Being a trade paper reporter i shared a very long and healthy relationship with him. As a reporter i used to visit his distribution office located at Bombay Market, Tardeo.  Every time our conversation used to start with his routine question, ” kya Pannu, kya report hai release filmon ka?” and then he used to share his opinion about released films. When he was not in the office I used to meet his right hand Tanaji to get a collection report and release dates of his films.     

I remember as a Bombay distributor Pahlaj ji had released “Khudgarz” and prior to the release of the film he had told me very confidently, ” dekhna Pannu, yeh film super hit hogi aur Rakesh Roshan chhaa jaayega” and he proved right.                               

Right from his first film Pahlaj Nihalani shared a healthy relationship with the media. As a producer his first film was “Hathkadi”. He was a hotelier and was the owner of Nagina Bar & Restaurant. From hotel business he ventured into the entertainment business. He knew the importance of the media well. When the shooting of “Hathkadi” was going on in Goa he decided to take the press there and Ajit Ghosh was his PR. He booked the same hotel for the media where his artists were staying and the artists were Shatrughan Sinha, Sanjeev Kumar, Rakesh Roshan etc. Later whenever he took the media for the outdoors the media stayed at the same hotel where his artists were staying.  This shows his respect for the media.                                            

As a producer he was a thorough professional. He couldn’t tolerate the indiscipline behaviour of his artists. He once launched a film with Akshay Khanna in the lead. I had attended the shooting of this film at the set erected at Filmcity Studio. The song “hallu…hallu..” was being shot on Akshay and Vibha Dutt. Later Akshay started throwing the tantrums and one day when he reached on the set Pahlaj ji was there and he straightaway told Akshay, ” tum wapas jao, maine yeh film shelve kar di hai”. Hearing this Akshay pleaded and started cajoling him but Pahlaj ji didn’t change his mind and the film remained in cans. Even when Govinda started throwing tantrums and fed off his unprofessional ways Pahlaj ji signed two new heroes and started the film “Bhai Bhai” and the two heroes were Samrat Mukherjee and Manek Bedi. Unfortunately the film flopped but he never regretted his decision.                                           

I remember once he had joined hands with the top industrial house Garware to produce the film. A lavish party was held at Centaur Hotel, Juhu  for the announcement of the film. The party was on Thursday and on Saturday many publications splashed the news highlighting Shashikant Garware and this annoyed Pahlaj ji and as a result the film couldn’t go beyond the announcement.          

Though I can share many interesting anecdotes about this top producer but here’s the one which is close to my heart.                 

One day when I visited his office he was in a jovial mood and told me, ” Pannu, tera naam kafi interesting hai. Indermohan Pannu yani I M Pannu. Charya, tu dekhna meri kisi picture mein tera naam use karoonga”. I just smiled then. A few years later when I went to the cinema hall to watch “Shola Aur Shabnam” I was surprised to see the name of the character Anupam Kher was playing. His name was Indermohan Lathi. I M Lathi. I was so thrilled that I wanted to shout in the hall that this name is taken from my name but modesty prevented me from doing so and I watched the film thanking Pahlaj Nihalani.                       

He was a member of the Hotel Owners Association so he used to get a good discount from other hotels and that was one reason he loved to throw parties.  Such a perfect host and professional producer is no more with us but the legacy of the entertainment he has left with us will keep on entertaining the world.