One of the most loved directors of Hindi Film Industry, Hrishikesh Mukherjee is widely known for his light hearted, comical dramas having many realistic & immensely likable characters loved by one and all. Holding a big repeat value, his films could easily make an instant connection with the viewers, especially coming from a middle class family and are still watched by the audiences even after more than three decades of their initial release fondly. Known for their enjoyable content, perfect for the entire family together with many sweet & small life teaching lessons for all age groups, Hrishi Da’s most popular works included Satyakam, Guddi, Anand, Bawarchi, Abhimaan, Mili, Namak Haraam, Chupke Chupke, Alaap, Gol Maal, Khoobsoorart, Bemisal, Naram Garamand many more.
Now out of his complete filmography, where only one film BUDDHA MIL GAYA revolves around a crime plot dealing with a few suspicious murders shown with a comic touch, there we have three of his lesser famous projects exploring some unusual and bold sexual themes, not going with the popular social image of the veteran director.
The first among the three is SABSE BADA SUKH (1972) comically pointing towards the biggest pleasure of life i.e. Sex as dreamt by the young ones post the age of adolescence. Starring Vijay Arora, Robi Ghosh, Asrani, Utpal Dutt, Keshto Mukherjee, Rajnibala and more, this is probably one of the first sex comedies made in Hindi cinema in the early 70s. Its basic storyline is about the fantasies a small town youngster (Vijay Arora) has about the beautiful film heroines of Bombay Film Industry and what happens when a shooting happens to be there close to his own village. In search of his 'Sabse Bada Sukh' he travels to Bombay with his supposedly clever friend who has already spent a few months in the city and the film portrays their weird experiences together quite amusingly. With many straight satirical references of porn magazines, blue films, reputed Filmfare awards, prostitution rackets and much more, this is undoubtedly a surprising comedy coming from the house of Hrishikesh Mukherjee breaking many set molds of Hindi films.
The second film is JURMAANA (1979) featuring Amitabh Bachchan, Vinod Mehra, Rakhee, Asrani and A. K. Hangal in the lead roles, based on a story quite unlike a Hrishi Da subject to be released in that particular (conservative) era. Revolving around a bet between two school time friends, the film had a rich Casanova kind of grey character played by Amitabh, who confidently bets to bring the young introvert daughter of their old school teacher into his bedroom through his own money tactics and charm. Eventually he does successfully manage to do the same under some different circumstances but the event completely changes the life of that poor innocent girl, feeling the shameful guilt forever. Interestingly the film could not win over the viewers due to its unusual theme but is still remembered for one of its fabulous track, “Saawan Ke Jhoole Padey”composed by R. D. Burman.
The third and rather lesser known film is NA-MUMKIN (1988) which in fact would turn out to be a quite surprising one for many, since it talks about an old man marrying a young girl and then committing suicide on his very first night only in a mysterious mode. Now the shocking secret is that he commits suicide as he comes to know that in search of a new companion in this old age, he probably has married his own young daughter by mistake. And hence commits suicide realizing the same, out of a shameful guilt at once. Honestly the film later gives its own hidden reasons behind the marriage which should not be disclosed here to safeguard your own individual experience of watching this particular film based on a strange subject. But the storyline indeed is hugely different from the films Hrishi Da is more known for unarguably. Also NAMUMKIN is not a well-made film too by the ageing veteran, almost entirely shot abroad with a limited cast featuring Sanjeev Kumar, Dr. Shreeram Lagoo & Om Shiv Puri (as the three old friends) plus Zeenat Aman, Vinod Mehra & Raj Babbar as the young ones.
So in a career full of many memorable, must watch & exceptionally directed gems of Hindi Cinema, these are the three unusually bold and experimental films Hrishikesh Mukherjee tried with, having a completely different genre and feel as compared to his entire rich repertoire enjoying an eternal life.
Cheers!