Though inactive in recent years, Subodh Mukherjee, a scion of the illustrious Mukherjee family that gave us Kajol and Rani Mukherjee, was a harbinger of refreshing changes in mainstream Hindi cinema.

The sibling of Shashadhar Mukherjee (who set up the Filmistan studios), Subodh Mukherjee's repertoire as director included such all-time hits as the Dev Anand starrer "Paying Guest" and, more importantly, "Junglee" that turned Shammi Kapoor into a raging superstar.

Known for his light breezy comedy musicals, Subodh Mukherjee started his career with "Munimji" in 1955. This trend-setting drama pitched Dev Anand against Pran in a blockbuster about good and evil.

In 1957 Mukherjee made "Paying Guest", featuring Dev Anand and Nutan. The film, especially its music score by Sachin Dev Burman, broke many records.

But it was the 1961 mega musical blockbuster "Junglee" for which Mukherjee is best remembered. Giving Shammi Kapoor the new 'Yahoo' image, "Junglee" spearheaded the era of family dramas within the music format and also the era of the male superstar.

The tradition of outstanding music scores was one of the mainstays of Mukherjee's cinema. If "Munimji" contained the all-time Kishore Kumar hit "Jeevan ke safar mein rahi", "Paying Guest" contained evergreen songs like Lata Mangeshkar's "Chand phir nikla magar tum na aaye" and "Mana janaab ne pukara nahin".

After "Junglee", Subodh Mukherjee made two other musicals - "April Fool" and "Saaz Aur Awaaz" - both featuring Joy Mukherjee and Saira Banu. He entered the 1970s with the big ambitious musical "Abhinetri", which flopped. Mukherjee never recovered from the setback and made no film for the next 12 years.

In 1982, he returned with the multi-starrer "Teesri Aankh", but to no avail. Times had changed and so had audiences' perception of entertainment. But while his successful spree lasted, Subodh Mukherjee created an arc of entertainment that's hard to beat.