Bachchan recalls his magic innings with Mehra

Mumbai: Condoling the demise of legendary filmmaker Prakash Mehra, megastar Amitabh Bachchan has said that he had lost a friend and a colleague and an entire era of cinema has passed away with him.

"An entire era of cinema and my association with him passed away. He was recuperating well in hospital and was to be shifted from the ICU to a general ward. A sudden infection resulted in multiple organ failure and he breathed his last," Bachchan said on his blog.

Bachchan recalled their first meeting at RajKamal studio where the filmmaker had come to cast him in Zanjeer in 1971, and then right through to the mid 80s.

"Year after year of unbelievable successes - Zanjeer, Hera Pheri, Khoon Paseena, Laawaris, Muquaddar ka Sikander, Sharabi, Namak Halal. What a huge bank of amazing films, right down to his last with me, Jaadugar. The only one that did not work," Big B said.

Bachchan wrote that Mehra called him in Bangalore after the release of Jaadugar and said, "'Lalla', as he endearingly called me, gad bad ho gayee hai!(Things have gone wrong).

"Honest and straight. He (Mehra) had always maintained that the day I cannot make a successful film with you I shall stop working with you. He never did anything after 'Jaadugar'," Bachchan said.

The actor described Mehra as a simple man who had the capacity to narrate great stories through the medium of cinema in the most simple manner.

"No fuss, no calisthenics. Just very ordinary camera placements and extraordinary content. A writer, a lyricist, a musician, he added all these qualities to his creativity behind the camera and gave me some of my most challenging roles," the megastar said.

"Never rewarded by any institution. And never sought one either. His films have lived out longer than him. A true mark of excellence," Bachchan said.

"The music he gave to his films still ring in the hearts and ears of each generation that came after him. The performances he extractedfrom his artists were never ever considered for any recognition. It never bothered him," the actor said.

"Critics panned his films and the greater the criticism the longer became their duration, at the box office," Bachchan said.

"Unko likhne do woh, jo bhi likh rahe hain, aur jahan bhi likh rahe hain. Main jaanta hun main unhe kahan likh raha hoon!," he (Mehra) would often retort. A friend and a colleague, gone forever," Bachchan concluded.