Yash Johar would have been 80 on September 6, Screen pays tribute to the meticulous filmmaker, who was also the film industry’s best friend

Celebrated film producer Yash Johar, who would have been 80 this year, left behind a rich legacy of film production. Hailed as the finest production man in Bollywood, he was called the walking encyclopaedia of movie-making. “In this profession of uneducated louts, I am an educated man trying to give it a dignified status,” he would often say. True to his word, he made a name for himself with his integrity and sincerity. “Any international project that came to India, got in touch with him and he handled the indian production,” relates Mahesh Bhatt.

Johar began his film career way back in 1950s as a still photographer. He graduated to being a production assistant to S Mukerji, Nasir Husain, I.S. Johar, Dev Anand and Sunil Dutt. He turned an independent producer with Amitabh Bachchan-Shatrughan Sinha film Dostana - thus launching his banner Dharma Productions in 1980.

Oddly enough, his movies were fraught with troubles. During the making of Dostana, arch- rivals Bachchan and Sinha hardly ever spoke with each other and director Raj Khosla often wondered about the fate of the movie in the given circumstances. The Dilip Kumar-Rishi Kapoor film Duniya had the director Ramesh Talwar filing a lawsuit against the producer. His next,Muqaddar Ka Faisla, directed by Prakash Mehra and starring Raaj Kumar failed to click owing to the director’s apathy.

Always an innovator, Johar made the magnum opus Agneepath starring Bachchan with a modulated dialogues delivery. The gimmick failed and so did the film. “Agneepath was close to his heart and a part of him broke when it was not a commercial success. He just felt shattered and let down when it did not connect the way it should have,”recalls Karan Johar.

The Sridevi-Sanjay film Gumrah had its share of woes what with Dutt being jailed with just three to four days of the film shooting left. Duplicate followed - the film had Shah Rukh Khan in a double role and he ended up also playing the third role of on-location director while the real director Mahesh Bhatt worked by proxy those days on several films simultaneously. Predictably, that movie also failed to stir the box-office. “I am solely responsible for the box office failure of Duplicate. Those were the days when my interest in filmmaking was withering and I couldn’t provide what was asked of me. It was my shortcoming, not Yash Johar’s,” admits Mahesh Bhatt with characteristic candour.

“I am not a fool to make flops after flops, I am an intelligent and hardworking producer, it’s just that luck is not on my side right now. You just watch, I will make it big one day,” Johar would say.

And make it big - he did! His luck turned when son Karan turned director with Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. The second blockbuster Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham... seemed to compensate for all the years of sweat and toil. Kal Ho Naa Ho was his crowning glory. Most befittingly he was honoured by the film fraternity at various platforms. At 74, he was at the peak of glory and fame but succumbed to cancer. His innate goodness is still the guiding light for the Indian filmdom.

Resourceful and hardworking, Johar was a producer who not only invested money but also energy and passion in all of his films. He was known for his improvisations in production. When Gumrah required a big group of Chinese extras, he did not rush to a junior artiste supplier in panic. Instead he rallied around a sizable group of Chinese from local Chinese restaurants and beauty parlours. At another time a scene called for a melange of stuffed toys. While his assistants went about scouring toy shops, Johar just called on his friends and neighbours for help. The next day he drove in with a carload of borrowed cuddly toys!

There was not a thing under the sky that he couldn’t procure for his directors. From pin to piano - he could get just about everything for his directors whom he pampered thoroughly. If the director asks for 30 cars for a shot, he would get them. “Don’t give him an excuse to say that the production unit wasn’t supportive,” he advised his core team. Johar was a meticulous filmmaker; discipline was the operative word of his vocabulary. He was very particular about how meals were laid out during the shoots. He wanted a sparkling white table-cloth with proper cutlery, crockery and the very best of catering, discloses a production assistant.

Johar know all the tricks of the trade to make his production cost-effective. Like he always liked to hold his film trials between 3 pm and 6 pm, “You save on the overtime expenses that way,” he would say.

When it came to obtaining shooting permissions from authorities, embassy liaisoning for passports or visas, Johar was a master. He know the right people at the right places. Prem Chopra, his old associate reminisces, “I was just a newcomer in Prem Pujari while he was the production controller. It was my first overseas shoot in Switzerland, he helped me so much. He addressed everyone as “Maalik”, he adds.

Johar was distinct from everybody else in the industry - he was a cultured, refined, decent and generous man.Your telephone calls will always be attended courteously and message passed on duly. Even on the sets Johar’s only son Karan - then a carefree collegian - would drop in, look around, sip a cold drink and leave unobserved. He never threw his weight around unlike other star brats. Likewise, Johar’s wife, Hiroo complemented her husband as a genial co-hostess and never interfered with proceedings on the sets. The Johar hospitality has been the talking point in the film industry. He always has a crateful of gift-wrapped Scotch bottles in his cabin, ready to be given away.