Joy Mukherjee

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t he rebuffed taking any punishment. When teachers made complaints he would not be afraid of his father too! The only person he feared was his mother and never uttered a word when she scolded or beat him! At St. Xavier College in Mumbai he was less in class and more at cinema halls watching matinee shows with his friends. He loved sports and enjoyed boxing, wrestling and football. At college, he took up tennis. Every night he would party and come late at night. His life was aimless.

Joy Mukherjee became an actor accidentally Assistant film director R.K. Nayyar who had been working for S Mukherjee’s film production once narrated a romantic story that he had written for Mukherjee Banner. The script was a novel love story of an ugly girl, who is discarded by the hero and how she compels the hero to marry her after she transforms her repulsive looks into an attractive and gorgeous woman. After reading the story S Mukherjee felt the script demanded a new girl. Hence he launched a hunt for a new heroine. While the hunt was on; one day Joy Mukherjee saw a picture of a young beautiful girl in the filmy weekly newspaper Screen and immediately called the girl to meet him. The girl was Sadhana. She was finalized and Dharmendra was finalized as the hero but when the film shooting was to commence Dharmendra got busy with another assignment! Shooting had to be postponed and the hunt for a new hero began when one day R.K. Nayyar was discussing the songs of the film with the seniorMukherjee at his house he saw Joy Mukherjee and was dazed by his charming personality and exclaimed – We have got the hero! Thus Joy Mukherjee got his debut film in his father’s home production! The film was Love in Simla. It was the directorial debut of brilliant filmmaker R.K. Nayyar. The movie was a huge hit! An ugly taunt made Joy Mukherjee an actor! Since Joy Mukherjee was selected accidentally for the film hence he was not much interested in the film. Also, he was just 20 years old hence he was more interested in enjoying life than being serious! As a result on the first day of the shoot, he had to face bitter humiliation from the film crew as he was not able to deliver his shots correctly. In an interview, Joy confessed, “I had given around 10 re-takes and yet I was not able to deliver the right shot as per the director Nayyar Sahab's demand. Cut after cut, I was frustrated and took a break.” “When I was sipping coke I heard somebody from the crew whispering “Arre S. Mukherjee ka bêta hai. Jitna re-takes dena hai do. Kaun unko star banese rokh sakta hai! (He is the son of S. Mukherjee. He can give as many re-takes. Nobody can stop him from becoming a star!). Hearing this taunt I was shaken and pledged to work hard and give my best. Next day I tight-lipped everybody,” he added. Joy Mukherjee becomes a star! After the mega success of Love in Simla, Joy Mukherjee’s next film Hum Hindustani (1960) opposite versatile actor Sunil Dutt was released and was an instant hit. Two years later all three films Ek Musafir Ek Hasina (1962), Phir Wohi Dil Laya Hoon (1963) and Ziddi (1964) were super hit and Joy Mukherjee became the most sought-after star! Joy Mukherjee had the opportunity to star with maximum top heroines of the 60’s like Vyjayanthimala in Ishaara; Saira Banu in Shagird; Mala Sinha in Humsaya; Sharmila Tagore in Dil Aur Mohabbat, Sadhana Ek Musafir Ek Hasina. In fact with Asha Parekh, he did four hit films Hum Hindustani, Phir Wohi Dil Laya Hoon, Ziddi and Love In Tokyo and all of them were super-hits