Babubhai Mistry was an acclaimed Indian film director who was best known for mythological films. He was also renowned as the pioneer of special effects and was accredited as the master of special effects in the Hindi film industry. His films like Parasmani, Mahabharat and Sampoorna Ramayana, based on the Hindu mythology, are well known. He had also earned the nick name of Kala Dhaga which means black thread as he used black threads in the movies to perform various tricks.

Early Life of Babubhai Mistry
Babubhai Mistry was born in the year 1919 in the city of Surat in Gujarat. He had studied only up to class four.

Career of Babubhai Mistry
Babubhai Mistry previously worked as a regular art director for the movies under the production of Wadia Movietone which was owned by JBH and Homi Wadia brothers, in addition to Fearless Nadia. It was during this phase that he discovered his inclination towards the handling of camera and trick photography. Since the year 1933 to 1937 he got trained at Basant Pictures, along with Vijay Bhatt, as a special effects director. His career in special effects began with the movie Khwab ki Duniya in the year 1937 after he was asked by Vijay Bhatt to create some special effects in the film. It became the first film for which he was credited as trick photographer. In the following years his effects in Basant Pictures" Hatimtai under the direction of Homi Wadia and Ellis Duncan"s Meera was applauded.

Soon Babubhai Mistry also ventured into film direction. He began his directing career with the movies Muqabala, in 1942, and Mauj, in 1943, which he co-directed along with Nanabhai Bhatt. In the next four decades he directed more than 63 mythological, fantasy and religious films based on different epical, religious and language texts including Puranas. His 1961 film Sampoorna Ramayana is known to be a milestone in the history of Hindu mythology. He also worked as a consultant for Ramananda Sagar"s television epic series titled Ramayana.

Achievements of Babubhai Mistry
Babubhai Mistry, in 1999, received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Zee Cine Awards. In the year 2005 he was honored with the Kodak Trophy for Technical Excellence at the annual MAMI festival for his contributions in the Indian cinema. In 2009 at an event called Immortal Memories which was organized for honouring the living legends of the Hindi film industry, Babubhai Mistry was honored for his contribution to Bollywood as the master of special effects.

Death of Babubhai Mistry
Babubhai Mistry died on 20th December 2010 in Mumbai.

Filmography of Babubhai Mistry