Vasant Joglekar – Bollywood film director of ‘Aanchal’ and ‘Aaj Aur Kal’ fame

Vasant Joglekar (1914–1993) was a film director and producer who directed a few Marathi films, and a couple of Bollywood films. He is best known for directing Bollywood family dramas – Aanchal and Aaj Aur Kal in the 1960s, both starring Ashok Kumar, Nanda and Dhumal in key roles.

Vasant Joglekar was born in Nagpur, Maharashtra. As a film director he showed tremendous potential in Marathi cine industry. But when Marathi paved way to more glamorous and expensive Bollywood film industry in Maharashtra, he couldn’t sustain much in the new industry. Yet he directed two Bollywood films with veteran actor Ashok Kumar playing the lead roles.

His debut Hindi film Aanchal (1960) had Ashok Kumar and Nirupa Roy playing the lead with Nanda, Sudesh Kumar and Om Prakash in supporting roles. It told about how circumstances separate a happily married person from his family who assumes him to be dead and how he reunites 14 years later. The film had a happy end.

Vasant Joglekar – Some interesting and less-known facts

1. His debut Bollywood film Aanchal (1960) gave actress Nanda Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress. Throughout her film journey, it’s the single Filmfare award earned by this established actress of 1960s with 4 nominations in ‘Best Supporting Actress’ category and one in ‘Best Actress’ category.

2. His second Bollywood film, Aaj Aur Kal (1963) though was given U-certificate at the time of release, it was re-certified by the censor board in 1981 after 9 cuts.

3. Actress Lalitha Pawar appeared in a very rare positive role of a mother-in-law in his film, Aanchal.

Note: As I couldn’t find director’s image on net, I used one of his notable films. Also less data is available about this director, with less information about his contributions towards Marathi cinema

End Note: When I watched Aanchal a couple of days back, I can’t figure out how police started the investigation of murder, without getting the body. Also how can police suspect ‘dead’ character of Ashok Kumar. I am not sure if the version I watched was an edited one. But what I liked is the film had an unexpected happy ending, only because of this flaw.