Filmmaker Jagmohan Mundhra, who passed away on September 4, will always be remembered for movies like “Kamla”, “Bawandar” and “Provoked” and to pay tribute to Mundhra, the coming edition of the Jaipur International Film Festival (to be held from 27-31 January 2012) will pay a tribute to him by hosting a special section on his movies. Mundhra’s family had roots in Rajasthan (in Bikaner) and also, Mundhra religiously attended the JIFF.
Therefore, this need to acknowledge him and his works, say the organisers. Director of JIFF, Hanu Roz shares, “I called him just a day before his demise and since he left a DVD of his movie with me, he asked me to send it to him in Mumbai. We spoke about his upcoming movie too.”
Interestingly, only few people know that Mundhra was to make a movie on the royal sport of polo, for which he often visited the Rajasthan Polo Club. “The 2012 edition of JIFF will celebrate 100 years of Indian cinema and Jagmohan Mundhra will be highly missed,” shares Roz, adding, “Another filmmaker from Rajasthan, Mani Kaul, who left us all in July, will also be honoured.”
Backing the idea is TP Agarwal, president, Film Federation of India, “Jagmohan was a dear friend of mine and he was to direct a movie for my production house and we were to meet to discuss the subject. His demise came as a shock to me. He brought a different type of status to Indian cinema and he created a niche abroad as well.”
Mohan Kavia, a Rajasthani filmmaker, says, “We must always make sure we remember people like Jagmohan, who was a socially committed film-maker and his movie “Bawandar” brought the whole issue of child-marriage to the fore. We expected more such movies from him and now, this is a huge setback for Indian cinema.”
Mundhra’s movies
at JIFF 2012
Kamla
Provoked
Bawandar
Apartment
Naughty@40
Shoot On Sight