Joy Mukherjee


Joy Mukherjee was an Indian film actor and director. He was titled as the 'heart throb of the 1960s and 1970s'.

Family background

Joy Mukherjee was the son of Sashadhar Mukherjee and Sati Devi. His father was a successful producer and a co-founder of Filmalaya Studios. His uncles were director Subodh Mukherjee, Ashok Kumar, Anoop Kumar and Kishore Kumar. Joy Mukherjee was educated in Col. Brown Cambridge School in Dehra Dun and St. Xavier College. His wife's name is Neelam and they had two sons Monjoy, Sujoy and a daughter Simran.

Career

Joy debuted opposite Sadhana in the film Love in Simla, directed by R. K. Nayyar. He then starred with Asha Parekh for several hits like Phir Wohi Dil Laya Hoon, Love in Tokyo, Ziddi and Hum Hindustani. Some of his films like Aao Pyar Karen and Shagird, Ek Musafir Ek Haseena with Sadhna, Ishaara with Vyjayantimala and Jee Chahta Hai with Rajashree were superhit movies. Most of his movies had hit music. By the late 1960s, acting roles began drying up, so he began directing and producing.
He produced and directed Humsaya although this films did not do well. Despite a late success with home production Ek Baar Muskura Do with brother Deb Mukherjee and later to be sister-in-law Tanuja, Joy faded from the silver screen.
He later directed Rajesh Khanna in Chailla Babu in 1977 which was a major box office success. This film's success solved his insolvency problems which arose due to production of Love In Bombay. Later in 1985, Rajesh Khanna even gave him opportunity as a villain in the film Insaaf Main Karoonga, which became the last successful film of actor Joy Mukherjee.

Financial troubles

Love in Bombay brought deep financial troubles for Joy Mukherjee but late director-actor's wife Neelam, who is releasing the movie 40 years later, says that despite losing everything, the film remained very close to him. "This film was my husband's Waterloo. He lost everything he had in this film. He sunk in lot of his own money, major properties. There were 37 cases of insolvency against him. But he cleared everything and had a clean slate and started afresh. This film was very dear to him despite it bringing so much problems to him," Mrs Mukherjee said. The 1973 film, was the third part of the "Love in" series which started with Joy debuting with the blockbuster hit Love in Simla in 1960 and the golden jubilee hit Love in Tokyo in 1966. His insolvency issues got resolved when he directed his sole successful directorial venture Chailla Babu in 1977.

Death

Joy Mukherjee died on 9 March 2012 in Mumbai's Leelavati Hospital, exactly two weeks after his 73rd birthday, where he had been on a ventilator. He had a prolonged illness.

Filmography

YearTitleRoleNotes
1960Love in SimlaDev Kumar MehraDebut with Sadhana
1960Hum HindustaniSatyendra Nath
1962Ek Musafir Ek HasinaAjay
1962UmmeedShanker
1963Phir Wohi Dil Laya HoonMohan
1964Aao Pyaar KarenKesha
1964Door Ki AwaazPrakash
1964IshaaraVijay
1964Ji Chahta HaiParwana
1964ZiddiAshok
1965Bahu BetiShekhar
1966Love in TokyoAshok
1966Yeh Zindagi Kitni Haseen HaiSanjay Malhotra
1966Saaz Aur AwaazRajesh
1967ShagirdRamesh
1968Dil Aur MohabbatRamesh Choudhry
1968Ek Kali MuskaiDr. Dilip
1968HumsayaShyam/Lin TanDirected and produced by self
1969Dupatta Himself
1970Aag Aur DaagRaja
1970EhsanRaja V. Prasad
1970InspectorInspector Rajesh, Agent 707
1970MoojrimGopal
1970PuraskarRakesh
1971Kahin Aar Kahin PaarCID Agent
1972Ek Bar Mooskura DoDr. Ashok
1977HaiwanMajor Anil Verma
1977Chhailla BabuDirected
1985Phoolan DeviBara Thakur
1985Insaaf Main KaroongaShamsher Singh
2013Love in BombayBadalDirected and produced by self. Film was originally made in 1971 but released in 2013.