Mumbai: The veteran of all genres with a tremendous presence in Bollywood, Subhash Ghai turned 77 on Monday. Known as "The Showman" of Indian cinema, Subhash Ghai is known for superhit films such as 'Karma', 'Taal', 'Ram Lakha', 'Saudagar', '36 China Town', 'Hero' and 'Meri Jung'.
Ghai has the unique ability of not being bound in a concrete genre, as he has made movies in genres as different as action, romance and drama, though the style of his films, which he has executed brilliantly, has mostly been the masala type.
Whether it is direction, writing or producing, Subhash Ghai is a man, who knows what he wants and that is what has made his movies so appealing, with their larger than life portrayals of life, which for the Indian public, has been an all-out cinematic thrill ride.
Perhaps that is why he is well-deserving of the 'Showman' title because in the end, a capable showman, when presenting his show, has the stage and props set completely and no doubt exists in them as to what they want their end product to be.
Whether it is flair, panache, spice, Subhash Ghai in his productions has had it all. Though he started as an actor in the 60s, his directorial career began in 1976 with 'Kalicharan,' which was also a big hit at the time.
Since then, Ghai has worked with a repertoire of artists, including Anil Kapoor, Danny Denzongpa, Shatrughan Sinha, Rishi Kapoor, Shashi Kapoor, Jackie Shroff, Dilip Kumar, Madhuri Dixit, Javed Akhtar and Lakshmikant-Pyarelal. (UNI)