Manmohan Desai

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Manmohan Desai (born in Bombay, 26 Feb 1936 - Died 1 March 1994) was a renowned producer and director of Indian Hindi films.

1 Background
2 Career
3 Personal
4 Filmography
5 External links

[edit] Background

His father Kikubhai Desai[1] had directed a Hindi film in the 1930s . His younger brother Subhash Desai had turned a producer in the 1950's [2], and had produced one film before Chhalia, which he got Manmohan to direct.Subhash produced Challia, Bluffmaster ,Dharamveer, Amar Akbar Anthony and Desh Premee with Manmohan as the director.Subhash Desai was the one who gave him his much needed breaks.

[edit] Career

His string of hits with Amitabh made him one of the golden directors who had a special working relationship with Amitabh Bachchan (Yash Chopra and Prakash Mehra being the other two).

He started direction with the 1960 Raj Kapoor starrer Chhalia. In 1970 he directed the Rajesh Khanna hit Sachaa Jhutha.

He also directed Randhir Kapoor in Raampur Ka Lakshman. His innings with Amitabh started with Amar Akbar Anthony and was followed by Parvarish,Suhaag, Naseeb, Desh Premee, Coolie, Mard and Ganga Jamuna Saraswati out of which all but the last were box office successes.

1977 was an exceptional year for him, 4 films were huge hits, these were Parvarish, Amar Akbar Anthony, Chacha Bhatija and Dharam Veer. The first two with Amitabh, and the latter two with Dharmendra. Most of his films had great special effects done by his nephew (Subhash Desai's son) Capt Danny Desai.

Manmohan Desai along with Prakash Mehra, Hrishikesh Mukherjee and Yash Chopra have accounted for a large number of Amitabh's famous hits. Of these only Yash Chopra went on to make hits beyond the 1980s. Manmohan Desai's last film with Amitabh was Toofan in 1989 which he had produced and the film was directed by his son Ketan Desai. Their last partnership proved to be unsuccessful. Incidently shortly after its release, Prakash Mehra's last film with Amitabh which was Jaadugar was also released and failed at the box office. It also proved to be the least successful of Amitabh and Prakash Mehra's partnership.

His films mostly had Laxmikant Pyarelal as music composers, from Bluff Master till Coolie he used LP in his films. Mard and Ganga Jamuna Saraswati were exceptions, in which he used Anu Malik.

[edit] Personal

Manmohan Desai is of Gujarati ancestry. His first wife was Jeevan Desai. But after she passed away he was engaged to actress Nanda until the time of his death in 1994. He has one son (Ketan Desai) from his first marriage who is involved in the film industry and directed Toofan and Allah Rakha. He is married to Kanchan Kapoor, daughter of Shammi Kapoor and Geeta Bali. Subhash Desai was married to Chanden Desai and lived at Breach Candy while Manmohan Desai lived in Grant Road. The Desai family also have a house at Altamount Road.