REMEMBERING JOHNNY BAKSHI

(1938-SEPTEMBER 5, 2020)

ohnny Bakshi was born in North-West Frontier Province in pre-Partition India in 1938. He reportedly lost his family in the Partition riots and found himself stranded in India. It’s said he lived his early life in Odisha, before moving to Kolkata. He was a good sportsman and could play football, hockey and even Mahesh Bhatt was another of Khosla’s assistants. It was Johnny who gave Mahesh his first break as a director by producing (1974). The film was miles ahead of its time in the sense that it revolved around the relationship of a prostitute with two criminals. The censors reportedly refused to pass it. Bakshi had to put up a fight to get it released. Kabir Bedi acted as one of the leads in the film and became a lifelong friend. It can be said that while Johnny was unlucky when it came to commercial success, he was lucky in his choice of friends. His office in Mehboob studio, was said to be a place where the stars could unwind. He was always joking around, his booming laughter bouncing off the walls, as he passed around innumerable cups of tea and coffee and lent a sympathetic ear to their real and imagined woes. He was said to be the confidant of half the film industry.