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{{EngvarB|date=September 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2015}}
{{More citations needed|date=August 2009}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Manmohan Desai
| image =Man Mohan Desai.jpg
| imagesize =
| alt =
| caption =
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{birth date |df=yes|1937|2|26}}<ref name="Haham2005">{{cite book|author=Connie Haham|title=Manmohan Desai's Enchantment of the Mind|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bnZsBQAAQBAJ&pg=PT20|date=1 December 2005|publisher=Roli Books Private Limited|isbn=978-93-5194-049-4|pages=20–}}</ref>
| birth_place = [[Bombay]], [[Bombay Presidency]], [[British India]]
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1994|3|1|1937|2|26}}
| death_place = [[Bombay]], [[Maharashtra]], [[India]]
| mothertounge =
| othername =
| alma_mater = [[St. Xavier's College, Mumbai|St. Xavier's College]]
| occupation = Film director, producer
| yearsactive = 1960–1993
| spouse = Jeevanprabha Gandhi<ref>{{cite web|last1=Singh|first1=Kuldip|title=Obituary: Manmohan Desai|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-manmohan-desai-1426903.html|publisher=The Independent|access-date=8 August 2015}}</ref>
| children = [[Ketan Desai (director)|Ketan Desai]]
| parents = {{unbulleted list| [[Kikubhai Desai]] |Kalavati}}<ref name=L&C>{{cite web|last1=Raje|first1=Niilesh A|title=Anhonee Ko Honee Karde: A Tribute To Manmohan Desai|url=http://learningandcreativity.com/anhonee-ko-honee-karde-a-tribute-to-manmohan-desai/|publisher=Learning & Creativity|access-date=8 August 2015}}</ref>
| website =
}}
'''Manmohan Desai''' (26 February 1937 – 1 March 1994) was an Indian film [[movie producer|producer]] and [[movie director|director]].

== Family background ==
Manmohan Desai was of [[Gujarati people|Gujarati]] ancestry. His father, Kikubhai Desai,<ref>[https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1509216/ Kikubhai Desai]. IMDb</ref> was an Indian film producer and owner of Paramount Studios (later Filmalaya)<ref>Tejaswini Ganti 2004, "Bollywood: A Guide to Popular Hindi Cinema", Routeledge Guidebooks, New York and London.</ref> from 1931 to 1941. His productions, mainly stunt films, included ''Circus Queen'', ''Golden Gang'', and ''Sheikh Challi''.<ref>Connie Haham (2006) ''Enchantment of the Mind: Manmohan Desai's Films'', Roli Books, New Delhi, p 182.</ref> Manmohan Desai's elder brother, Subhash Desai, became a producer in the 1950s<ref>[https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1194304/ Subhash Desai]. IMDb</ref> and gave Manmohan his first break in the Hindi film ''[[Chhalia]]'' (1960). Subhash later went on to produce ''[[Bluff Master (1963 film)|Bluff Master]]'', ''[[Dharam Veer (1977 film)|Dharam Veer]]'', and ''[[Desh Premee]]'' with Manmohan as the director.

His wife was Jeevanprabha Desai. She died in April 1979. He was engaged to actress [[Nanda (actress)|Nanda]] from 1992 until the time of his death in 1994. He had one son Ketan Desai who is still involved in the film industry. Ketan is married to Kanchan Kapoor, daughter of [[Shammi Kapoor]] and [[Geeta Bali]].

On 1 March 1994, as per news Manmohan Desai fell from the balcony in [[Girgaon]] as the rail he was leaning on collapsed and died.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Bawa|first1=Jyoti Sharma|title=With Nanda's death, I have lost a very good friend: Actor Mala Sinha|url=http://www.hindustantimes.com/bollywood/with-nanda-s-death-i-have-lost-a-very-good-friend-mala-sinha/article1-1200215.aspx|publisher=Hindustan Times|access-date=8 August 2015}}</ref> Very little is known about his death except that he was suffering from chronic back pain. Rumours of him committing suicide have not been confirmed.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Mishra|first1=Rashmi|title=Accident, Suicide or Murder? The mysterious deaths in Bollywood|url=http://www.india.com/showbiz/accident-suicide-or-murder-the-mysterious-deaths-in-8179/|publisher=India.com|access-date=8 August 2015}}</ref>

== Career ==
Manmohan Desai was known for his family-centered, action-song-and-dance films which catered to the tastes of the Indian masses and through which he achieved great success. His movies defined a new genre called [[masala (film genre)|masala]] films. A common theme in his films were the lost and found plot where family members would be separated and reunited.

He had a string of hits with [[Amitabh Bachchan]] in the 70s and early 80s which helped cement Bachchan's status as a [[superstar]] of Indian cinema. He worked with Amitabh on ''[[Amar Akbar Anthony]]'', ''[[Parvarish (1977 film)|Parvarish]]'', ''[[Suhaag (1979 film)|Suhaag]]'', ''[[Naseeb (1981 film)|Naseeb]]'', ''[[Desh Premee]]'', ''[[Coolie (1983 Hindi film)|Coolie]]'', ''[[Mard (1985 film)|Mard]]'' and ''[[Ganga Jamuna Saraswati]]''; all but the last were box office successes. He was one of the directors who had a special working relationship with [[Amitabh Bachchan]], the others being [[Yash Chopra]], [[Prakash Mehra]], [[Ramesh Sippy]], and [[Hrishikesh Mukherjee]]. Of these, only [[Yash Chopra]] went on to make hits beyond the 1980s.

He often worked with the same actors in several different films:

*Jeetendra in ''Dharam Veer'' (1977) after ''Bhai Ho To Aisa''
*Shatrughan Sinha in ''Naseeb after ''Bhai Ho To Aisa'', ''Shararat'' and Aa Gale Lag Jaa (1973) and ''Rampur Ka Lakshman'' (1972)
*Shashi Kapoor in ''Suhaag'' after ''Aa Gale Lag Jaa'' (1973)
*Shammi Kapoor in ''Parvarish'' (1977) as a father figure after ''Bluffmaster'' (1963) and Budtameez (1966)
*Randhir Kapoor in ''Chacha Bhatija'' (1977) after ''Rampur Ka Lakshman'' (1972).

Apart from Bachchan, Manmohan Desai worked with such leading male stars as Raj Kapoor in the 1960 film ''Chhalia'', Shammi Kapoor in "Bluffmaster" (1963) and "Budtameez" (1966), Rajesh Khanna in ''Sachaa Jhutha'' (1970) and ''Roti'' (1974), Randhir Kapoor in ''Raampur Ka Lakshman'' (1972), Shashi Kapoor in ''Aa Gale Lag Jaa'', Dharmendra in ''Dharam Veer'' (1977). 1977 was an exceptional year for him. All four of his films released that year were huge hits: ''[[Parvarish (1977 film)|Parvarish]]'', ''[[Amar Akbar Anthony]]'', ''[[Chacha Bhatija]]'' and ''[[Dharam Veer (1977 film)|Dharam Veer]]''. The first two were with Amitabh, and the latter two were with Dharmendra.

Manmohan Desai worked with writers such as [[Salim–Javed]], [[Prayag Raaj]], [[K.K.Shukla]], and [[Kader Khan]], and lyricists such as [[Anand Bakshi]], [[Sahir Ludhianvi]], [[Qamar Jalalabadi]], [[Gulshan Bawra]], and Shailendra. Early in his career he worked with composers Rahul Dev Burman, [[Kalyanji Anandji]], later with [[Laxmikant Pyarelal]] for many films. [[Laxmikant–Pyarelal]] and Manmohan Desai have worked for nine films, most of them produced and directed by Manmohan Desai. Refer following list of Musical HITs of Manmohan Desai with [[Laxmikant–Pyarelal]].
[[Roti]] 1974, only as director. In 1977 Manmohan Desai formed MKD films and made many musical hits with [[Laxmikant–Pyarelal]]

[[Amar Akbar Anthony]] 1977
[[Dharm Veer]] 1977
[[Paravarish]] 1977
[[Chacha Bhatija]] 1977
[[Suhag]] 1979
[[Naseeb (1981 film)|Naseeb]] 1981
[[Desh Premi]] 1982
[[Coolie]] 1983

and later he worked with music composer [[Anu Malik]].

Out of the 20 films that Desai directed in his career span of 29 years (1960–1989), as many as 13 films were stupendous hits. His success ratio was 65 percent in an industry where flops abound. He used an assortment of male singers in his films. In Chhaliya, Mukesh sang the songs of leading man, Raj Kapoor. He preferred Mahendra Kapoor for Biswajit in Kismat. In Roti and Aa Gale Lag Ja, Kishore Kumar's voice was used for the hero. He used Mohd Rafi's voice on Amitabh Bachchan in films like Suhaag and Naseeb. He also used Kishore for Amitabh in Amar Akbar Anthony. His biggest hits of Mohd Rafi song was Pardah Hai Pardah from Amar Akbar Anthony and John Jani Janardhan from Naseeb. Manmohan Desai once said that Mohd Rafi's voice is God's voice.

Towards the end of his career, Desai's previously successful stories and style began to lose favour with audiences. Critics accused him of self-parody. His last film as a director ''[[Ganga Jamuna Saraswati]]'' and the films he produced with his son Ketan Desai directing, ''[[Allah Rakha (film)|Allah Rakha]]'' (1986), ''[[Toofan (1989 film)|Toofan]]'' (1989) and ''[[Anmol]]'' (1993) failed at the box office.

== Filmography ==
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|- style="background:#ccc; align:center,"
! Year!! Movie Name !! Cast !! Notes
|-
| 1957 || Janam Janam Ke Phere ||[[Nirupa Roy]], [[Mahipal (actor)|Mahipal]]||
|-
| 1960 || [[Chhalia]] ||[[Raj Kapoor]], [[Nutan]], [[Pran (actor)|Pran]], [[Rehman (actor)|Rehman]], [[Shobhna Samarth]] ||
|-
| 1963 || [[Bluff Master (1963 film)|Bluff Master]] || [[Shammi Kapoor]], [[Saira Banu]], [[Pran (actor)|Pran]], [[Lalita Pawar]] ||
|-
| 1966 || [[Budtameez]] || [[Shammi Kapoor]], [[Sadhana Shivdasani|Sadhana]], [[Manorama (Hindi actress)|Manorama]] ||
|-
| 1968 || [[Kismat (1968 film)|Kismat]] || [[Biswajeet]], [[Babita Kapoor|Babita]], [[Helen (actress)|Helen]], Kamal Mehra ||
|-
| 1970 || [[Sachaa Jhutha]] || [[Rajesh Khanna]], [[Mumtaz (actress)|Mumtaz]], [[Vinod Khanna]] ||
|-
| 1972 || [[Raampur Ka Lakshman]] || [[Randhir Kapoor]], [[Rekha]], [[Shatrughan Sinha]] ||
|-
| 1972 ||[[Bhai Ho To Aisa]]||[[Jeetendra]], [[Hema Malini]], [[Shatrughan Sinha]]||
|-
| 1973
||[[Aa Gale Lag Jaa (1973 film)|Aa Gale Lag Jaa]]||[[Shashi Kapoor]], [[Sharmila Tagore]], [[Shatrughan Sinha]], [[Om Prakash]]||
|-
| 1974 || [[Roti (1974 film)|Roti]] || [[Rajesh Khanna]], [[Mumtaz (actress)|Mumtaz]], [[Om Prakash]], [[Vijay Arora]], [[Nirupa Roy]] ||
|-
| rowspan="4" | 1977 || [[Parvarish (1977 film)|Parvarish]] || [[Amitabh Bachchan]], [[Shammi Kapoor]], [[Vinod Khanna]], [[Neetu Singh]], [[Shabana Azmi]] ||
|-
|[[Dharam Veer (1977 film)|Dharam Veer]] || [[Dharmendra]], [[Zeenat Aman]], [[Jeetendra]], [[Neetu Singh]], [[Pran (actor)|Pran]] ||
|-
|[[Chacha Bhatija]] || [[Dharmendra]], [[Randhir Kapoor]], [[Rehman (actor)|Rehman]], [[Hema Malini]], [[Yogeeta Bali]] ||
|-
|[[Amar Akbar Anthony]] || [[Amitabh Bachchan]], [[Vinod Khanna]], [[Rishi Kapoor]], [[Parveen Babi]], [[Neetu Singh]], [[Shabana Azmi]], [[Pran (actor)|Pran]] ||
|-
| 1979 || [[Suhaag (1979 film)|Suhaag]] || [[Amitabh Bachchan]], [[Shashi Kapoor]], [[Rekha]], [[Parveen Babi]] ||
|-
| 1981 || [[Naseeb (1981 film)|Naseeb]] || [[Amitabh Bachchan]], [[Shatrughan Sinha]], [[Rishi Kapoor]], [[Hema Malini]], [[Reena Roy]], [[Kim Yashpal]] ||
|-
| 1982 || [[Desh Premee]] || [[Amitabh Bachchan]], [[Shammi Kapoor]], [[Sharmila Tagore]], [[Hema Malini]], [[Parveen Babi]] ||
|-
| 1983 || [[Coolie (1983 Hindi film)|Coolie]] ||[[Amitabh Bachchan]], [[Rishi Kapoor]], [[Rati Agnihotri]], [[Waheeda Rehman]], [[Kader Khan]] ||
|-
| 1985 || [[Mard (1985 film)|Mard]] ||[[Amitabh Bachchan]], [[Amrita Singh]], [[Nirupa Roy]], [[Dara Singh]] ||
|-
| 1988 || [[Ganga Jamuna Saraswati]] || [[Amitabh Bachchan]], [[Mithun Chakraborty]], [[Meenakshi Sheshadri]], [[Jaya Prada]] ||
|-
| 1989 || [[Toofan (1989 film)|Toofan]] || [[Amitabh Bachchan]], [[Meenakshi Seshadri]], [[Amrita Singh]] || Producer
|-
| 1993|| [[Anmol]] || [[Manisha Koirala]], [[Rishi Kapoor]], [[Johnny Lever]] || Producer
|-
|}

== References ==
{{Reflist|30em}}

== External links ==
{{IMDb name|id=0220828|name=Manmohan Desai}}

{{Manmohan Desai}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Desai, Manmohan}}
[[Category:1937 births]]
[[Category:1994 deaths]]
[[Category:Film producers from Mumbai]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian film directors]]
[[Category:Hindi-language film directors]]
[[Category:Gujarati people]]
[[Category:Film directors from Mumbai]]

Manmohan Desai - Revision history

2409:4041:2E88:18C1:B563:2EA8:1409:8C95 at 06:12, 24 May 2021