Basu Chatterjee, the man who gave Bollywood some of its biggest musicals,  is no more

By: Sohani Mittal

Ace filmmaker Basu Chatterjee, who has given Bollywood some of its greatest musicals,  passed away in Mumbai following age-related ailments. He was 93.

Basu is best known for his musicals like Chhoti Si Baat (1975), Chitchor (1976), Rajnigandha (1974), Piya Ka Ghar (1972), Khatta Meetha , Chakravyuha (1978 film), Baton Baton Mein (1979), Priyatama (1977), Man Pasand, Hamari Bahu Alka, Shaukeen (1982), and Chameli Ki Shaadi (1986), Chatterjee heralded the age of alternate Hindi cinema within the 1970s together with contemporary Hrishikesh Mukherjee.

Chatterjee started his career as an illustrator and cartoonist with the weekly tabloid Blitz published in Mumbai, where he worked for 18 years, before shifting career paths to filmmaking, when he assisted Basu Bhattacharya within the Raj Kapoor and Waheeda Rehman starrer Teesri Kasam (1966).