Jagmohan "Jag" Mundhra was a prominent Indian film director and writer. He is best known for his issue-oriented films such as The Other Man (1994), Bawandar (2000), Provoked (2006) and Shoot on Sight (2007). He was also a life member of International Film and Television Club of Asian Academy of Film and Television. Mundhra breathed his last on September 4, 2011 in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. He was 62 and succumbed to pneumonia and multiple organ failure.
Early Life of Jagmohan Mundhra
Mundhra was born on 29 October 1948 in Nagpur, India. He grew up in a Marwari locality in Calcutta now Kolkata. His family was conservative and not supportive of a film career. However, he nurtured a secret ambition to become a filmmaker.
Education of Jagmohan Mundhra
He studied in a Hindi medium school up to 9th grade. He attended the highly competitive and prestigious IIT Bombay for his further studies. His performance as a student was impressive however he realised that engineering was not for him. But he completed the course as he did not want to let his parents down.
Then he moved to Michigan to pursue his MS in Electrical Engineering. But he left the course after one semester and switched to marketing. He wrote his marketing thesis on motion pictures. He did a comparative study of marketing practices in Hollywood and Bollywood. This project led him to encounter with various people of Hindi film industry.
After completing his PhD, Mundhra taught for a year at California State University. While staying at California, he came closer to Hollywood. Eventually in 1979, he decided to become a full-time filmmaker.
Film Career of Jagmohan Mundhra
His stint with this creative world started with a drama called Suraag and a socially-relevant film titled Kamla. Then in the late 1980s and the 1990s Mundhra directed a string of horror and erotic thriller movies for theatrical distribution which mainly comprised of The Jigsaw Murders (1988), Halloween Night (1988), Night Eyes (1990), The Other Women (1992), L.A. Goddess (1993), Sexual Malice (1994), Tales of The Kama Sutra: The Perfumed Garden (2000) and Tales of The Kama Sutra 2: Monsoon (2001).
He returned and focused on issue-based movies since the year 2000 with the critically acclaimed movie titled Bawandar. The film was based on the real story of rape victim Bhanwari Devi in Rajasthan. The story narrates about the fight of a poor woman for justice. After the film`s release Ashok Gehlot, the chief minister of Rajasthan praised Mundhra`s work and gave Rs 50,000 and land to Bhanwari Devi and also money for her son`s education. At the time of his demise Mundhra was working on a film based on the life of politician Sonia Gandhi.
