​Police have arrested the driver of the commercial tanker, identified as Rekharam Motaram Jat from Jalore, Rajasthan. 

Filmfare’s Editor-in-Chief Jitesh Pillaai revisits the towering legacy of Mehboob Khan, the visionary filmmaker who transformed Indian cinema with classics like Mother India, Andaz and Amar, while building a cinematic empire marked equally by brilliance, ambition and controversy.

In his words:

There are people who put their entire lives on the line to chase their passion. What made an uneducated boy who ran away from home the leading light of the movie business? Mehboob Khan pioneered not just a trend of great films, but he also ushered in a new era of filmmaking, often being compared to Hollywood’s Cecil B DeMille.

The maker who gave Nargis, Dilip Kumar, Nimmi and Nadira some of their most pioneering works in Andaz (1949), Taqdeer (1943), Aan (1952), Humayun (1945), Amar (1954), Mother India (1957), besides scores of amazing musicals like Anmol Ghadi (1946) and Anokhi Ada (1948) and of course Aurat (1940), from which Mother India was remade. Besides snagging Mother India the richly deserved nomination in the Best Foreign Language Film category. Great men empower; he gave us a legacy of wonderful films besides the mammoth Mehboob studio, which is home to many a classic.

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Great men also are afflicted with hubris, irascible temper, mercurial bouts, and perhaps uncontrollable libido, leading to professional and personal fallouts that marked the end of a great career when he was barely 58 years old. His blow hot, blow cold relationship with Dilip Kumar and Raj Kapoor, his various excesses, including his love of food and women, his ego clashes with his immediate creative and technical crews, are all documented with dignity and grace in his biography by Bunny Reuben. His brief affair with a dance actress caused much chagrin to his second wife, Sardar Akhtar. Her sister, Bahar, was married to another movie mogul, AR Kardar.

But we will remember Khan for the magic of Nargis in Mother India, the spectacular Andaz (1949), and the anti-hero in Amar (1954). Despite his own ego and frailties, he soldiered on to make the industry a place to reckon with, besides putting us on the International map. In Reuben’s biography, Mehboob: India’s Demille, he recalls with sharpness and affection, the chequered career of a movie mogul. Several cliches abound in the book, and there is both deification and criticism. Suffice to use another cliche: They don’t make them like that anymore.

Also Read: Editor’s Take: Why Sathyan Anthikad’s Films Still Feel Like Home

Malavika Mohanan has steadily built her career across Malayalam, Tamil and Hindi cinema with notable performances in projects with Vijay Thalapathy, Dhanush, Prabhas and Mohanlal, to name a few. The actor continues to collaborate with leading actors and filmmakers across industries. Interestingly, she is currently working on the highly anticipated film Pocket Novel alongside Vijay Sethupathi. It is directed by Thiagarajan Kumararaja.

As per our source, Malavika is also working on another project apart from Pocket Novel. She is simultaneously shooting for the unannounced project in Chennai. The source has further added, “Malavika is currently in Chennai, juggling the shoot of Thiagarajan Kumararaja’s next and an unannounced project. Despite the demanding routine, Malavika is said to be extremely excited about her unannounced project and her collaboration with Vijay Sethupathi in Pocket Novel.”

Apart from the two projects, she is also gearing up for Sardar 2. She will be seen alongside Karthi in the much-awaited sequel. During an exclusive interview with Filmfare some time back, Malavika had opened up about her biggest challenge of being a pan-Indian actress. She said, “My biggest challenge is that whenever I’m working, be it in Hyderabad, Kochi or Chennai, being away from home for an extended period gets hard. It takes a toll. It makes me feel uprooted if it goes on for too long. I miss coming back home to my loved ones after a long day. It gets very dull. I don’t like coming back to an empty hotel room. It takes a toll on me. You need a sense of community and family. I get blurry when I don’t have that. I need my loved ones around. But the funny part is, I won’t even chill with them when I am home. I might be in my room doing my own thing but I need my people around.”

Also Read: Malavika Mohanan, Kayadu Lohar: Mollywood Leading Ladies Foraying Into Tollywood