Remembering Rajkumar Kohli: Jaani Dushman director who helmed popular multi-starrers

Veteran Bollywood filmmaker Rajkumar Kohli passed away at the age of 93 earlier today. While the current generation might not be too familiar with his work, Rajkumar Kohli was a prominent director of mainstream Hindi cinema in the 1970s.

Kohli began his career in Punjabi film industry

Born on September 14, 1930 in Lahore in a British-ruled India, Rajkumar Kohli joined the film industry in the late 50s. Kohli began his career in the Punjabi film industry, producing films like Sapni (1963), Main Jatti Punjab Di (1965) and Dulha Bhatti (1966), and gradually moved to Hindi films where he produced a few films at first. Kohli’s first successful Hindi film as a producer was Rajendra Kumar starrer Gora aur Kala, and the very next year, Kohli made his directorial debut with the film Kahani Hum Subb Ki. 

Although Kahani Hum Subb Ki was a box office disaster, the director struck gold with his next film Nagin. Nagin was a supernatural revenge saga, and boasted of a massive ensemble cast including names like Sunil Dutt, Vinod Mehra, Feroz Khan. Nagin was also a breakthrough film for both its leading ladies Rekha and Reena Roy, besides being the third highest grossing film of 1976. 

Kohli was most known for his 2 Jaani Dushman films

3 years later, Kohli delivered another major box office hit with his film Jaani Dushman. This 1979 film, where a betrayed husband turns monster and avenges his death by killing all the newly-wed brides in the city, too emerged as a massive box office success. Released in 1979, Jaani Dushman grossed 4.5 crores at the ticket counter and was surpassed only by films like Suhaag and Sargam. 

In the 1980s, the filmmaker enjoyed relatively lesser commercial success, although his films like the Dharmendra-starrer Naukar Biwi Ka and Raaj Tilak were bonafide box office hits. However, among the newer lot of film-goers, Raj Kumar Kohli is probably more known for his 2002 film Jaani Dushman: Ek Anokhi Kahani, another multi-starrer revenge saga that tanked at the box office and gradually earned a cult status for its unintentional humour.

Rajkumar Kohli is survived by his wife and two sons Rajnish and Armaan. Armaan Kohli has acted in several films directed by his father, including Jaani Dushman.