“Chandra Barot ji was a highly talented filmmaker and a fine gentleman” – Nikhil Kamath

On 20 July, 2025, Chandra Barot passed away. Despite being the filmmaker who gave Amitabh Bachchan one of his most iconic films,Barot was not discussed or written about as much as he should have been.

One of the reasons behind this could be the fact that he did not make a lot of films. After the humungous success of ‘Don’ (1978), he tried to make different films at different points in time. While some of those films got shelved after being shot for a while, some never took off. The second film made by Barot was a Bengali film named ‘Aashrita’ (1990). The film arrived 12 years after ‘Don’ and became a massive success. He had two other released films to his credit, ‘Pyar Bhara Dil’ (1991) and ‘Hum Baja Bajaa Denge’ (2015).

‘Pyar Bhara Dil’, Barot’s second Hindi film, featured two new actors in the form of Tushar Vohra and Deepa Barot. A bunch of veteran actors like Reema Lagoo, Rakesh Bedi and Raza Murad were seen in supporting roles. Not many would remember the film today but its music, composed by Nikhil-Vinay, remains fresh in one’s memory. The film marked the debut of Nikhil-Vinay as composers. While ‘Banke Kitaab Teri’ was the most popular song from the film, some of the other songs, too, became hits.

Remembering the time he spent working with Barot, Nikhil Kamath, one-half of the composer duo Nikhil-Vinay says, “I have such fond memories of working with Chandra Barot ji. He was a highly talented filmmaker and a fine gentleman. Being our first film, ‘Pyar Bhara Dil’ was a very important project for Vinay and me. He never interfered with our work and would always praise us when he liked a tune. Because of his motivation and support, we could do our best. Our career as composer took off after that film.”

After working with Barot on ‘Pyar Bhara Dil’, Nikhil continued to remain in touch with him. Years later, he collaborated with the filmmaker again on ‘Hum Baja Bajaa Denge’. By then, Nikhil and Vinay were working independently. Asha Bhosle lent her voice to two songs in the film, ‘Har Ghadi’ and ‘Koi Karke Bahana’.

“Chandra ji had a great rapport with Asha ji and he was keen on her singing those two song. It’s interesting to note that I worked with Chandra ji at two very different junctures of my career. While ‘Pyar Bhara Dil’ was Vinay and my first film as a duo, I worked on ‘Hum Baaja Baaja Denge’ as a solo composer. Chandra ji had a great ear for music. He was a very jovial person. He would always be open to feedback and changes. He would have complete clarity about his script and the brief on which he would want the composer to work on. Because of these reasons, one would always have a wonderful time working with him”, says Nikhil.