In a function organized by Spandan Art, Amitabh Bachchan honored Madhur Bhandarkar as the best contemporary film director. The title was presented to him as a memento for winning the Best Director award at the National Award for Traffic Signal. Madhur had also received national awards for Chandni Bar and Page 3 and this is his hatrick.
Madhur Bhandarkar is busy with his upcoming film Fashion. After receiving the memento from Big B, he was compared with legendary filmmaker Hrishikesh Mukherjee by Big B. Bhandarkar is still taken in surprise that he received such great compliments from Amitabh Bachchan. Being compared to one of the stalwarts of film industry Hrishikesh Mukherjee itself is like an award. Mukherjee has made about 50 films and the audience still remembers him as one of the best directors the country ever had.
Bhandarkar confessed that he literally grew on watching Hrishikesh Mukherjee films. His favorite films include Anari, Anupama, Satyakam, Guddi, Anand, Bawarchi, Namak Haram and Golmaal. Mukherjee has tried many different genres of filmmaking and was successful in making the audience appreciate his diverse films. Big B even complimented Bhandarkar that he belongs to the rare category of directors who are successful both critically and commercially. He appreciated how Bhandarkar always made films about reality and never escaped for dreams. Amitabh Bachchan has given some superb films with Mukherjee like Anand, Mili, Abhimaan, Namak Haraam, Chupke Chupke and Jurmana
Bhandarkar stated that he has learnt a lot from Mukherjee’s films so he dreams to inspire the younger film makers some day. He said he has always loved to watch a Hrishikesh Mukherjee film and he wants to get the same kind of love from his fans.
