Call it destiny, Chandralekha was a roaring success in Hindi and there was no looking back for Rajshri Pictures. Some of the films Rajshri Pictures chose to distribute then included films nobody was willing to touch at that time like Sohrab Modi’s Sheesh Mahal/1950 and Vijay Bhatt’s Baiju Bawara /1952 but again they proved super successes at the box-office.
Those were days of freedom struggle and while the country was fighting for independence, Tarachand Barjatya was aspiring for his personal freedom. Call it a coincidence but Tarachand launched his Film Distribution Company on August 15 1947 and named it Rajshri Pictures Pvt Ltd. All the relationships he had built as General Manager, Moti Mahal Theatres came handy. Rajshri Pictures is among the first to bring all the leading South banners into Hindi mainstream cinema. The producers trusted Tarachand and that his company would be distributing their films was a further incentive. Gemini Productions’ big budget film Chandralekha released in 1948was a super duper hit and there was no looking back.
In the coming decade as Tarachand Barjatya settled down in his personal life and expanded his family, he felt time had come to take another leap in his career. In 1960 after consulting friends, he launched Rajshri Productions Pvt Ltd. In 1961 he was ready to roll his premier production and in 1962 came Aarti a super story featuring Ashok Kumar, Meena Kumari and Pradeep Kumar packaged with super compositions from Roshan and lyrics by Majrooh Sultanpuri.
To be continued