/> "Hrishida was a very friendly person. Never talked down to anyone, never pompous, always joking, always playing chess with his cronies. It was a continuous picnic on his sets. His films had wonderful music.

His cinema was always grounded to reality....Anupama, Satyakam and Chupke Chupke were my films with him. Even when we did very serious work off-camera we were always joking. Because he was such a great technician he never wasted time or raw stock.

In fact when working with Hrishida one always packed up ahead of schedule. Hrishida was surrounded by a very capable team. He wasn't partial to any one actor. I remember when we were shooting for Satyakam there was problem with the public on location.

Hrishida was protective not just of the main actors but the entire unit. He was a very simple man, not given to power games or accumulating wealth. Today even the greatest artistes are guided by monetary impulses. For Hrishida relationships mattered the most. His interests went much beyond films.

There was so much to learn from him! His jokes were not always proper. Some of his jokes were quite unbecoming. I'd say, 'Hrishida, not first thing in the morning. I'm going to throw up.' I remember he used to tell his heroines, 'Please don't mind your make-up, but make up your mind.'

I told him to stop saying it to me during film after film because it had ceased to be funny.'...I remember I arrived on the sets of Anupama in full makeup and a bouffant. He sat me down and said, 'Rinku, you 've a very nice face. We'll give you a lovely back-light. But please, you're supposed to be a motherless child, for God's sake. Rinku being Rinku she let the bouffant remain.

Even now when I see it I cringe (laughs)...I remember we had to shoot the song Kuch dil ne kaha early in Khandala early in the morning at 5 am. He was worried Dharam and I wouldn't be able to wake up on time. We did. I remember Tiger (her husband Pataudi) came on location. And Dilip Saab and Sairaji were also there. And they all played chess. We had such a lovely time at the outdoors.

As you might know Hrishida wasn't much for outdoors. He never kept good health. He had this gout problem. He didn't look after himself. Eventually he surrendered to his illness and withdrew from the limelight.

I remember while shooting for Gautam Ghose's film, Samit Bhanja (who starred opposite Jaya in Guddi and who recently passed away) told me Hrishida had become stationary and gave orders through a loudspeaker....Hrishida loved cats.

You couldn't walk into his house without tripping over them. He was a man of many facets. He was greatly influenced by Bengali culture. At the same time his cinema wasn't culture-specific. He always presented the stars—Dharmendra, Rajesh Khanna or Amitabh—as normal humanbeings. He would joke with Dharmendra, 'I know you make a lot of money in real life. But here you play a very honest character.'

I remember him as an intelligent humorous person, like Dada Moni(Ashok Kumar) or Balraj Sahni. ...Or Soumitra Chatterjee who can talk about cricket, politics, theatre, history, poetry...He has so much to teach me. You can talk to him and learn so much.

Gulzar and Naseer are also like that. But you can now count such people on your fingers. ...Everybody remember Chupke Chupke. Dharam has said it's the most entertaining film he had ever done. He made such unforgettable films. Hrishida is a very very important part of Indian cinema."