It is with profound sadness that Cineswami notes the passing of Rabindranath aka ‘Mani’ Kaul, a true auteur of Indian cinema. Bollywood fans may not have heard of him at all, save the tenuous connection with Shahrukh Khan

In 1991, Kaul made a television mini-series Ahmak (Idiot) based on Fyodor Dostoevsky’s masterwork and Khan had a key role in it. This was, of course, long before Khan attained superstardom. In 1975, Kaul made the masterly Duvidha that was remade in 2005 by Khan’s Red Chillies production house as Paheli, starring Khan himself in a double role alongside Amitabh Bachchan and Rani Mukerji. Paheli was ostensibly directed by Amol Palekar but in reality it was ghost directed by Khan. Click here to read more