Joy Mukherjee is best remembered for the sweet as Bengali candy, romantic musicals he starred in during the early 1960s. He was never considered the best of actors, but his boyish good looks and lanky physique made him a favorite with female fans. Mukherjee was tall, had matinee idol good looks, and wore Western clothes like a fashion model. He may have been a bit wooden, and one dimentional as a performer, but at times he showed great comic timing. His role as Dev, the often bewildered hero of "Love in Simla", which was his first film, is his best and most enduring character.

For a few years in the 1960s he was one of the kings of Bollywood lite romances. In films like "Love in Simla" [1960], "Phir Wohi Dil Laya Hoon" [1963], and "Shagrid" [1967] he wooed the most desirable Bollywood actresses of the period, Sadhana, Asha Parek, and Saira Banu.

 

Joy Mukherjee was born into an influentual and powerful film family. A list of his relatives reads like a Bollywood who's who. A partical roll-call would include, his father, Sashadhar Mukherjee who was a film producer and ran the influental Filmalaya Studios. Sashadhar Mukherjee is credited with discovering both Sadhana and Asha Parek. Joy's brother Deb Mukherjee married the actress Tanuja. Tanuja is the sister of Nutan and also of course the mother of Kajol. The actress Rani Mukherjee is Joy's neice.

By the late 1960s Joy Mukherjee's star had reached it's peak and was on the wan. The advent of the Rajesh Khanna craze in 1970 caused audiences to loose interest in him as a romantic hero. In the late 60s and the 1970s Mukherjee became a producer and director.

 

Joy Mukherjee Photo Galleries

"Love in Simla" [1960] gallery

"Ek Musafir Ek Hasina" [1962] gallery

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links:

Dinesh Raheja's Rediff.com Joy Mukherjee profile

Dinesh Rahenja's Rediff.com review of "Love in Shimla", starring Joy Mukherjee

imdb.com filmography of Joy Mukherjee