Manmohan Desai | The Statesmen

MANMOHAN DESAI (1937-1994)

The best part of Indian cinema is the ‘masala’ that it holds. Many a lot Indian movies have been made, that surely win all the critical acclaims, but the ones that rule the box-office are the one that contain this ‘typical and special ingredient’. One person who has made the most efficient recipe with it is non other than MANMOHAN DESAI.

Movies like Amar akbar Anthony (my all time favourite), naseeb, coolie, suhaag, roti, … and a lot more to name are the ones that make him true father of ‘masaledaar’ bollywood.  Mostly his movies used to start with a huge line up of tragedy (usually having Nirupa Roy as a blind mother), and have all the family reunited by the end of the movie. Probabaly where I consider the concept of “Happy Ending’ was invented. The imagination had no limits. Almost anything was possible in his flicks!

He entered the film industry as a screenplay and storywriter. It was during the sixties and early seventies that he gave many hit movies. In 1977, he started his own movie production company, MKD, by launching Amar Akbar Anthony as the producer as well as the director. This was infact the most successful year for him, giving 4 blockbusters in the same very year (Dharamveer, Chacha-Bhatija and Parvarish).

Majorly Amitabh used to star in his films, giving Manmohan Desai his biggest blockbusters, but he also casted Shashi Kapoor, Rajesh Khanna, Dharmendra and Jitendra. Even if they had any of them, the major part in the movie was played by Amitabh only. He thought that only he can give justice to the flights of fantasy that the director cooked up. Music during this time in all his movies was given by Laxmikant-Pyarelal, who contributed to his blockbusters by composing music that added zing to the flavor.

His downfall started in the 1980s, when he gave movies like Mard and Ganga Jamuna Saraswati. Even his son tried his hand on the movies, but no success was seen (Alla Rakha & Toofan). But that doesn’t belittle his contribution to the Indian Cinema. His style of filmmaking will always live, and rule in our hearts, as long as The Bollywood lives.

Written By Rishabh Shukla