Remembering Manmohan Desai: 28 years later filmmaker son Ketan Desai, talks about his father

March 1, 2022 marks the beginning of 28 years minus the ‘Man’ who made magical movies—Manmohan Desai. Till the end, Man-ji (as he was affectionately known) remained a simple Gujarati at heart. He stayed amidst the common people (including his huge group of friends) in the middle-class Mumbai locality of Khetwadi.

“He never really fraternized with the film folk!” smiles filmmaker son Ketan Desai. “He could never imagine life beyond Khetwadi. He loved playing cricket in the by-lanes, and sitting with his friends on chairs on the footpath. He enjoyed the traffic, the hustle-bustle and the middle-class people. He was a man of the masses who lived with the masses. All this reflected in his movies. I can even joke and say today that had he been offered a Buckingham Palace, he would have still preferred Khetwadi!”

Desai’s personality as a filmmaker remained as simple: despite an unbeaten tally of 11 consecutive jubilees (four of them Golden Jubilees, that is, 50-week runners in regular shows in theatres), he always remained the humble soul for whom everyone’s opinion on his work was vital.

Ketan remembers an incident on sets when everyone applauded the second, fancier shot for a film directed by him. His father was present on sets, keenly looking around and watched a spot-boy with a disappointed expression on his face. He called him over and asked him the reason, and the spot-boy reluctantly stated that he had preferred the earlier shot.

Disregarding all the “experienced” views, Desai listened to the boy’s opinion, advised Ketan to retain the simpler first shot, explaining that the common man was his audience!

Unconfirmed buzz in the 1980s even hinted that Steven Spielberg had then wished to meet the director for a possible collaboration! But Ketan is unaware of this, though it would have been a phenomenal honor.

Heredity and environment shaped this inimitable man. Desai was the son of old time filmmaker Kikubhai Desai. Kikubhai’s mother also ran a movie-hall in Pune. And Desai’s elder brother Subhash Desai was already a producer. “My father also loved to watch Hollywood films,” reveals Ketan.

Desai began his career with the ambitious Raj Kapoor-Nutan film Chhalia (1960). After this hit, his next two films, Bluff Master and Budtameez did not do well, but after them, Kismet (1968) was successful. And yet the filmmaker struggled until Saccha Jhutha (1970) became a blockbuster and trendsetter. After this, Bhai Ho To Aisa and Raampur Ka Lakshman in 1972 both proved big hits, though Shararat in the same year was a calamity.

“My father was devastated by its failure!” remembers Ketan. “From the budgets onwards, many things went wrong. Failure always upset him, which is why he was also terribly disappointed when my directorial debut, Anmol (1993), was a flop.”  For the record, Desai has had a mere 4 flops among his 20 films as director—an incredible 80 percent hit ratio!

And so, from 1973 came Desai’s unbelievable tryst with super-success—Aa Gale Lag Jaa, Roti, Dharam-Veer, Chacha Bhatija, Amar Akbar Anthony, Parvarish (all four of these in 1977!), Suhaag, Naseeb, Desh Premee, Coolie, Mard—11 hits in an unbroken row until 1985. Even his last directorial, Gangaa Jamunaa Saraswati (1988), opened terrifically and did enviable business, but was declared unsuccessful on the cost-versus-business base.

What explained his unmatched performance in 1977 of scoring four blockbusters among the top five grosser of the year, yielding third place only to Nasir Husain’s Hum Kisise Kum Naheen?

“That was certainly not planned, and he would certainly not have preferred it that way!” says Ketan. “But in those days, films took long to shoot. And all these four movies were multi-star films with busy actors, so combination dates would have to be coordinated. And still, commitments to producers had to be honoured. Dharam-Veer was my uncle’s production and my father launched his own banner, the now-famous MKD Films, with Amar Akbar Anthony.”

This last film was the first ever to celebrate its 25-week run in a record 9 theatres in that pre-multiplex era in Mumbai—it eventually did 75 weeks—and Desai’s first association with Amitabh Bachchan.

What explains the fact that Desai’s films had varied composers and heroes before, but after Roti, he stuck to Laxmikant-Pyarelal for nine films and after Amar Akbar Anthony, he did the same with Amitabh Bachchan until the end of his career?

“I think you could call it his partnership with both!” muses Ketan. “In both cases, there was a perfect and reciprocal understanding of what they wanted from each other. Amitabh was like his alter-ego, I feel! His punctuality and Laxmikant-Pyarelal’s versatility were additional factors. He moved on from L-P because they became too busy and he frankly told them that he would like to go out and work with someone else, and maybe rejoin forces when they could give him more time!”

A sea-change in Manmohan’s content and style also began in 1977. “That was because he realized that entertainment—a mix of drama, comedy, romance, emotions, music and action—was what the audience wanted,” says Ketan. “He had struggled for a long while and he decided to give filmgoers a complete package. His middle-name was conviction. And he made the most illogical things entertaining, like the blood-transfusion sequence in Amar Akbar Anthony.”

And this is what attracted the American author, Connie Haham, who came down to Mumbai, curious about Manmohan’s magic with illogic! The filmmaker hosted her and took her to watch him at work, and she wrote a book on him: Enchantment of the Mind: Manmohan Desai’s Films.”

From 1973 on, Desai’s wife and Ketan’s mother, Jeevanprabha, was often billed for the story of his movies. Why was this? “My father would involve her in the storyline,” Ketan explains. “She had a very good script sense and would openly tell him that something wasn’t working. He would appreciate and accept her views.”

And how much was Ketan involved in his dad’s films? “I was still in school when I began to assist him,” he remembers. “I did everything from going to artistes for dates, giving the clap, looking after the continuity and wardrobes to supervising the first edits. My favourite activities were the music sittings and song recordings. But all this happened after a strict warning from my father that assisting him, especially if I aimed to be a director in the future, was a 24/7 thing for 365 days! ‘It will be a huge sacrifice of personal life!’ he had warned me.”

Ketan’s marriage was also arranged by his dad. “My father always liked my wife Kanchan, when he would see her at her father Shammi Kapoor uncle’s house, and Shammi uncle was one of his very few film friends. He suggested that we meet up and see if we gelled together—and we did!” smiles Ketan.

What does he have to say about Desai’s plan to cast Uttam Kumar and Sivaji Ganesan with Amitabh Bachchan in Desh Premee? “It was a super idea, and Uttam-ji even did the cameo. Desh Premee had a terrific theme of national integration, but Sivaji Ganesan-ji could not do the film because we did not have organized shoots here, whereas in the South, everything would be streamlined and quick even then!”