Nostalgic Nuggets: When Mahatma Gandhi watched his only Hindi film

Vijay Bhatt's 113th birth anniversary falls today.

From coming up with one's first film in the silent era (1929) and launching the careers of some of the iconic personalities of the Hindi film industry in the 1950s and 1960s, producer-director Vijay Bhatt had a series of achievements in both pre-independent and post-independent India. After all, there are not many film directors whose films were screened for national leaders like Mahatma Gandhi. Bhatt enjoyed this privilege with his film ' Ram Rajya' released in 1942, which was Bapu's only Hindi film he watched.

Lovers of classical Hindi film music songs would always hold 'Baiju Bawra' in a special slot in their hearts. Released in 1952, starring Bharat Bhushan and Meena Kumari, the film directed by Vijay Bhatt was a diamond jubilee hit and ran for 100 weeks. From Mohammad Rafi's soulful renditions to Naushad's smashing musical score, everything was top class in that film.

In 1959, 'Goonj Uthi Shehnai', another musical hit became the first box-office success of Rajendra Kumar as a solo hero, who later began to be called ' Jubilee Kumar' for a series of hits he delivered, as many of his films ran simultaneously all across India. Associated with 70 film projects till the last one in 1977, Vijay Bhatt was truly a legend of Indian cinema. His grandchildren and extended family are still in top positions in the business.