By Jagmohan Singh Barhok

One fine evening Mehar Mittal, the noted comedian of Punjabi cinema arrived at my Sector 34 residence without any prior information in mid 1984.I was then posted at Karnal & had come to Chandigarh on some work. Mehar Mittal wanted to convey something but was hesitant to say so. My presumption later proved correct. He was concerned about the step motherly treatment meted out to him by the national media. I asked him what kind of help he wanted or expected from us. Mittal felt encouraged & immediately bared his heart. I promised him to do whatever we could possibly do in the situation. We started a series highlighting the achievements of the Punjabi artists of the region in Screen and later in some other national dailies like Patriot, Film Mirror, National Herald & some English tabloids. The outcome of the exercise was unbelievably encouraging .

In mid 1985 Mittal met me during a party at a local Hotel & we decided to strategically do something unusual. On the material date I reached Mittal’s residence in Sector 20 with a friend lensman & we immediately decided to go ahead with a unique photo session. A fiat car was arranged and two stage artists were asked to reach the spot at a farm house near Panchkula to do the photo shoot titled “Aashiq Ka Maran Vrat”. Mittal was an ardent Hanuman Devotee & a teetotaller. I am posting some pictures of the 1985 shoot in the everlasting memory of Shri Mehar Mittal on His Birth Anniversary.