Rs. 100 crore, Rs. 200 crore, Rs. 300 crore and more – that's the name of the game these days when it comes to Bollywood movies and measuring these commercial success. Back in the day though, it was all about how long a movie lasted in the theatre, during which it automatically made huge profits for its producers and distributors – a much better and more concrete way of measuring box office success. And by those standards, one name dominated the scene more than any other filmmaker – Manmohan Desai. In fact, so monumental are his commercial records that they've never been emulated till date by any other Director, even those known for their stupendous hit rations like David Dhawan, Priyadarshan, Yash Chopra, Rakesh Roshan, Karan Johar, Rajkumar Hirani, Sanjay Leela Bhansali or Rohit Shetty.
Heck, the legendary Manmohan Desai delivered 18 clean hits out of the 20 movies he had directed in an industry known for more flops than hits and still remains the only filmmaker in the history of Bollywood to have given four hits in a single year, where some filmmakers consider themselves lucky if they even get one hit in four years. No Hindi film Director since has come even remotely close to matching this gobsmacking box office record. So, which are those movies and when were they released? Well, the year was 1978 when MKD (as he was fondly called in the industry and media) when had set this herculean feat in stone. Check out the titles of the films, their collections and verdicts below:
Amar Akbar Anthony - Rs. 7.50 core nett [Verdict: Blockbuster]
Dharam-Veer - Rs. 6.50 core nett [Verdict: Blockbuster]
Parvarish - Rs. 3.75 core nett [Verdict: Hit]
Chacha Bhatija - Rs. 3.50 core nett [Verdict: Hit]
Coincidentally, all four movies had released in the same year due to a previous ban that had impeded film shoots and releases, but that takes nothing away from the once-in-a-lifetime feat that Manmohan Desai achieved. He had become so big between the 70s and 80s that movies ran on his name alone despite the presence of superstars like Dharmendra, Amitabh Bachchan, Vinod Khanna, Rishi Kapoor and Rajesh Khanna in them – a fact laid credence to by how Raampur Ka Lakshman and Aa Gale Lag Jaa went on the be hits with the presence of Randhir Kapoor and Shashi Kapoor as the lead actors, both of whom were not known for their enviable track record at the box office as the main lead.
About the Author
Russel D'Silva
Senior sub-editor, film critic, trade analyst, anchor, host of 'Masterclass' and 'Throwback Tadka' at BollywoodLife
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