Changes between Initial Version and Version 1 of Manmohan Desai


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Timestamp:
May 3, 2012, 6:35:58 AM (12 years ago)
Author:
Lawrence Liang
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  • Manmohan Desai

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     1'''Manmohan Desai (1935-94) 
     2''' 
     3 
     4 
     5Hindi director born in Bombay. Son of Kikubhai Desai, founder of the Paramount Studio which later housed Filmalaya (Est: 1958). Elder brother of the producer Subhash Desai. Started as assistant director to Babubhai Mistri in the late 50s; 60s work in line with Shammi Kapoor’s films at Filmistan (Bluff Master, Badtameez). Although the films rely on Hollywood models (esp. Elvis Presley) introduced into Hindi film by Subodh Mukherjee and Nasir Hussain, they also jettison some of the narrative ballast that e.g. Hussain puts into his romances. The narratives in the 70s films with Rajesh Khanna (Sachcha Jhutha) and Jeetendra (Bhai Ho 
     6To Aisa) develop a series of autonomously 
     7packaged sequences emotionally complete in 
     8themselves. Desai formula plots deploy good 
     9guy-bad guy dual roles or lost-and-found 
     10brother stories first elaborated by Tamil films 
     11(e.g. Parasakthi, 1952), removing the 
     12political aspects from their populist approach 
     13and replacing them with a more diffuse, less 
     14targeted aggressiveness. Turned independent 
     15producer with Amar Akbar Anthony, often 
     16financed by industrial family of Hindujas. 
     17Leading director in the 70s. Desai’s best-known films, Naseeb and Coolie, have Bachchan continuing the MGR mode of presenting himself in the guise of the oppressed subaltern. But Desai adds a celebration of lumpen power charged with communal references. Publicly announced his retirement as a director after Ganga Jamuna Saraswati. Recently, the resemblance between Desai’s formula plots and the structure of US TV series caused his work to be associated with notions of postmodernism. His son Ketan Desai now makes films for MKD Films (e.g. Allah Rakha, 1986; Toofan, 1989). 
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     20FILMOGRAPHY: 1960: Chhalia; 1963: Bluff Master; 1966: Badtameez; 1968: Kismet; 1970: Sachcha Jhutha; 1972: Bhai Ho To Aisa; Rampur Ka Lakshman; Shararat; 1973: Aa Gale Lag Jaa; 1974: Roti; 1977: Amar Akbar Anthony; Chacha Bhatija; Dharam Veer; Parvarish; 1979: Suhaag; 1981: Naseeb; 1982: Desh Premi; 1983: Coolie; 1985: Mard; 1988: Ganga Jamuna Saraswati. 
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