By Jagmohan Singh Barhok
#On His Birthday
Govind Nihalani mastered the art of direction as is evident from some of his highly acclaimed Hindi movies. Also was he a successful cinematographer, screenwriter and producer. The veteran won several accolades for his excellence in various sinews of filmmaking including six #National Film Awards, and five Filmfare Awards for Hindi films.
Govind Nihalani appeared on the Cine #Horizon as director with ‘Aakrosh’ featuring Om Puri, Naseeruddin Shah, Smita Patil and Amrish Puri. The film’s script was written by noted Marathi playwright Vijay Tendulkar. It shared the #Golden Peacock for best film at the International Film Festival of India held in New Delhi in 1981.
His “Ardh Satya” depicted the nexus between Politicians, Police & Hardcore Criminals, receiving critical acclaim from different quarters adding another feather in his cap as a director of yore. Om Puri, Smita Patil , Sadashiv Amrapurkar, Amrish Puri, Satish Shah all gained much from the film’s success and acceptance. I was lucky enough to meet all of them. In 1983 Om Puri won National Film Award for Best Actor for “Ardh Satya” including Best Actor at Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.
His “Hazaar Chaurasi Ki Maa” starring Jaya Bachchan, Seema Biswas, Anupam Kher & Nandita Das based on #Nexalite theme. Joy Sengupta, son of Jaya & Kher plays the role of a Nexalite, & gets killed. The film was bestowed with the #National Award in 1998. The film also saw comeback of Jaya Bachchan after a hiatus of many years. Most of his films were realistic & touched hearts.
Also was he a proficient #Cinamatographer and did photography of most of his films including those of Shyam Benegal- ‘Ankur’, ‘Nishant’, ‘Manthan’, ‘Bhumika’,’ Junoon’ & ‘Arohan’- all #National Award winning films.
He directed ‘Aakrosh’, ‘Vijeta’, ‘Ardh Satya’,’Aghaat’, ‘Tamas’ & ‘Hazaar Chaurasi Ki Maa’ to mention some.
