Aaj mere yaar ki shaadi hai…

For all the ridicule that the cine media heaped on him all through the 1970s when his films were raking in huge money at the box office, Manmohan Desai (1937-1994) had a sedate beginning to his long innings as a director. This despite his father, Kikubhai Desai, was already a big name in the industry and owner of the famed Paramount Studios, later also known as Filmalaya during the 1930s.

Beginning with a successful film ‘ Chhalia’ in 1960, which starred Raj Kapoor and Nutan in the lead roles, a family production, Desai became known for his family-centered, action-song-and-dance films which catered to the tastes of the Indian masses and through which he achieved great success.

Outlandishly focused on the cash counters, he made Amitabh Bachchan the superstar that he became in the ‘80s. In a span beginning from 1976-88, he came up with eight films with Bachchan and except the last one ‘Ganga Jamuna Saraswati’ released in 1988, all the others were hits. Having worked with a range of heroes from the Kapoor khandaan to Rajesh Khanna to Jeetendra, he had 13 stupendous successful films in a career which saw him come up with 20 films in all, a very high success ratio. Desai was born on February 26.

Manmohan Krishna (1922-1990), actor director, about whom an earlier column mention, shares his birthday with the other Manmohan. His solo directorial venture ‘Noorie’ released in 1979 is still remembered for the beautiful Poonam Dhillon and some soulful numbers including the title number sung by Nitin Mukesh and Lata Mangeshkar.

Devendra Goel (1919-1979) was yet another helmsman, who came up with a few films, which made an impression in the public mind. One of the songs from his film Aadmi Sadak Ka - ‘ Aaj mere yaar ki shaadi hai’- released forty years ago in 1977 is a must in marriages across north India even today, though the film did not do too well. 18 films were his output in a career spanning close to three decades. Goel died on February 26 nearly forty years ago in 1979. Family socials were his forte, by and large.

Indivar (1924-1977) the famed lyricist and Ravindra Jain (1944-2015), the talented musician were also February connected. While the lyricist who was written about earlier died on February 27, Ravindra Jain was born 74 years ago on February 28.