Manmohan Desai

Some Lesser Known Facts About Manmohan Desai

• Manmohan Desai was of Gujarati ancestry.

• He dropped out of college to pursue a career in filmmaking. He started working as an apprentice under the filmmaker Babuhai Mistry.

• Manmohan directed most of his films for the Indian actor Amitabh Bachchan.

• He was married to Jeevanprabha Desai, who reportedly committed suicide in April 1979, which left Manmohan Desai quite disturbed for several years.

• Manmohan Desai’s marriage was a love marriage. Before marriage, his wife Jeevanprabha Desai used to live across the street from his home and she used to smile at him through her window.

• In 1977, Manmohan Desai directed and produced the Hindi masala film titled ‘Amar Akbar Anthony’ which was a major success at the box office.

  

• The film ‘Amar Akbar Anthony’ was one of the first set of commercial Indian films to be broadcast by BBC television during prime time in 1970s. The film also established the acting career of Amitabh Bachchan.

• Initially, Manmohan was least impressed when he first saw Amitabh, and he went on to call him a ‘constipated-looking actor.’ He wouldn’t have cast him in the film, but it was Dharmendra’s refusal to act in the film ‘Amar Akbar Anthony’ (1977), which prompted Manmohan Desai to take Amitabh Bachchan on board for the film.

• In 1983, Manmohan Desai released the action comedy film titled ‘Coolie’ which was the highest-grossing film of the year by earning of Rs. 180 million in gross revenue which was a rare achievement for the time.

  

• The film ‘Coolie’ by Manmohan Desai went on to sell over 70 million tickets in twelve months.

• In the same year, he launched a film titled ‘Love Birds’ with Kumar Gaurav in 1983. It was to be a Hindi and English bilingual film, but he decided to shelve the film. He later revived the film with Jugal Hansraj and Pratibha Sinha.

• After much thought, he changed the title of the film and finally decided to make the film as ‘Anmol’ (1993) with Rishi Kapoor and Manisha Koirala.

• In 1988, Manmohan Desai directed the Hindi romantic action film titled ‘Gangaa Jamunaa Saraswathi’ which was the last film under his direction before he handed over the directing reins to his son Ketan Desai and took production in his own hands.

• Manmohan Desai directed many Hindi films and some of them include ‘Raampur Ka Lakshman’ (1972), ‘Aa Gale Lag Jaa’ (1973), ‘Chacha Bhatija’ (1977), ‘Dharam Veer’ (1977), ‘Desh Premee’ (1982), and ‘Mard’ (1985).

• Manmohan only produced two films in his entire film career and those are ‘Toofan’ (1989) and ‘Anmol’ (1993).

• In the late 1990s, Manmohan Desai’s friends tried to fix up a match between him and the Indian actress Nanda, who was single and had never married. They both dated each other for some time and got engaged to each other in 1992. They remain engaged until Manmohan’s untimely death in 1994.

• Out of the 20 films that Manmohan made between 1957 and 1988, 13 were among the top ten grossers of their year.

• Manmohan Desai’s death has been a mystery ever since. Some had claimed that he committed suicide just like his wife by jumping off the balcony of his home in Girgaon, as the rail he was leaning on collapsed. However, some reports suggest that it was an accident. None of his family members has commented on his death ever.