Jagmohan Mundhra . (12 October 1948 – 4 September 2011)
I first met Jagmohan Mundhra in 2000 at his office in Parel. His film Bawander was getting released and he was all charged up.
He was a large man with expressive, intelligent eyes. Looking at him it was difficult to imagine that here was a man who had made his mark in the United States as a maker of erotic and horror thrillers. More still, when Jagmohan spoke his sensitivity and intelligence further destroyed the archetypical image that surrounded him. He spoke from heart and was quite sincere.
Earlier he had made his presence felt in Bollywood by making Kamla (1985). Based on a Vijay Tendulkar play it dealt with exploitation of tribal girls in flesh trade marts of cities. It made Mundhra a much respected cerebral director. A recognition which he had deperately yearned for.
Jagmohan had embraced the erotic/horror genre in a desperate bid to become a filmmaker. An IIT graduate with a doctorate in film marketing he had tried all the tricks of the trade to become a filmmaker. Finally with the onset of home video boom in the US he got his break and made thrillers for the direct to video market. Later he made films for theatrical releases too.
It is quite surprising that for a self-confessed fumbling director which he was during the making of his first Hindi film Suraag, Jagmohan’s later oeuvre was distinctly slick.
When I had asked him about his technical finesse he had replied that his stint in the much maligned B grade American films had taught him the film grammer and discipline of Hollywood.
Thus his filmmaking approach even in the 80s was through a bound script, detailed shot divisions and eloquent camerawork. Even a look at early films like Monsoon which he shot in India exemplies his grip on the craft.
Jagmohan wanted a clean break with the erotic genre. In the US he couldn’t achieve this but Bollywood did exonerate him. With Kamla and Bawander he became a very respected director; someone with whom top heroines of his times wanted to work with.
At the time I met him he was reading a book on Sati which he had plans to make a film on.
After Bawandar Jagmohan went back to the United States but he never really cut his link with Bollywood. He had a equipment rental setup in Mumbai and returned often to pitch scripts and plan productions.
He wanted to make a fictional biopic on Sonia Gandhi. But as luck would have it his last offering to the filmdom happened to be immensely forgetable masala flick, Govinda starrer Naughty@40.
Probably this was his way to pay homage to the industry from which he drew inspiration and sustenance from.
He died with his boot on, so to speak. He was to direct yet another masala movie.
The leit motif of Jagmohan Mundhra’s life was very tragic. America made him a type of filmmaker which he never wanted to become. India gave respect to his profession. But even here he ended up making B grade/masala films.
It is heartening that in his obituary we read him anointed as a maker of acclaimed films like Kamla, Bawandar and Provoked and not of Bollywood Masala or of B grade American erotica.
I first met Jagmohan Mundhra in 2000 at his office in Parel. His film Bawander was getting released and he was all charged up.
He was a large man with expressive, intelligent eyes. Looking at him it was difficult to imagine that here was a man who had made his mark in the United States as a maker of erotic and horror thrillers. More still, when Jagmohan spoke his sensitivity and intelligence further destroyed the archetypical image that surrounded him. He spoke from heart and was quite sincere.
Earlier he had made his presence felt in Bollywood by making Kamla (1985). Based on a Vijay Tendulkar play it dealt with exploitation of tribal girls in flesh trade marts of cities. It made Mundhra a much respected cerebral director. A recognition which he had deperately yearned for.
Jagmohan had embraced the erotic/horror genre in a desperate bid to become a filmmaker. An IIT graduate with a doctorate in film marketing he had tried all the tricks of the trade to become a filmmaker. Finally with the onset of home video boom in the US he got his break and made thrillers for the direct to video market. Later he made films for theatrical releases too.
It is quite surprising that for a self-confessed fumbling director which he was during the making of his first Hindi film Suraag, Jagmohan’s later oeuvre was distinctly slick.
When I had asked him about his technical finesse he had replied that his stint in the much maligned B grade American films had taught him the film grammer and discipline of Hollywood.
Thus his filmmaking approach even in the 80s was through a bound script, detailed shot divisions and eloquent camerawork. Even a look at early films like Monsoon which he shot in India exemplies his grip on the craft.
Jagmohan wanted a clean break with the erotic genre. In the US he couldn’t achieve this but Bollywood did exonerate him. With Kamla and Bawander he became a very respected director; someone with whom top heroines of his times wanted to work with.
At the time I met him he was reading a book on Sati which he had plans to make a film on.
After Bawandar Jagmohan went back to the United States but he never really cut his link with Bollywood. He had a equipment rental setup in Mumbai and returned often to pitch scripts and plan productions.
He wanted to make a fictional biopic on Sonia Gandhi. But as luck would have it his last offering to the filmdom happened to be immensely forgetable masala flick, Govinda starrer Naughty@40.
Probably this was his way to pay homage to the industry from which he drew inspiration and sustenance from.
He died with his boot on, so to speak. He was to direct yet another masala movie.
The leit motif of Jagmohan Mundhra’s life was very tragic. America made him a type of filmmaker which he never wanted to become. India gave respect to his profession. But even here he ended up making B grade/masala films.
It is heartening that in his obituary we read him anointed as a maker of acclaimed films like Kamla, Bawandar and Provoked and not of Bollywood Masala or of B grade American erotica.
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