Mahesh Bhatt as a director is a fearless voice whose directorial dramas were moving portraits of realities of life. Take ‘Arth’, in which a married man is attracted by the charms of another woman that shatters the wife. Extramarital relationships have been explored time and again but ‘Arth’ engulfs you in its darkness like few others do.

Equally hard-hitting is ‘Saaransh’ that marked the debut of a 29-year old Anupam Kher playing an aging man who has to come to terms with the death of his only son. Receding hairline in real morphed into a compelling character and a confident debut. Bone-chilling stories continued with titles like ‘Naam’, ‘Sadak’, and ‘Zakhm’ after which it was time for him to hang his boots as a director.