Poonam Dhillon knew Jagmohan Mundhra even before she ventured into films. She has some fond memories of the filmmaker,though she never had the opportunity to work with him. I must have been 15-16 years old when I first met him. He bonded so well with my family that he has seen me through my growing years. He was also a witness to my struggle in films,my stardom,marriage,kids,everything. He was around when my son Anmol was born in Los Angeles. He was like a father-figure,a friend,philosopher and my guide, recalled the actress for whom his sudden death came as a terrible shock. Poonam said Jagmohan was one of the nicest persons,a selfless and a true gentleman. He would do things for people without expecting anything in return. There was some kind of positivity that attracted people to him. It was an inborn talent, she said. The actress is happy that Smriti,Mundhras young daughter,is following in her fathers footsteps. She is a filmmaker in her own right and has her associations in LA. I am proud of Smriti as she has worked with the likes of George Clooney. She is presently working on a documentary on arranged marriages in India. She is sure to do her father proud, said the actress who remembers Mundhra asking her to take up direction. The filmmaker,she says,would read a story in a newspaper and would decide to make a film on the story. He had so many stories in mind for film scripts. 62 is not an age to die, she remarked sadly. Jagmohan Mundhras death on September 4 came as a shock to many of his friends from the film industry. The 62-year old maker passed away after being hospitalised for three days due to internal bleeding. Apparently he and his wife Chandra had returned from watching a film when he started sweating and complained of pain in his chest. He was taken to Bombay Hospital where he breathed his last. He is survived by his wife Chandra and daughter Smriti. The Nagpur-born Mundhra moved to the US to study. Later,he took up teaching at the California State University and in the late 70s,he decided to become a full-time filmmaker. He was known for issue-based films such as Kamla with Shabana Azmi and Deepti Naval on women bondage,Bawandar that had Nandita Das in the lead and was based on the true story of Bhanwari Devi,a rape victim from Rajasthan and Provoked with Aishwarya Rai Bachchan,another film based on a true story of Kiranjit Ahluwalia,a Punjabi woman who marries a London-based guy and later ends up in prison for murdering her abusive husband. Making his directorial debut with Suraag in 1982 that had Sanjeev Kumar,Shabana Azmi,Rajesh Khanna and Tina Munim in the lead,Mundhra had over 30 films to his credit,that included a string of horror and erotic thrillers in Hollywood like The Jigsaw Murders,Halloween Night,and Tales of the Kama Sutra 2: Monsoon to name a few. He has also written,edited and produced some of the films. He had even acted in Kamla,Bawandar and Naughty @ 40. Though Mundhras last film Naughty @ 40,a comedy starring Govinda as a bachelor did not do well at the box-office,the maker was to start shooting for Kissa Kutte Ka,a political satire based on the plight of Dalit women with Tannishtha Chatterjee,Seema Biswas,Sarika and Raghubir Yadav. Rohit Roy,who had worked with him in Apartment said,I had the good fortune of working with Jagmohan on Apartment and he had been a pleasure to be associated with. He was a lovely and genial man with a treasure trove of stories from Hollywood. He was also a brilliant technician. I recall him telling me that his LA home was mine to use whenever I was there. We will all miss him dearly. I still cant believe hes gone.
