Remembering one of my favorite movie makers Basu Chatterjee on his birth anniversary today, one of the best when it came to slice of the life, feel good, middle of the road cinema. Whose movies had that very warm, comforting feeling.

Gulzar, Hrishida and Basu Chaterjee were the troika of the middle of the road genre, each had their own way. Hrishida would concentrate mostly on the emotional intensity of the characters, while Gulzar would explore the complexities inherent in the relationship of human beings.

In contrast most of Basu da’s movies were pretty simple, feel good stuff, with a comic undertone, but at the same time they had a subtlety and sensitivity, avoiding the crassness of the regular masala stuff.

Before coming into movies Basu da was a cartoonist for Blitz for 19 years and his exposure to the film society movement in India as secretary of film forum, ensured that he was exposed to the European neo realist movies.

It was this exposure that made him direct his first movie in 1969 , Sara Akash which was a typical art house movie. The movie was about the story of a newly married couple and the repression they suffered in a joint family in small town India.

Basu da, took the same theme and made an albeit lighter and more endearing version in the 1971 movie Piya Ka Ghar. Starring Anil Dhawan and Jaya Bhaduri as the newly married couple it showcased the problems faced by a young bride coming from a smaller town to big city.

But unlike the standard Hindi movies, this was not about the beautiful village vs the big bad city. In the end, the heroine decides to accept the life in the city as it is and moves on with living, which is how it is in real life.

Piya Ka Ghar was one of the few Hindi movies which took a realistic look at city life, unlike most Bollywood movies. The spirit of the movie is summed up in Kishore’s superb song “Yeh Jeevan Hai”.

1974 saw Basu da come up with another winner in Rajnigandha which has to be one of the most sensitive romances I have ever watched.

Basu da wonderfully captures the dilemma of the heroine Deepa(Vidya Sinha) who has to decide between two diametrically opposite men her current love Sanjay( Amol Palekar) a happy go lucky guy and her ex flame Navin( Dinesh Thakur) a more serious one.

Basu da’s strength lies in the characterization, and the 3 characters are wonderfully etched in this movie. And of course great songs by Salil Choudhury Lata’s title track and Mukesh’s “Kahin Baar Yuhin Dekha Hai”.

1975 sees Basu da come up with one of the best comedies Choti Si Baat with Amol Palekar as the timid shy bank clerk, who woos the girl of his dreams, Vidya Sinha, with the help of Ashok Kumar, playing Col Julius Wilfred Nagendranath, as his love guru.

Ashok Kumar was simply outstanding in this movie and along with Utpal Dutt’s Bhavani Shanker in Golmaal, I would put this as one of the best comic performances I have ever seen.

Choti si Baat, was followed by Chitchor in 1976, starring Zarina Wahab, Amol Palekar and Vijayandre Ghatge, which dealt with the case of mistaken identities due to same name. Great songs like “Gori Tera Gaaon”,”Aaj Se Pehle”, “Jab Deep Jale Aana”.

Superb performances by all 3 lead actors and of course Basu da’s direction made Chitchor a must watch. Ironical that Rajshree Productions should recycle this story to produce a piece of garbage called Main Prem Ki Diwani Hoon.

n 1977 Basu Chaterjee came up with another great movie Swami starring Shabana Azmi, Girish Karnad and Vikram( remember him). Basically based on the story of the heroine married to another person and her heart pining for her love.

Basu da dealt with this complex theme in an absolutely sensitive manner. The final scene when Shabana decides to go back to her husband is handled without any over the top emotions and in a simple manner.

The same theme of husband-wife-lover was again handled in subsequent movies like “Voh 7 Din” and “Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam”. As like other Basu da movies this had great songs like “Ka Karo Sajani”( Yesudas), “Pal Bhar Mein Yeh Kya ho Gaya”(Lata) and “Yaadon Mein Voh”(Kishore).

The same year also saw Basu da handling the marital discord theme in Priayatma starring Jeetendra and Neetu Singh, was pretty average, but had this great song by Kishore Da.

And in 1978 Basu da again came up with a wonderful family story in Khatta Meetha which was based on the Hollywood flick “Yours,Mine and Ours”. It dealt with story of a widower(Ashok Kumar) and widow(Pearl Padamsee) marrying again and the ensuing chaos in a hilarious manner

One of the few movies which took a realistic look at the Parsi community and didn’t caricaturize them unlike in other Hindi movies. During the same time similar movie was also made with Rakhee and Sanjeev Kumar called Humhare Tumhare, with the same story.

Khatta Meetha had this memorable song, that pretty much summed up the 70's middle class life we grew up in.

The same year saw him directing Dharam paaji in a comedy Dillagi which however did not do too well. Nor did the attempt to do a desi version of The 39 steps Chakravyuh starring Rajesh Khanna and Neetu Singh, achieve much success, as the movie was a big failure at the box office.

1979 saw him team up with Amitabh Bachan for the first and last time in Manzil which was a really good movie.
Amitabh plays a middle class guy who dreams of striking it rich in life, and he woos a rich girl, Moshumi, by pretending he is a rich business man himself

Amitabh Bachan gave a really good performance in this movie, and it had 2 great songs “Rim Jhim Gire Saawan” and “ Tum Ho Meri Dil Ki”.

The other movies in the same year Ratnadeep , Prem Vivah were nothing memorable, but with Baaton Baaton Mein starring Amol Palekar and Tina Munim Basuda comes up with what he does best the romantic comedies.

. If in Khatta Meetha, it was the Parsis in Baaton Baaton Mein it was Mumbai’s Catholic community and the backdrop of the local trains that showcase the romance between the lovers. And a lovely song here.

1980 saw Basu da again adapt a Bengali story, this time that of Sarath Chandra Chaterjee, in Apna Paraye. Starring Amol Palekar, Shabana Azmi, Girish Karnad, Utpal Dutt in lead roles, it showcased the conflicts in a joint family. A pretty good family drama.

The same year however Basu da’s attempt to do a My Fair Lady in Man Pasand with Dev Anand and Tina Munim trying to do a Henry Higgins and Eliza Doolittle did not however work out. Inspite of some really good songs by Rajesh Roshan the movie was rejected.

His next movie in 1981, Shaukeen was however a big hit. A remake of the British comedy Not Now Darling the movie was about 3 old men who take off on a holiday when their wives are away to Goa.

There they are attracted to a night club singer Anita, who incidentally happens to be the girl friend of their driver Ravi a.k.a Sakharam..Mithun Chakraborty as Ravi and Rati Agnihotri as Anita make a cute couple.

Great music by RD Burman for this movie, and of course the performances by Ashok Kumar, Utpal Dutt and AK Hangal as the old men with a roving eye, make this movie a must see.

And I guess his last really good movie was the 1982 movie Hamari Bahu Alka starring Rakesh Roshan, Bindiya Goswami and Utpal Dutt again dealing with the efforts of the hero to consummate his marriage.

Another worth watching movie of Basu Da was Chameli Ki Shaadi, a biting satire on small town life, the prejudices, the caste feelings, all done brilliantly by Basu Da, with some fab performances by Anil Kapoor, Amrita Singh, Amjad Khan, Om Prakash, Pankaj Kapoor.

While his later movies were not too great, two movies however would stand out one was Kamla Ki Maut about the suicide of a pregnant unmarried young woman and the effect it has on the inmates of the flat.

And the 1986 TV movie Ek Ruka Hua Faisla a superb courtroom drama based on 12 Angry Men. It had great performances by Pankaj Kapoor, Annu Kapoor, K.K.Raina.

In the later part of his career he ventured out into TV with successful serials like Rajani, Darpan and Kakaji Kahin. Though Basu da, had passed away last year, his movies still enthuse and charm millions of movie goers whenever they are shown.