Amitabh Bachchan, Anil Kapoor and others bid farewell to Basu Chatterjee

Several celebrities have mourned the demise of legendary filmmaker Basu Chatterjee. The director of classic Hindi films like Rajnigandha, Chitchor and Baton Baton Mein passed away due to age-related ailments in Mumbai today. He was 90.

Remembering the legend, Amitabh Bachchan, who had worked with him in Manzil (1979), wrote, “Prayers and Condolences on the passing of Basu Chatterjee ...a quiet, soft spoken, gentle human ...his films reflected the lives of middle India ...did Manzil with him ...a sad loss ...in these climes often remembered for rim jhim gire saawan.”

Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted:

Shabana Azmi called him the pioneer of Indian middle cinema.“Deeply saddened to hear about Basu Chatterjee’s passing away. A prolific filmmaker, he was the pioneer of what came to be regarded as middle of the road cinema. I was fortunate to have done three lovely films with him Swami Apne Paraye and Jeena Yahan. All life-like characters. RIP,” she wrote.

Shoojit Sircar shared he’d done his first assisting job with Basu Chatterjee. “My first job as an assistant director was with Basu Chatterjee for a Bengali TV serial shot in CR park, New Delhi. May his soul Rest In Peace,” the filmmaker wrote.

Anil Kapoor wrote, “A director who was always ahead of his time.. Basu Chatterjee will be truly missed. He was an effortless genius and an amazing human being. May he rest in peace.”

The National Film Archive of India tweeted, “Our heartfelt condolence on the sad demise of legendary filmmaker Basu Chatterjee. He will be remembered with his films presenting simple stories of middle class families- tales of conflict, aspiration, relationship, emotion. RIP Basu Chatterjee.”

Anupam Kher shared a video message remembering the director.

In 1992, Basu Chatterjee won the National Film Award for best film on family welfare for Durga. He also received several Filmfare Awards and was conferred with the IIFA Lifetime Achievement award in 2007. His last rites were to be performed at Mumbai’s Santacruz crematorium this afternoon. He is survived his daughters Rupali Guha and Sonali Bhattacharya.