/> Sharmila Tagore had the singular honour of being directed in the only film Raja Rani that the pioneering screenplay writer Sachin Bhowmick directed. He also wrote some of her most beloved films from Aradhana and Amar Prem to An Evening In Paris.

Recalling the family-friend fondly Sharmila says, "From the early 1960s he wrote some of my best films and he also wrote my son Saif's Yeh Dillagi in the 1990s. Truly prolific he was!

Sachin was a very learned writer and a dear friend of my mother. During those days, around 1959 Sachin was a travel writer. He would travel to various destinations specially in Europe and then write beautiful pieces, a la today's Suheil Seth.

I remember in one piece Sachin had written, 'If you want to see the town drive slowly. If you want to see the jails drive fast. ' That line stayed with me. " About her best-known film Aradhana Sharmila recalls, "It was Sachin who convinced my mother to let me join Hindi films. If it wasn't for him my mother would've never allowed me.

And it was Sachin who convinced Shakti Samanta to sign me for Aradhana. I think Shakti-da wanted Hema Malini because she had just come as the Dream Girl and all that. Sachin pitched in for me. That incident brought us closer. "

Then came a time when Bhowmick married. "And married badly, " quips Sharmila. "To actress Kalpana (who starred with Shammi Kapoor in Professor) like many bachelors who marry late. It was a big mistake.

And Sachin was so embarrassed he hid away from all his friends including me and Shakti Samanta. Luckily he divorced and married a beautiful Bengali woman. He lived in Mumbai and had his 80th birthday recently. I couldn't go.

The last time I met him was at a screening of An Evening In Paris a few months ago. He wrote that film. He was there, so was Shammi Kapoor my leading man. It was a memorable evening. A biography of Sachin was being written. He wanted it completed in his lifetime. But it remained incomplete because I have not yet met the author. "

As for Bhowmick directing her in a film Raja Rani Sharmila laughs, "He was very quiet. And to control Kaka (Rajesh Khanna) was not in Sachin's power. The film sounded much better on paper than on screen. Let's say I preferred him as a screenplay writer. "

On the death of one the greatest and longest-lasting screenwriters Rishi Kapoor says, "He wrote some of my most romantic films.

I tell you, any leading man whether it was me or Rajesh Khanna or Jeetendra or my uncle Shammi Kapoor who wanted to enhance his romantic image always went to Sachin Bhowmick's screenplay for sustenance. In fact Shammi Uncle's initial image as a romantic hero got a big boost through Sachin Bhowmick's screenplay in An Evening In Paris and Bramhachari.

He was an encylopaedia of knowledge on cinema and screenplay from the world over. And though he wrote what looked liked fiercely Indian screenplays he could very cleverly adapt foreign films, like he did for my Khel Khel Mein. "

Recalling Bhowmick's contribution fondly Rihsi says, "Though he was much older than me Dada treated me like a friend. We spent so much time discussing stories.

He wrote a huge amount of my most successful films like Khel Khel Mein, Dhan Daulat, Hum Kissi Se Kam Nahin, Karz. When I directed a film Aa Ab Laut Chalein Dada was on as a screenwriter. Dada was such a stalwart directors wanted him around to supervise if not write the screenplays singlehandedly. "