Prominent film producer, journalist, writer and poet Pritish Nandy passed away earlier this week at the age of 73. In an interview with us, veteran filmmaker and producer Mahesh Bhatt went down memory lane on his association and friendship with Nandy and how the latter helped him during the release of his films Arth and Saaransh.
Mahesh Bhatt on Pritish Nandy’s contribution to Arth, “He made it happen and suddenly the film had a life”
Were you in touch with Pritish Nandy in his final years?
We were dear friends, we drifted apart, as people do. The years moved us apart. But I saw him once more at a tribute to Kaifi Sahib at the Nehru Centre. I walked up to him. “I owe you so much,” I said. He smiled. Just smiled. That was all, but it carried the years between us, the weight of what he had done for me. Last night, after the call, I sat with it all. Pritish, standing beside me in those days when the struggle felt endless. Pritish, lifting me to see the horizon I didn’t believe in yet. He’s gone now, but what he did remains. He shaped the world I walk in. He gave me Arth. Goodbye, Pritish. Some stories don’t end. Not really.
Tell me about your close association with the formidable Mr Nandy
I remember Arth was finished, but no one wanted it. A woman walking away, carrying her domestic help’s child, carrying her own story. No man beside her, no man to lean on. It was a film about standing alone, and the world wasn’t ready for that. Distributors turned away. “You’re meant for the headlines,” Pritish said to me. “Let me put you there.” He did. He made it happen. A dear friend Partha wrote the review—sharp, burning, true. It appeared in the Illustrated Weekly Of India, and suddenly, the film had a life.
He was the master Firestarter of journalism
That’s what Pritish did. He didn’t just write. He set fires. I remember him stepping out of the Rajshri Preview Theatre after watching Saaransh. He looked at me, his face still caught in the film’s weight. “I’ve never seen aging and mortality handled like this,” he said. And he meant it. He gave the film its voice in print. He let me speak about death, my obsession with it, how it shapes life, how it cannot be separated from it. He understood that.
Pritish Nandy was a visionary
He saw things others missed. He saw Anupam (Kher), then just a young actor with potential, and put him on the cover of the Illustrated Weekly. Him and me, side by side. Ashok Mehta shot the picture. People questioned it. “Why Anupam?” they asked. But Pritish knew. He always knew. The world doesn’t see talent. The industry doesn’t, either. But Pritish did. He saw it, nurtured it, made space for it to grow.
Also Read: A Homage to Pritish Nandy: The visionary who revolutionized Bollywood’s multiplex era
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