Director
Mehboob Khan, who started his directorial journey in 1935, had already established Mehboob Productions in 1942 and had made hits such as
Anmol Ghadi (1946) and
Andaz (1949). He started looking for land closer to central
Mumbai, compared with older studios such as
Filmistan and
Bombay Talkies, which were in far-flung
Goregoan and
Malad. Eventually, he settled for seaside
Bandra, then a quiet and marshy area, long before the Reclamation that took place later. The plot, close to historic
Mount Mary's Church was bought in 1951 from Jaffer Bhai, a local
Bohra Muslim. A portion of the land housed a school run by a Parsi woman and the rest had farmland for vegetables. The construction was completed in 1954. Guru Dutt shot his iconic
Kaagaz Ke Phool here, and actor-director
Dev Anand shot many of his movies under the Navketan Films banner here, starting with
Hum Dono and followed by
Guide; he even maintained an office at the studio complex for 20 years.
Mehboob Khan could never recapture his mantle after the success of
Mother India. His subsequent films flopped including his last one:
Son of India (1962). When he died in 1964 at the age of 56, he left behind financial debts on his family.
Son of India was the last film produced under the
Mehboob Productions banner. The fortunes of the studio revived in the 1970s with the rights of
Mother India reverting to the family, and a recording studio was added. In the coming decades it survived the onslaught of real estate development and a fire, which gutted stages 1 and 2 in December 2000. ==Commemorative postage stamp==