'He deserved Padma Shri': Shakti Samanta’s son on his father's 100th birth anniversary

Mumbai: Shakti Samanta made great films like Aradhana, Amar Prem and Kashmir Ki Kali but despite the acclaim and success of these movies, he did not receive a national recognition like Padma Shri, says son Ashim Samanta.

Remembering his father's contribution to cinema on his 100th birth anniversary on Tuesday, Ashim said the director was a versatile storyteller, who moved seamlessly between genres, be it his debut Hindi film Bahu, crime thriller Howrah Bridge, romantic thrillers China Town and An Evening in Paris or romantic films like Aradhana, Amar Prem, and Kashmir Ki Kali.

"My dad definitely deserved national recognition like a Padma Shri or Padma Vibhushan. I’m told that these things have to be pushed politically. He was not a person who would ask for such things. If he got it himself, it was fine but he was not the one to ask for it. If that was his attitude, it was the right attitude," Ashim told PTI in an interview.

According to Ashim, the director felt hurt by the lack of recognition.

"Imagine, ‘Amar Prem’ not getting music awards, and some other movie got awards instead, and that itself tells a lot. He once said that he should have got a (Dadasaheb) Phalke Award," Ashim added.

The filmmaker, who died on April 9 in 2009 at the age of 83, was one of the top directors of his era, known for his commercial potboilers that focused on social themes like women's plight in society, greed and corruption. These films featured great music and top stars like Ashok Kumar, Madhubala, Shammi Kapoor, Sharmila Tagore and Rajesh Khanna.

Ashim said he wants his father to be remembered as one of the great filmmakers who tried "every genre, and made different types of movies".

"Dad had a terrific music sense, that was God gifted. He was a very good flute player. Having worked with Gyan Mukherjee and Phani Majumdar as an assistant also helped because he learnt a lot from them,” Ashim said.

Ashim fondly recalls parties where his father celebrated his birthday with family and close friends from the industry including musicians S D Burman, R D Burman, filmmaker Basu Chatterjee, and lyricist Anand Bakshi.

In honour of Samanta's centenary, Ultra Play, the Hindi-language OTT platform, has announced ‘Shakti Samanta@100: A Celebration of Timeless Cinema’, a month-long film festival of 32 of his iconic works.

According to Ashim, his father's top three favourite movies were Amanush, Amar Prem and Aradhana.

“Every filmmaker attempts to make a great movie in every movie that they make but sometimes things don't work out the way you have designed it or if it works out the audience may not have accepted it.”

A thread binding these films together is Sharmila Tagore who Samanta first spotted in a Bengali magazine. Keen to collaborate with her, he was introduced to the actor through Sachin Bhowmick, who later penned Aradhana.

Describing their connection, Ashim said, “She is like a family member. Both of them were like best friends. They would argue but if they’ve fought, it is forgotten after two seconds. The arguments would be for the film or either about what she would wear or how she would look.”

Interestingly, Tagore wore the bikini on screen for Samanta’s for his 1967 film, An Evening in Paris, becoming the first Indian actress to do so.

“She had done a cover shoot and for that she was in a bikini and it was done before the film. For ‘An Evening in Paris’, she wanted to wear the same two-piece bikini. Dad said, ‘Nothing doing, the censors won't pass it. So, you’ve to wear a one piece’,” Ashim recalled.

Apart from Tagore, another significant figure in Samanta's life was actor Ashok Kumar, who according to Ashim, even pushed his father to foray into cinema.

“Dad did not know much about cinema. He saw every movie of Ashok Kumar as a college going kid,” Ashim said, revealing that his father wanted to become either an Air Force pilot or an actor-singer.

“He didn't know which aspect of cinema he wanted to work in. He got selected as an Air Force Pilot under the British but my grandmother started crying and said, ‘I lost my husband, now I don't want to lose you’.

"So, he decided, ‘I'll join films, not knowing what he will do in the industry’. He was very fond of music, and acting on stage. He thought he would either become a singer or a film actor, and he started looking for a job in Bombay,” he said.

After initially working as a school teacher, Samanta clinched a chance to become an assistant director to Raj Kapoor before joining Phani Majumdar and Gyan Mukherjee.

Samanta had a prolific career spanning nearly five decades, from his debut in 1955, Bahu to his final film in 2002, Devdas.

Samanta retired from directing but actively produced films and TV series made by Ashim, and served as president of Indian Motion Picture Producers' Association and was chairman of Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC).

Devdas, which was released in both Hindi and Bengali and starred Prosenjit Chatterjee, is one of the few films in Samanta’s career that didn't do well.

“He was always there for my projects like I was doing television series or making movies, he would come to the sets. As a director he had stopped making movies because at one point he realised that he had lost the touch,” Ashim said.

Over the years, Ashim has been approached by producers for remakes but he believes that “classics shouldn’t be touched”.

“Somebody wanted to remake ‘Aaradhna’ and I told him, it is a popular film and you will not be able to get an actor like Rajesh Khanna and nor will you get that music. He realised it was not a great idea and said, ‘Okay’.”

Ashim described his father as “loving, careful, and supportive” at home.

“He was a friend, a father, a guide, everything, all in one,” he said.