{"id":6276,"date":"2016-05-22T14:41:28","date_gmt":"2016-05-22T09:11:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=6276"},"modified":"2016-05-22T14:41:28","modified_gmt":"2016-05-22T09:11:28","slug":"manmohan-desai-was-a-bollywood-institution-who-belonged-to-the-masses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=6276","title":{"rendered":"Manmohan Desai Was a Bollywood Institution Who Belonged to The Masses"},"content":{"rendered":"\nT<\/span>here is a scene in Manmohan Desai\u2019s Ganga Jamuna Saraswati<\/em> (1988) where Saraswati (Jaya Prada) puts up a concert performance for an audience of one \u2013 Ganga (Amitabh Bachchan<\/a>) \u2013 inside an opulently draped and decorated moving truck. It\u2019s a logistically impossible feat to pull off and the sheer ridiculousness of even considering that stunt is hard to ignore. But in a Desai universe, common sense was never an obstacle in the face of an entertaining set-piece. And while Ganga Jamuna Saraswati<\/em>\u00a0was in a way, Desai’s last hurrah, that single scene managed to be a microcosm of his entire brand of filmmaking: insane, absurd, escapist, unapologetic, larger than life and homegrown to the core.\n\nManmohan Desai was a man in love with the madness of Bollywood<\/a>. His three-decade-long career is an extended love-letter to the very essence of Hindi cinema, a celebration of everything that makes it retain its cultural influence despite intellectual derision that shadows it. The filmmaker embraced and enhanced every aspect of Hindi filmmaking<\/a> that was intrinsic to the cult of mainstream Bollywood \u2013 song, dance, action, melodrama and of course, high-octane dialogue baazi \u2013 becoming the pioneer of masala cinema. There was something adorably unpretentious about the way Desai approached his movies. They felt unburdened by rigid expectations of greatness. Movies, for him, were an illusion; a kind of a dream. And he specialised in sucking his audience into these very dreams, making them believe in the magic of the movies as fiercely as he did.\n\nThere is a famous Desai anecdote about how everyone on the sets of A<\/a>mar<\/a>\u00a0Akbar Anthony<\/a><\/em>, one of the many masterpieces from his very own \u201clost and found\u201d formula factory, was aghast when he proposed the infamous blood transfusion scene where the three heroes simultaneously donated blood to their mother. But the filmmaker remained stubborn in the face of all opposition. Four decades later, when I sat down to rewatch the film, aware of how ludicrous the scenario he proposed was, I still found myself unable to deny the charm of that illusion, mostly because the image that Desai puts together gave me goosebumps.\n\n

Desai manages to punch us in the gut and make us root for the heroes while he quietly celebrates the secular fabric of the country. <\/p><\/blockquote> \n\nThree of the biggest heroes of their times, representing three different faiths, unaware of their connection with each other and the woman they are trying to save while we as an audience are in on the secret. It is an epic setup that manages to be intensely personal while being vocally political. In a single scene and barely any dialogues, Desai manages to punch us in the gut and make us root for the heroes while he quietly celebrates the secular fabric of the country. The sheer brilliance and emotional impact of that image still makes you forget all reason and sucks you in the beautiful dream that Desai has manufactured.\n\nThe filmmaker\u2019s love for the absurd however, did not stop him from driving home pertinent points, whether it is the nature vs nurture debate that he casually stirs in Parvarish<\/em> or the homage to secularism<\/a> that is Amar Akbar Anthony<\/em>. He was unafraid to experiment and norms were immaterial. So there was Biswajeet’s drag act in \u201cKajra Mohabbat Wala\u201d and Rajesh Khanna was cast as both the hero and the villain of Sacha Jhutha<\/em>.\n\nIt wouldn\u2019t be inaccurate to say that Desai had a finger on the pulse of the India of his time. Desai\u2019s heroes were aspirational middle class people<\/a> with strong moral values, and their sense of humour much like the rest of the country was often a symbol of their resilience. Slapstick wasn\u2019t Desai\u2019s forte. Instead, humour for him was an essential emotion that completed the symphony of his stories. Unlike most of the films of the time that chose to have separate comic actors and arcs, comedy for Desai was simply a function of ordinary people trying to get by in life.\n\nEven beyond comedy, Desai\u2019s entire approach reflected a deep, intuitive understanding of his audience.\u00a0 My mother often recalls how the scene in Coolie<\/a> <\/em>where everyone prays for the recovery of Bachchan’s character was a stand-in for the way the country reacted to Bachchan’s actual injury during the film\u2019s shooting. In that sense, he got our mind-boggling fixation with our heroes as much as he understood the inherent awkwardness of a country that was still trying to find its feet, its own sense of identity<\/a> while grappling with the socio-economic realities that were still limiting and harsh. It is no wonder that most of Desai stories embody our collective ethos that casually weaves in the brutal truths of our daily existence with an over-the-top, almost magical faith in our Gods and destiny.\n\nA couple of years back when I had taken up a filmmaking<\/a> course, we were made to study the approaches of a host filmmakers from the West. There was a prevailing sense of disdain for the likes of Desai whose stories lacked the intellectual sophistication that looks good in textbooks<\/a>. I remember wondering then, why we don\u2019t take into account a filmmaker’s skill at being accessible. Desai\u2019s stories catered to the lowest common denominator without prejudice or judgment. Desai was an institution who chose to belong to the masses. That is no mean feat.\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Manmohan Desai would have turned 83 on February 26. The director and producer, who made an entire country laugh out loud catered to the lowest common denominator without prejudice or judgment. Desai was an institution who chose to belong to the masses.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":212,"featured_media":6277,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3114],"tags":[9904,141,26,7036,10287,10288,9905,10289],"class_list":["post-6276","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bollywood","tag-amar-akbar-anthony","tag-bollywood","tag-cinema","tag-coolie","tag-film-making","tag-ganga-jamuna-sarswati","tag-manmohan-desai","tag-parvarish"],"yoast_head":"\nManmohan Desai Was a Bollywood Institution Who Belonged to The Masses<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Manmohan Desai would have turned 83 on February 26. The director and producer, who made an entire country laugh out loud catered to the lowest common denominator without prejudice or judgment. Desai was an institution who chose to belong to the masses.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=6276\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Manmohan Desai Was a Bollywood Institution Who Belonged to The Masses\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Manmohan Desai would have turned 83 on February 26. The director and producer, who made an entire country laugh out loud catered to the lowest common denominator without prejudice or judgment. Desai was an institution who chose to belong to the masses.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=6276\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Arr\u00e9\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-05-22T09:11:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1582356563-1024x573.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"573\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Runjhun Noopur\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Manmohan Desai Was a Bollywood Institution Who Belonged to The Masses\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Manmohan Desai would have turned 83 on February 26. The director and producer, who made an entire country laugh out loud catered to the lowest common denominator without prejudice or judgment. Desai was an institution who chose to belong to the masses.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Runjhun Noopur\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?p=6276#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?p=6276\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Runjhun Noopur\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/2bc2d16856782f6c2834c283e7ce9c86\"},\"headline\":\"Manmohan Desai Was a Bollywood Institution Who Belonged to The Masses\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-05-22T09:11:28+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?p=6276\"},\"wordCount\":915,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?p=6276#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/1582356563.png\",\"keywords\":[\"Amar Akbar Anthony\",\"bollywood\",\"cinema\",\"Coolie\",\"Film Making\",\"ganga jamuna sarswati\",\"Manmohan Desai\",\"parvarish\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Bollywood\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?p=6276\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?p=6276\",\"name\":\"Manmohan Desai Was a Bollywood Institution Who Belonged to The Masses\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?p=6276#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?p=6276#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/1582356563.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-05-22T09:11:28+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/2bc2d16856782f6c2834c283e7ce9c86\"},\"description\":\"Manmohan Desai would have turned 83 on February 26. The director and producer, who made an entire country laugh out loud catered to the lowest common denominator without prejudice or judgment. Desai was an institution who chose to belong to the masses.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?p=6276#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?p=6276\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?p=6276#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/1582356563.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/1582356563.png\",\"width\":1520,\"height\":850},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?p=6276#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Manmohan Desai Was a Bollywood Institution Who Belonged to The Masses\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/\",\"name\":\"Arr\u00e9\",\"description\":\"In every person lies a creator and in every creator, an enterprise.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/2bc2d16856782f6c2834c283e7ce9c86\",\"name\":\"Runjhun Noopur\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1728c7835a3f17dff6d6e65f3f27aadde30d7bdcb3d11fb9da03b5534d74ce1b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1728c7835a3f17dff6d6e65f3f27aadde30d7bdcb3d11fb9da03b5534d74ce1b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1728c7835a3f17dff6d6e65f3f27aadde30d7bdcb3d11fb9da03b5534d74ce1b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Runjhun Noopur\"},\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/?author=212\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Manmohan Desai Was a Bollywood Institution Who Belonged to The Masses","description":"Manmohan Desai would have turned 83 on February 26. The director and producer, who made an entire country laugh out loud catered to the lowest common denominator without prejudice or judgment. Desai was an institution who chose to belong to the masses.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=6276","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Manmohan Desai Was a Bollywood Institution Who Belonged to The Masses","og_description":"Manmohan Desai would have turned 83 on February 26. The director and producer, who made an entire country laugh out loud catered to the lowest common denominator without prejudice or judgment. Desai was an institution who chose to belong to the masses.","og_url":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=6276","og_site_name":"Arr\u00e9","article_published_time":"2016-05-22T09:11:28+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":573,"url":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1582356563-1024x573.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Runjhun Noopur","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"Manmohan Desai Was a Bollywood Institution Who Belonged to The Masses","twitter_description":"Manmohan Desai would have turned 83 on February 26. The director and producer, who made an entire country laugh out loud catered to the lowest common denominator without prejudice or judgment. Desai was an institution who chose to belong to the masses.","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Runjhun Noopur","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=6276#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=6276"},"author":{"name":"Runjhun Noopur","@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/#\/schema\/person\/2bc2d16856782f6c2834c283e7ce9c86"},"headline":"Manmohan Desai Was a Bollywood Institution Who Belonged to The Masses","datePublished":"2016-05-22T09:11:28+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=6276"},"wordCount":915,"image":{"@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=6276#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1582356563.png","keywords":["Amar Akbar Anthony","bollywood","cinema","Coolie","Film Making","ganga jamuna sarswati","Manmohan Desai","parvarish"],"articleSection":["Bollywood"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=6276","url":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=6276","name":"Manmohan Desai Was a Bollywood Institution Who Belonged to The Masses","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=6276#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=6276#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1582356563.png","datePublished":"2016-05-22T09:11:28+00:00","author":{"@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/#\/schema\/person\/2bc2d16856782f6c2834c283e7ce9c86"},"description":"Manmohan Desai would have turned 83 on February 26. The director and producer, who made an entire country laugh out loud catered to the lowest common denominator without prejudice or judgment. Desai was an institution who chose to belong to the masses.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=6276#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=6276"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=6276#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1582356563.png","contentUrl":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1582356563.png","width":1520,"height":850},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=6276#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Manmohan Desai Was a Bollywood Institution Who Belonged to The Masses"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/#website","url":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/","name":"Arr\u00e9","description":"In every person lies a creator and in every creator, an enterprise.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/#\/schema\/person\/2bc2d16856782f6c2834c283e7ce9c86","name":"Runjhun Noopur","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1728c7835a3f17dff6d6e65f3f27aadde30d7bdcb3d11fb9da03b5534d74ce1b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1728c7835a3f17dff6d6e65f3f27aadde30d7bdcb3d11fb9da03b5534d74ce1b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1728c7835a3f17dff6d6e65f3f27aadde30d7bdcb3d11fb9da03b5534d74ce1b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Runjhun Noopur"},"url":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?author=212"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1582356563.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6276","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/212"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6276"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6276\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6277"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6276"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6276"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6276"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}