The man behind a legacy-establishing classic: Why Chandra Barot never made another Hindi film after 'Don'

Chandra Barot, the veteran filmmaker known for the original Don, the 1978 blockbuster starring Amitabh Bachchan, passed away on Sunday at age 86, due to complications from pulmonary fibrosis. Deepa Barot, his wife, confirmed to the Times of India that he had been undergoing treatment for some time.

Chandra Barot, who began as an assistant director under actor-filmmaker Manoj Kumar on films such as Purab Aur Pachhim, Yaadgaar, Shor, and Roti Kapada Aur Makaan, made his independent directorial debut with Don, written by Salim-Javed. He made it out of a commitment to producer Narimani Irani, who had experienced a severe financial crisis at the time, after his maiden film Zindagi Zindagi, starring Sunil Dutt, became a huge flop. Barot, being a friend, wanted to help him out.

In an old interview with Rediff.com, Barot recalled that, in those days, everyone loved each other like family members. "People used to care about others. There were values. Today, everything is about business. Films are now released with 800 to 1,000 prints and shown for just two weeks before being declared hits. In those days, we released only 120 prints. We cared for people in the industry and loved each other like family members."

When Don was undergoing production, the team witnessed an unfortunate incident: Nariman Irani met an untimely death while shooting for another film in Mumbai. After the film was completed and became a hit, the team sent the money to Irani's widow, Salma, to clear his debts.

In the same interview, Barot explained why he never made other films — in the Hindi language, to be specific. "It's a long story. After Don, I had 52 offers from producers. I selected two films. Before working on Don, I worked with Manoj Kumar, whom I used to respect tremendously. I worked on a salary of Rs 457 for nine years, and learnt a lot from his films. I did try making films after Don, but couldn't complete them. I started a film with Dilip Kumar called Master, and another with Sarika called Titli. The first wasn't completed, and Sarika went on to marry. I did complete a Bengali film called Aashrita in 1989, which ran for 69 weeks and made Rs 3.5 crore."

Barot will be forever remembered for making a legacy-establishing classic that spawned multiple remakes and reboots: Yugandhar (1979) in Telugu, with NTR; Billa (1980) in Tamil, with Rajinikanth (remade later with Ajith in 2007); Shobaraj (1986) in Malayalam, with Mohanlal; Cobra (1991) in Punjabi, with Sultan Rahi; Don (2006) in Hindi, with Shah Rukh Khan, and its sequel Don 2 (2011). Interestingly, the second Telugu remake of Yugandhar, starring Prabhas, was also called Billa.

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