Ved Rahi, director of ‘Gul Gulshan Gulfam’, passes away

MUMBAI: Noted writer-filmmaker Ved Rahi, who directed pictures like ‘Prem Parbat’ and ‘Kali Ghata’, and the popular TV serial ‘Gul Gulshan Gulfam’, passed away at the age of 93 on Sunday.His skills as author and poet drew from a rare command over Hindi and his native Dogri.Ved Rahi was born in May 1933 in Jammu to Mulk Raj Saraf, a pioneering journalist of the state. He attained prominence as a Dogri writer in his hometown, following which he decided to move to Mumbai to test the might of his penmanship.Rahi’s success spanned over 25 films. His fame arose from having written the screenplay or dialogues of movies like ‘Yeh Raat Phir Na Aayegi’, ‘Pavitra Paapi’, ‘Aap Aaye Bahaar Aayi’, ‘Beimaan’, ‘Mome Ki Gudiya’, ‘Sanyasi’, ‘Charas’ and the sparkling ‘Bezubaan’.As his career blossomed, Rahi took the leap into direction with films like ‘Prem Parbat’ (Yeh dil aur unki nigaahon ke saaye), ‘Kali Ghata’ (Shashi Kapoor, Rekha) and recently, ‘Veer Savarkar’ in 2001. Sadly, both ‘Prem Parbat’ and ‘Kali Ghata’ are lost to viewers.Rahi was a familiar name on Doordarshan through the 1980s and 1990s thanks to serials like ‘Gul Gulshan Gulfam’, ‘Meera’, ‘Katha Sagar’, ‘Zindagi’, ‘Ehsaas’ and ‘Rishtey’.His former neighbour at New Sarvottam Society in Irla said, “He stayed here in Andheri for very long. But since many years he was with one of his two daughters. I remember that the print of his movie ‘Kali Ghata’ got destroyed in a fire. He had assisted Ramanand Sagar after he came to Mumbai. Several people from his production house bought flats in Sarvottam society.”Rahi won the Sahitya Akademi Award for his Dogri short story collection ‘Aale’ followed by the Rahul Sankrityayan Award and the Kusumagraj Rashtriya Sahitya Puraskar.He is survived by two daughters Anju Patel and Poonam Advani.You Can Also Check: Gold Rate in Mumbai | Silver Rate in Mumbai | Bank Holidays in Mumbai | Public Holidays in Mumbai | Mumbai AQI | Weather in Mumbai | Petrol Price in Mumbai | Diesel Price in Mumbai | CNG Price in Mumbai | LPG Price in MumbaiStay updated with the latest Mumbai news. Download the TOI App.