LIFE AND STYLE
Director of Indian film that first shot Mauritius into limelight dies
Bollywood veteran director and lyricist Sawan Kumar Tak breathed his last on Thursday evening.
The 86-year-old director was admitted to ICU of Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital, battling prolonged lung ailments.
Indian media cited relatives as saying that Sawan died of multiple organ failure.
He directed over 2 dozen Hindi films, including successful box-office successes like ‘Saajan Bina Suhagan’, ‘Souten’, ‘Souten Ki Beti’ and ‘Sanam Bewafa’.
The jewel in his crown was the 1983 release ‘Souten’. The movie – which starred Rajesh Khanna, Tina Munim, Padmini Kolhapure, Pran and Prem Chopra among others – went on to become a platinum jubilee hit.
In the movie ‘Souten’, the house that featured prominently belonged to the then Prime Minister of Mauritius, Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam.
The first Indian film shot in Mauritius was Sanjay Khan’s “Chandi Sona” (way back in the 1970s).
But it was ‘Souten’ that gave Mauritius the much-deserved publicity, for other filmmakers to come to this region to shoot their films.
To watch the movie, click here
Since then, almost close to a couple of hundred Indian films, commercials and television serials have been shot in Mauritius.
This number is expected to go even higher as Mauritius recently launched a special rebate scheme to attract film-makers, especially from Bollywood.