On Basu Chatterjee’s 94th birthday, a journalist's account of how an interview with the legendary director almost backfired 'Throughout the interview, he remained in a reflective mood and didn’t smile even once.' Aditya Sharma January 10, 2021 12:26:25 IST Director Basu Chatterjee. Express archive photo Basu Chatterjee directed more than 50 films and TV serials — a staggering number that not many directors of the Hindi film industry can match. His films, that portrayed the joys and sorrows of the common man, were so similar to Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s that it was often difficult to differentiate between their works. Working as a journalist, when I shifted from Delhi to Mumbai, interviewing Chatterjee became a pressing priority. But when I asked for his phone number from my colleagues, I drew a blank.