BOMBAY, Aug. 27 (UPI) -- Indian filmmaker Hrishikesh Mukherjee, best known for his 1970s films such as "Anand" and "Chupke Chupke," has died at 84 in a hospital in Bombay.
The director had been ill for some time, the BBC reported.
Mukherjee was known for his stories about Indian middle-class people and how they related to each other. "Anand," about a terminally ill man and his friend, launched the career of Amitabh Bachchan, now a top Bollywood star.
In 2001, Mukherjee was awarded the Dada Saheb Phalke award, India's highest film honor. Mukherjee's career, which spanned five decades, included several films which Mukherjee wrote himself.
"He was a great director, he was like an elder brother to me. His films were essentially Indian in nature," said singer Lata Mangeshkar.
Actor Rajesh Khanna said Mukherjee was a "great man who made great films."
