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M.M. Billoo Mehra
M.M. Billoo Mehra |
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ot many people know about a renowned film director of yesteryears M.M. Billoo Mehra, who had directed a number of films in India & Pakistan. M.M. Billoo Mehra also has the distinction of covering the full funeral procession of great Bangla poet Rabindranath Tagore with seven cameras in Calcutta. We had an opportunity to meet him at his residence so get some nostalgic moments of his career.
M. Billoo Mehra was born at Abbottabad, North West Frontier Province in Pakistan. From beginning according to him, had a very sharp memory at the age of 2 & 1/2 year. He knew Gayatri Mantra by heart and was even paid one
paisa by number of people to hear and see this prodigy boy.
M. Billoo Mehra started his film career in the tender age of 16 at Calcutta under the aegis guidance
of his elder brother late Sh. K.D. Mehra, who made the first Punjabi
film in India Sheela as Pind di Kurri, which was a super hit film, Baby Noor Jehan was introduced as actress and singer in this film. Sheela as Pind di Kurri was made in Calcutta and released in Punjab & Lahore and it ran very successfully in the circuit. Soon many more producers started making Punjabi films, as it provided to be a good preposition. K.D. Mehra then
made his 2nd film Heer Sial, in which M.M. Billoo Mehra Assisted him. This film had new artistes Balo & M. Ismail and Baby Noor Jehan. This Film also ran very successfully.
ue to vast Punjabi community in Lahore and Punjab, soon Lahore became a big film market. Studious opened up and many artistes, producers, directors & technicians from Bombay & Calcutta shifted to Lahore.
Some prominent names were Shanta Apte, Motilal, Chandra Mohan, Hiralal, Noor Jehan, Mumtaz Shanti,
Wali, Syed Attahullah Shah Hashmi, Krishna Kumar and Shanker Hussain. Many Journalists like B.R. Chopra,
Ramanand Sagar has also settled in Lahore. B.R. Chopra was running his Film Magazine "Cine Herald".
Ramanand Sagar was associated with "Evening News" and Syed Attahullah Shah Hashmi took out the Film Paper
"Adakar"�. These journalists were totally dependent on Lahore Film Industry.
n 1951 M.M. Billoo Mehra had an opportunity to visit Lahore and there he met his old film friends and his first directed film was "Akeli". Then he
got an offer to direct famous film titled Nooran which had Noor Jehan and Sudhir in lead cast. The success of Nooran gave him another film to direct which was titled "Mubarak". The heroine of this film was the big star of her time Jahan Ara Kajjan.
M.M. Billoo Mehra's greatest performance was in super hit film Punjabi film Chhoomantar with stars Noor Jehan, Aslam Pervez, Laila, Zarif and Allauddin. The super hit music was composed by Master Rafiq Ali. This film ran very successfully at all centers. "Khana Badosh" was other film which had Rani Kalawati, Nazar, Ghulam Mohammad and Salim Raza. Ghulam Haider gave the music. This was an action movie, which was successful at all centers. M.M. Billoo Mehra had established himself at Lahore.
hen India-Pakistan relations became torrent and he had to leave Pakistan and came to Bombay. Here in
Bombay M.M. Billoo Mehra had to restart his carrier and he got an opportunity to become a technical
adviser for the film "Kaneez" staring Munawwar sultana and Shyam. Here M.M. Billoo Mehra met music director
O.P. Nayyar who was new in the film industry and was looking for his first assignment. M.M. Billoo Mehra
gave him an opportunity to prepare the background score for the film "Kaneez".
hen M.M. Billoo Mehra got an offer to direct a low budget movie titled "Black Shadow". This suspense film in Hindi was produced by V.P. Bhatia and had Nishi and Manhar Desai in cast. Music was rendered by
Harbans. However this film didn�t prove a major success at box office but he got a good opportunity to
direct a big budget romantic Punjabi film of Padam Prakash Maheshwary titled "Satluj de Kande". This film
had big star like Balraj Sahni, Nishi, Wasti, and Mirza Musharraf, music by Hans Raj Behl. This was the
only Punjabi Film by Balraj Sahni and was a super hit and it also earned a national award. "Satluj de Kande"
was telecast thrice on National Channel of Door Darshan (Indian National TV channel). M.M.
Billoo Mehra also directed a film titled "Shadi ke baad" in Calcutta. This film was completed in record time of two months and released.
n the seventies M.M. Billoo Mehra came down to Delhi for some personal reasons and joined refrigeration
business which also flourished. Before retiring from all businesses and settling down M.M. Billoo Mehra also produces two video films titled Gurbani and Sri RamaKrishna Paramhans.
 By Neeraj Mehra
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