When Manmohan Desai called Amar Akbar Anthony ‘least favourite film’ of his career, was sure ‘it would flop’: ‘It was a fluke hit’

Manmohan Desai felt that Amitabh Bachchan-starer Amar Akbar Anthony was a 'fluke' and thought that it would 'flop'.

New Delhi | Updated: February 26, 2024 06:18 PM IST

3 min read

Manmohan Desai (left) and Amitabh Bachchan worked together in films like Amar Akbar Anthony, Coolie, Parvarish among others. (Photo: Express Archives)

Manmohan Desai’s film Amar Akbar Anthony had a sequence where three men are shown donating blood to a woman but instead of the blood getting collected separately, we see a web of tubes where the blood is being directly pumped from the three men’s bodies to the old woman. One might watch this and say ‘this is stupid’ but Manmohan Desai knew that he wasn’t catering to the kind of audience who would ask such questions. He was delivering masala films and he knew they were meant for the masses. One of his most popular films, Amar Akbar Anthony, was loved by the masses but for Desai himself, this was his “least favourite film.”

In a chat with Subhash K Jha in 1986, Desai called it a “fluke hit” and said that out of all the films he did with Bachchan, Amar Akbar Anthony was his “least favourite.” Desai also directed Amitabh Bachchan in Mard, Coolie, Parvarish, Suhaag and Naseeb among a few others.

Desai’s film was one of the biggest star studded films of the time. Alongside Bachchan, it also starred Vinod Khanna, Rishi Kapoor, Shabana Azmi, Neetu Kapoor and Parveen Babi. But Desai never thought it would be such a success. He shared in the same interview, “Amar Akbar Anthony involved my minimum effort, labour and money. When it was released, I thought it had good songs, but I never thought it would be such a success. I was sure Aa Gale Lag Jaa (starring Sharmila Tagore and Shashi Kapoor) would be a superhit while Amar Akbar Anthony would flop.”

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The film also featured another famous scene where Amitabh’s Anthony is drunk and is talking to himself in the mirror. Shabana, who was also a part of the film, said that she saw Amitabh gave a perfect take 14 times. The first take itself was okay but he had to keep repeating over and over because of a technical error. In a conversation with Mumbai Mirror, she recalled that the actor-director duo were shooting for Parvarish on another studio floor and would hop between both sets.

In fact, Bachchan had once revealed that he shot for the scene when Desai was on the set of Parvarish. He shared on his blog, “Man ji said to me, you rehearse this mirror scene ‘main zara us floor pe shot lekar aata hoon’ .. but when he came back I had already done the scene and shot it with the ASST., .. a basic idea given by Kader Bhai .. rest is all impromptu , ad lib , one take .. !!”

Manmohan Desai passed away in 1994 at the age of 57.

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