He’s always treated life as canvass and made films that have either evolve from his own life or from real life stories that he’s read or experienced. He can be said to be our most autobiographical of our filmmakers as also a brutally honest chronicler of what’s happening in our society…
Starring Shabana Azmi, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Smita Patil and Raj Kiran, the film was reportedly based on Mahesh’s extra marital relationship with Parveen Babi. It was marked by some rocking performances by Shabana Azmi as the estranged wife, Smita Patil as the superstar consort and Kulbhushan Kharbanda as Mahesh’s doppelganger in the film. Biographic elements aside, it also pointed out the fact that women don’t need men to be happy. It won the Filmfare Best Actor (Female) Award for Shabana Azmi , Best Supporting Actor (Female) for Rohini Hattangadi and Best Screenplay for Mahesh Bhatt.
Saaransh (1984)
A retired man’s fight to get hold of his dead son’s ashes from the clutches of the customs got Gandhian overtones, thanks to some seminal acting by lead actor Anupam Kher. Incidentally, Bhatt was said to be being coerced to give the lead role to Sanjeev Kumar but kept his faith in Kher, who was only 29 when he essayed the role of a 60 plus man. It won the Filmfare Best Actor (Male) Award for Anupam Kher, Best Story (Mahesh Bhatt) and Best Art Direction (Madhukar Shinde)
Naam (1986)
Starring Nutan, Sanjay Dutt, Kumar Gaurav, Poonam Dhillon, Amrita Singh and Paresh Rawal, the film took a harsh look at the reality faced by thousands of Indian youth who were migrating to Dubai on spurious visas and often were forced into some illegal activity or the other. The Chiiti aayi hai song from the film, sung by Pankaj Udhas, remains famous even today.
Kaash (1987)
Starring Jackie Shroff and Dimple Kapadia, the film deconstructs a superstar marriage gone wrong. It gave out the message that love and redemption can be found just between the surface if one if willing to scratch off the ego.
Daddy (1989)
The film marked the debut of Pooja Bhatt and revolved around the reconciliation of an alcoholic father with his estranged daughter who has been brought up to believe that both her parents had died when she was a child. It was buoyed by some remarkable performances by Anupam Kher and Manohar Singh. It won Filmfare Critics Award for Best Performance for Anupam Kher, Best Dialogue for Suraj Sanim and Lux New Face of the Year Award for Pooja Bhatt.
Sadak (1991)
Starring Pooja Bhatt and Sanjay Dutt, the film was a hard hitting tale about a Taxi driver who falls in love with a girl sold to a brothel and tries to rescue her. Sadhashiv Amrapurkar, who plays a eunuch madam running a brothel, came in for a lot of praise for his role. He won the Filmfare Best Villain Award for his effort.
Zakhm (1998)
Taking another leaf from his own life, Bhatt made a film about the vagaries of inter-faith marriage and the repercussions it can lead to when communal hatred flares up. Bhatt won the Filmfare Best Story Award for this hard-hitting film.