Background
He was born on September 29, 1909 in Jhansi.
He was born on September 29, 1909 in Jhansi.
He started his career with Bombay Talkies in 1930s, and later established Filmistan Studio with Rai Bahadur Chunilal, Ashok Kumar and Gyan Mukherjee in 1943. In the 1950s he went on to start his independent studio, Filmalaya. He is noted for films like,, and
He is part of the distinguished Mukherjee clan of Bollywood.
He was also instrumental in getting Ashok Kumar into films. Shomu married actress Tanuja and together they had two children: Kajol and Tanisha.
Sashadhar"s grand niece is actress Rani Mukerji, whose grandfather Ravidramohan Mukherjee was Sashadhar"s older brother. Sashadhar had two more brothers, film director Subodh Mukherjee and film producer Prabodh Mukherjee.
He was a producer for Bombay Talkies, and after the death of Himanshu Rai in 1940, was involved in a tussle for control of Bombay Talkies with Devika Rani, actress and widow of Himanshu.
The first film they planned at Filmistan was Chal Chal Re Naujawan with Naseem Bano who had gone to Pakistan and Ashok Kumar who had by then become a star. Sadat Hassan Manto, Ismat Chughtai, Pint Pradeep and so many other intelligent, talented and creative people were associated with Filmistan.
Filmistan gave breaks and made stars out of Shammi Kapoor, Development Anand and so many more.
Mukherjee made unforgettable and classic films there like Anarkali, Nagin, Tumsa Nahin Dekha, Munim ji, Paying Guest and so many more. He groomed Nasir Hussain there as Director.
In the 1950s Sashadhar formed his own production house called Filmalaya in Andheri, near Amboli. He also ran an acting school and was instrumental in giving actresses like Asha Parekh and Sadhana a break in films.
Sanjeev Kumar was also a product of Filmalaya Acting school.
Nasir Hussain was a director involved with his productions as were R. K. Nayyar and Gyan Mukherjee. Music director O. P. Nayyar was also associated with his solo productions. When Dilip Kumar wanted to make a film on corrupt politicians he came to Mukerji and made Leader.
Sambandh was his last production.
Mukherjee died on 3 November 1990. Pathar Ke Insan (1990).
