Pahlaj Nihalani Death: Prosenjit Chatterjee, Guddi Maruti remember The Friendly Producer With Memories Of Shola Aur Shabnam And Aandhiyan

Veteram film producer and former Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) chairperson Pahlaj Nihalani, who had passed away on Thursday at the age of 76, was responsible for giving a break to various actors in the 80s and 90s. While his film Ilzaam (1986) was Govinda’s debut, Aag Hi Aag (1987) served as Chunky Panday’s first film.

Prosenjit Chatterjee made his Bollywood debut with Nihalani’s Aandhiyan in 1990.

“It's a really sad news. I was doing a Bengali film which was produced by Pahlaj ji and I was shooting in Bombay where Sonam was also cast, which is how I met him. Then while doing the shoot he told me that he has a subject for a movie, which became my Hindi film debut, Aandhiyan, which was directed by David Dhawan. It was Mumtaz ji’s comeback and Shatru uncle was also there. He was a great guy, a producer you had given breaks to all the top actors of our time who became stars. He was very passionate producer who gave us great films. He loved movies and was a very helpful person. Its a very sad day for me, i know his children and bhabhiji also. I am in Kolkata, otherwise would have loved to come and be with them during this time,” Prosenjit told us.

Guddi Maruti, who established herself as probably the only recognisable female comedian in Bollywood in the 80s and 90s, was in two of Nihalani’s biggest blockbusters, Shola Aur Shabnam (1992) starring Govinda, Divya Bharti and Anupam Kher, and Aankhen (1993), which starred Govinda, Chunky Pandey, Raageshwari and Ritu Shivpuri. Over a call with us, she remembers Nihalani as a ‘sweetheart’.

“I was part of Shola Aur Shabnam, Aankhen and one untitled film which never got completed, which starred Twinkle Khanna. When my dad was alive, Pahlaj ji used to come home in the mornings, that time i was in school. We were always like kids to him. I remember him as a lovely person, its something i can’t really put into words because we knew him as children. He was jovial and it was a pleasure working with him. In fact sometime back i had also asked him, “Pahlaj ji, kyun nahi kuch kar rahei?” And he said, “Kya abhi!”, signifying that now it was a different time from when he used to make films. But we used to really have a wonderful time on sets, the whole unit was like a family,” Guddi told us.