Bollywood Home » Bollywood Producers » Manmohan Desai Manmohan Desai was a popular Bollywood producer from 1960's to 1980's. He made his directorial debut much later. Manmohan Desai is still known today for great hits like Coolie, Mard, Desh Premee, Naseb, Dharam Veer, Bluff Master, Roti and others.

Manmohan Desai, a renowned producer and director of Bollywood, was the son of Kikubhai Desai. He was born in 26th February 1936 and passed away in 1st March 1994. His father directed a Hindi film in the 1930s. He had a younger brother by the name Subhash Desai. It was he who gave Manmohan much of his breaks when he became a director.

Manmohan Desai is of Gujarati ancestry. He married Jeevan Desai but she passed away soon. They had a son Ketan Desai who followed his father's footsteps. Ketan directed Toofan and Allah Rakha but failed to establish himself in Bollywood like his father. Ketan got married to Kanchan Kapoor, daughter of Shammi Kapoor and Geeta Bali. It is said that Manmohan was engaged to actress Nanda after his wife passed away. He remained with the gorgeous Nanda until the time of his death in 1994 in his luxurious apartment in Grant Road. The Desai family also has a house at Altamount Road.



Manmohan Desai started directing films from the year 1960. He made his directorial debut with Chhalia. The film stared Raj Kapoor and was produced by his brother Subhash Desai. But his skills in direction got noticed with Sachaa Jhutha in 1970. Rajesh Khanna was the hero. He also directed Randhir Kapoor in Raampur Ka Lakshman.

But one specialty of Manmohan Desai films was that he mostly had Laxmikant Pyarelal as his music composer. As you watch films like Bluff Master and Coolie you can listen to some melodious music composed by Laxmikant Pyarelal. In Mard and Ganga Jamuna Saraswati he gave a different touch to music by working with Anu Malik.

Manmohan Desai's string of hits with Amitabh Bachchan made him one of the golden directors of Bollywood. He shared a special working relationship with Amitabh and Dharmendra. His collaboration with Amitabh started with Amar Akbar Anthony. This was followed by movies like Suhaag, Naseeb, Desh Premee, Coolie, Mard and Ganga Jamuna Saraswati. The last three got huge response in the Indian film industry.

The year 1977 was an exceptional year for him. Four of his films were huge hits and these were

• Parvarish
• Dharam Veer
• Amar Akbar Anthony
• Chacha Bhatija

His last film with Amitabh was Toofan in 1989 which was produced by him and the film was directed by his son Ketan Desai.

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