Pramod Chakravorty wasn’t counted among the great Bengali directors of Hindi cinema, like Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Bimal Roy, Asit Sen, Shakti Samanta and Satyen Bose. But he was more box office-friendly than all the names mentioned.
Starting with the suspense thriller 12 O’clock starring Guru Dutt (no less), Pramod Chakravorty directed blockbusters like Love In Tokyo (1966), Jugnu (1973) and Warrant (1975).
Dharmendra, who worked with the filmmaker in as many as five popular films agrees, Pramod Chakravorty was highly underrated. “He cast me and Hema repeatedly in his films, a lot of them with us together. He also cast Hema with Amitabh in one film (Nastik) and I worked in a Bengali-Hindi film with Pramod (Jagir) which had Zeenat opposite me. My first film with Pramod was Naya Zamana which I consider among my best films alongside Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s Satyakam and Dulal Guha’s Pratiggya.”
Naya Zamana was special for Dharmendra. “It was based on a celebrated Bengali film (Udayer Pathey) and it spoke about social reform. The music was a highlight. My next film with Pramod, again co-starring Hema, Jugnu was one of the biggest hits of my career. That too had very successful music by Sachin Dev Burman. Subsequently, we worked together in some other films (Azaad, Dream Girl, Jagir) which were not as successful as Jugnu or Naya Zamana. But his versatility and storytelling skills are unquestionable.”
Dharmendra seems to have been a favourite of all the eminent Bengali directors of the 1960s and 70s?
The veteran agrees. “I felt like a Bengali working with so many great Bengali directors: Bimal Roy, Asit Sen, Dulal Guha, Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Pramod Chakravorty…I was also going to play Devdas in Gulzar’s film with Hema and Sharmila as Paro and Chandramukhi. But that was shelved.”
