Prakash Mehra

Mumbai, May 17: Prakash Mehra, the architect of Indian cinema’s favourite icon of the angry young man and who helped shape the legend of Amitabh Bachchan, passed away in a hospital here today after prolonged illness.

The 69-year-old Mehra, hospitalised for several days, died of pneumonia and multiple organ failure.

Mehra turned Indian cinema on its head in 1973 with Zanjeer written by Salim-Javed where he cast Bachchan, then known for having delivered around a dozen flops, as the “angry young man”. The film, made on a small budget, became one of the biggest hits.

Mehra, along with Manmohan Desai, helped Bachchan become Bollywood’s biggest star with blockbusters like Hera Pheri, Muqaddar ka Sikandar, Laawaris, Namak Halal and Sharabi.

The last film they made together was Jadugar in 1989, which bombed. Two days before Mehra died, film-maker Vivek Sharma announced that the two Bollywood greats would come together after 19 years in his film Buddham Sharanam Gachchami.

Mehra was among the first Indian directors to try their luck in Hollywood. In the late eighties, he started work on The God Connection that was to star Bachchan, Charles Bronson and what was then considered a casting coup, Muhammad Ali. But the project never took off.

Mehra, during his later years, turned into a recluse and news of his illness was made public by Bachchan, who visited the filmmaker in hospital.

“Prakash Mehra, the director of some of my most significant and most successful films, lies in the ICU. When I went to him, he had difficulty in recognising me…. It is most depressing to see my contemporaries in this way. This wizard of a director, now lying inane and without response, eyes open but closed for all purposes, ventilator breathing for him — just so unimaginable,” Bachchan wrote in his blog.

Born on July 13, 1939, Mehra, who began as production controller in 1960, hailed from Bijnaur in Uttar Pradesh and came from a peasant family.

In 1968, he made his directorial debut with the hit Haseena Maan Jayegi with Shashi Kapoor in the lead followed by the 1971 superhit Mela, which brought together on screen brothers Sanjay and Feroz Khan, who passed away earlier this month. Mela was followed by Samadhi (1972) with Dharmendra in the lead and featured R.D. Burman’s sizzling soundtracks like Kaanta Laga.

But Mehra hit pay dirt with his next production Zanjeer, about an honest police officer done in by the system. The role was first offered to Dev Anand, who turned it down, as did Raaj Kumar and Dharmendra, who recommended Bachchan to Mehra.

The movie changed the trend from romantic dramas to action films and shaped Bachchan’s new image of a brooding but explosive person who takes on the systems and its ills.

Mehra’s last directorial venture was Bal Brahmachari in 1996, the launchpad of Raaj Kumar’s son Puru Rajkumar. The last film he produced was Mujhe Meri Biwi Se Bachao in 2001 with Rekha in the lead.

Mehra, a creative genius, had a deep sense of story telling and music and often contributed to dialogues and tunes in his films. He even wrote lyrics — the super-hit Salaam-e-Ishq in Muqaddar ka Sikandar was penned by him — but his weak-spot was technology. Mehra would famously tell his anxious stars: “Log kahani dekhne aayenge, camera ki kabaddi nahin (People want to see a good story on screen, not camerawork).”

He was also known for his no-nonsense attitude towards stars and abhorred sycophancy, saying he was a “self-made man” and saw no reason to prostrate before anyone.

Mehra’s health is said to have worsened after his wife’s death over two years back. “All through her illness — she was in coma for years — Mehra cared for her tirelessly. After his wife passed away he became very quiet. The man who regaled the media everyday at the famous 4.30pm meeting in his office during his heydays was just a shadow of his former self. These days he used to mostly stay in his bedroom and did not talk much to anybody,” said a Bollywood source.

The director is survived by three sons, Suneet, Amit and Puneet who live in Mumbai look after their father’s business. His eldest son Suneet lives in the US. The family is now awaiting his arrival for the funeral is scheduled for Monday.