Manmohan Desai was one of the most popular commercial directors of Hindi film industry. His films never had any pretension of art. Rather Manmohan Desai is one of those few Indian directors who loved presenting hardcore `masala` movies o entertain the masses as well as classes. Son of veteran producer, Kikubhai Desai, Manmohan Desai`s first film was Chhalia, starring Raj Kapoor.

After some initial box office non-starters, Desai found success with Kismet, an espionage thriller, starring Biswajeet. It was among the first films with a drag act by the leading man in the song "Kajra Mohabbat Wala."

Manmohan Desai`s next directorial venture was Sachcha Jhutha. In this film Manmohan Desai cast Rajesh Khanna in a double role which fetched the latter a Filmfare Award for Best Actor. This film, along with Rampur Ka Lakshman gave indications of Desai`s penchant for the mistaken identity and the lost and found themes.

The year 1977 was Manmohan Desai`s watershed year. He worked for the first time with Amitabh Bachchan in Amar Akbar Anthony. This romantic comedy turned out to be a major hit. This film had a mega star cast that included Pran, Nirupa Roy, Vinod Khanna, Shabana Azmi, Parveen Babi, Rishi Kapoor and Neetu Singh. The music of the film was superhit too. In the same year, Desai`s Dharam Veer and Parvarish proved to be successful as well.

After Amar Akbar Anthony, Desai never made a film without Amitabh Bachchan. His most expensive film, Naseeb became the biggest hit of his career. He suffered a minor setback with the failure of Desh Premee but bounced back with Coolie. Desai`s last film, Ganga Jamuna Saraswati, was only moderately successful at the box office.

A filmography of Manmohan Desai would include the following films:

Chhalia	Bhai Ho To Aisa	Amar Akbar Anthony	Naseeb
Bluff Master	Rampur Ka Lakshman	Chacha Bhatija	Desh Premee
Badtameez	Shararat	Dharam Veer	Coolie
Kismet	Aa Gale Lag Ja	Parvarish	Mard
Sachcha Jhutha	Roti	Suhaag	Ganga Jamuna Saraswati