first film they produced was “Bairaag"with Dilip Kumar in his first triple role. They made another film with their idol in“Shakti"which was a major film directed by Ramesh Sippy, best known for making “Sholay", with Amitabh Bachchan, Raakhee and Smita Patil in other key roles. They then made big films without a break, films like “Safar", “Apne Paraye", ““Commando", “Samundar", “Mehbooba",“Rajput", “Akela"and“Viraasat".

Mushir was known as the face of M.R Productions and had very cordial relations with all the big stars and technicians.

They were however not happy with the way industry functioned, especially in financial matters and were not producing films for the last ten years.....

Mushir will always be remembered as the quiet man who smiled in the face of any crisis.

They don't make filmmakers like Rajkumar Barjatya and Mushir bhai (as he was popularly known as) any more.

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