Friend, mentor, excellent human being and real royal of Hindi cinema - that is how Hindi Film Industry remembers Feroz Khan, the filmmaker-actor who died after a year-long battle with cancer.
Writer-turned director Anees Bazmee, who directed Feroz Khan in his last film Welcome in 2007, is "heartbroken" to hear of the death.
"I have come back to Mumbai this morning and got to know about his death. It is very sad and I am heartbroken. He was very close to me and an extremely good human being. I used to be in regular touch with him," Bazmee said.
Welcome, which was a massive hit, was a special homage to Feroz Khan's stylish on-screen persona through his character Ranbir Dhanraj Xata (RDX).
"Nobody knows that he was not willing to work in Welcome but he loved my previous film No Entry and Fardeen's (Feroz Khan's son) role in it so much that we became very good friends and he agreed to work in the film just for me.
"But he also asked me to make sure that his style was kept intact in the movie, as he has always done roles with oomph and glamour and that's why I even gave him a line Abhi hum zinda hain in the film, which he infused life into," said Bazmee.
Beauty queen-turned-actress Celina Jaitley, who was launched by Feroz Khan in his home production's Janasheen (2003), headed to Bangalore Monday to pay her last respects.
"Farewell my friend, my mentor... The many things we talked about... The many things I learnt from you are with me as my courage, you have gone but the love and support you gave me remains as a part of my heart... I wait for the day we will meet again back in god's hand where it all began. Love always, your 'Celine'," Celina said.
Feroz was also remembered by music composer Anand Raj Anand and writer Kamlesh Pandey for launching new talent.
Apart from Celina, he introduced Meghna Kothari and his son Fardeen in Prem Aggan (1998) and Vicky Arora in Yalgaar (1992) to name a few.
"He was a very stylish and straightforward person. He was principled and loyal to people. He always helped people with talent and made them famous. He did not just go for established names, which was a great thing in him," said Anand.
"He gave me confidence when he signed me for Janasheen and now we were working together on the remake of Qurbani, but it is so unfortunate what has happened," he added.
Said scriptwriter Pandey, who wrote the dialogues for Janasheen: "He was one of the royals of our cinema. Everyone knows how to make money, but very few know how to spend it and he knew that style exactly. He was an excellent friend, a great human being and he used to treat people very well.
"He also enjoyed good writing a lot. He was someone who had his own personality. The way he shot his films, his music, everything was great. He also looked for new talent," he added.
Though his oeuvre of films that he directed are not large in number, each of the films that he directed gave a new direction to film music in Hindi cinema.
DHARMATMA:
It all started when he made DHARMATMA and it was characterized by innovative usage of mouth organ, which used to rise through the film in a lilting manner invoking passion. For Mukesh under the baton of Kalyanji Anandji it was a return to soft romantic songs in a big way. The song "Kya Khoob Lagti ho", with combination of a mouth organ and bongo as the accompanying acoustic instrument is still one of the all time favorite romantic songs that transcends across generations.
Feroz Khan had a knack for funk and rhythm, one could argue. In his film Yalgaar, he took multiple pains for its score. With Yalgaar Feroz Khan introduced for the first time the popular club music popular in the clubs of London, which was retro, funky and contemporary. It was only after Yalgaar that the Punjabi music of the London club variety characterized by beats of Dhol and heavy strumming of guitars became a norm in the subsequent Hindi films.
QURBANI:
It was indeed a milestone in the Hindi film music as it had happened for the first time in all probability where two music directors were used in a film, and Feroz Khan was the initiator of this trend, which has now become a norm. Feroz Khan was also instrumental in giving a new voice to Hindi film in the form of Nazia Hassan and a music director Biddu. But Feroz Khan had not left Kalyanji Anandji and they also were not lagging behind. QURBANI also gave a villain in the form of Shakti Kapoor to Hindi cinema.
DAYAVAAN:
It was characterized by introduction of a new voice in the film industry Sapna Mukerjee who along with Jolly Mukerjee was the two new voices that Feroz Khan gave to Hindi cinema. Another common streak of all Feroz Khan films was that they all used to flirt with the dangerous world of underworld, and DAYAVAAN was no exception. The wearing of Arabic scarf as a fashion statement, which hitherto was worn by villains in Hindi films was introduced as a part of the getup of the main character in this film.
JANBAAZ:
With JANBAAZ Feroz Khan brought the oomph of Sri Devi in its most sexual manifestation and the dance that she did in the song "Har Kisi ko nahin milta", became a kind of signature tune for Sapna Mukerjee and thenceforth any program that Sapna participates in performance of this song is the highlight of the program. Feroz Khan continued with his fascination of Kalyanji Anandji and they did not fail him again.
YALGAAR:
Though YALGAAR had only four songs; Feroz Khan had taken particular pain for music of this film. With YALGAAR Feroz Khan introduced for the first time the popular club music popular in the clubs of London, which was retro, funky and contemporary. It was only after YALGAAR that the Punjabi music of the London club variety characterized by beats of Dhol and heavy strumming of guitars became a norm in the subsequent Hindi films.
Much later, Jaanasheen followed but did not deliver the punch. However, it indeed is an amazing fact that a director and a producer who made only five films was such a serious student of music, and passionate about its role in Hindi cinema that the music he composed would ensure that his name is never forgotten by the fans for all times to come.