Shomu Mukherjee

Shomu Mukherjee was born on June 19, 1943 in Jamshedpur, Jharkhand, India to Sashadhar Mukherjee and Sati Devi. His father was a renowned Hindi film producer who was one of the founders of Filmistan Studio and later established his independent studio, Filmalaya. His mother was the only sister of the renowned Ganguly brothers: veteran film star Ashok Kumar, legendary singer and actor Kishore Kumar, and actor Anoop Kumar. He is the fourth son of his parents, and had three elder brothers: director & composer Late Rono Mukherjee and actors Late Joy Mukherjee and Deb Mukherjee; one younger sister Shibani and one younger brother Subir. Leading Bollywood actress, Rani Mukerji, is his niece, while director Ayan Mukerji is his nephew.

He met actress Tanuja, the daughter of actress Shobana and filmmaker Kumarsen of the Samarth family, on the sets of the 1972 film ‘Ek Baar Muskura Do’, which was the very first film he produced. They tied the knot the following year. His wife appeared in his later films in the lead, as well as in supporting roles. He and Tanuja had two daughters, Kajol and Tanisha, both of whom are actresses. Kajol is married to actor Ajay Devgan.

Shomu Mukherjee’s relationship with his wife soured within a few years. While they had agreed to disagree, they raised their two daughters together. Even though they stayed separately, each month they visited their daughters in their boarding schools together. Following his separation from his wife, he stayed in his family house, Grotto Villa, while Tanuja started to live in Usha Kiran apartment with her daughters.

Following into his father’s footsteps, Shomu Mukherjee made his debut in 1972 by producing the Bollywood drama film ‘Ek Baar Muskura Do’, which was directed by his cousin Ram Mukherjee and featured his two brothers Joy and Deb Mukherjee, as well as his future wife Tanuja and his future mother-in-law Shobana Samarth. The film was quite successful, with its music by O.P.Nayyar being a plus point. He once again took Tanuja as the lead actress in his next film ‘Nannha Shikari ‘in 1973, and also wrote the script for the film and directed it. He next went on to work with the then Bollywood superstar Rajesh Khanna in his next two films; ‘Chhailla Babu’, in 1977 and ‘Fiffty Fiffty’, in 1981. Chhailla Babu became a superhit, grossing over Rs.4 crores.

Thereafter, he produced and directed two films; ‘Lover Boy’ in 1985 and ‘Pathar Ke Insan’, in 1990. Both the films did not do well at box office and Shomu Mukherjee did not produce or direct any film after ‘Pathar Ke Insan’