Bollywood giants walked the floors of Filmistan Studio, once a Mumbai glory

{ FLASHBACK TO A STUDIO WHICH WILL SOON MAKE WAY FOR ULTRA-LUXE HOUSES

- Amrit Gangar

It was let to decay — rust adding up on its doors and railings, ceiling fans and iron cupboards.

Land prices in Goregaon West have skyrocketed since 1943 when the sprawling Filmistan Studio, with seven shooting floors came up, where once the Sharda Movietone studio stood.

How the studio was built

History aggregating with its ‘parental’ Bombay Talkies, geographically separated by less than three kilometers. After the co-founder Himanshu Rai died in 1940, the emotional and intellectual proximity between Devika Rani, his wife, and producer Sasadhar Mukherjee widened. In 1943, Mukherjee left Bombay Talkies along with the production controller Rai Bahadur Chunilal (music composer Madan Mohan’s father), director Gyan Mukherjee and actor Ashok Kumar to set up a new banner -- Filmistan, on April 28, 1943. Just a year before, Mahatma Gandhi had given the Quit India call to the British, and WWII was at its peak. In those times of turmoil, Bombay Talkies had produced a historic blockbuster ‘Kismet’ directed by Gyan Mukherjee.

At Filmistan, Gyan Mukherjee, opened his innings with “Chal chal re nau jawan’ (1944), starring Ashok Kumar and Naseem Banu (actress Saira Banu’s mother), and written by Sadaat Hasan Manto. Yesterday, standing outside Filmistan Studio with its gates closed, as it has been sold to a real estate developer, a memory gripped my mind - that of Guru Dutt, who considered Gyan Mukherjee his mentor.