''Manmohan'' is a 1936

India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
''

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of North India, northern, Central India, centr ...

-language romantic tragedy film directed by

Mehboob Khan Mehboob Khan (born Mehboob Khan Ramzan Khan; 9 September 1907
at filmreference.com. – 28 ...

. This was Khan's third film for

Sagar Movietone Sagar Movietone also Sagar Films, Sagar Film Company and Sagar Productions was an Indian film production company involved in the making of films for Indian cinema. It was launched by Ardeshir Irani with Chimanlal Desai and Dr. Ambalal Patel in 19 ...

after '' Al Hilal'' (1935) and ''

Deccan Queen The 12123 / 12124 Deccan Queen is a daily Indian passenger train service operated by the Central Railway zone of the Indian Railways connecting the cities of Mumbai and Pune. Introduced on June 1, 1930, the Deccan Queen was India's "first sup ...

'' (1936). The cinematographer was

Faredoon Irani Faredoon A. Irani was an Indian cinematographer who worked in Hindi films. He shot Mehboob Khan's films '' Andaz'' (1949), ''Aan'' (1952) and ''Mother India '' (1958). During his career, he won the Filmfare Award for Best Cinematographer record ...

who, starting from Mehboob Khan's ''Al Hilal'' (Judjement of Allah) (1935) went on to establish a long working relationship with him lasting till Khan's last film Son of India (1962). The music was composed by Ashok Ghosh assisted by Anil Biswas. The story writer was

Zia Sarhadi Zia Sarhadi ( ur, ضیا سرحدی; born Fazl-e-Qadir Sethi 1914 in Peshawar, North West Frontier Province – 27 January 1997 in Karachi, Sindh) was a Pakistani screenwriter and director of films in the Indian Film Industry, whose career ...

who also wrote the lyrics, screenplay and dialogue in addition to acting in the film. Though he had started his writing career on Khan's backing for ''Deccan Queen'' (1936), it was with ''Manmohan'' that he achieved success. The film was inspired by ''

Devdas ''Devdas'' ( bn, দেবদাস, transliterated as ''Debdās'') is a Bengali romance novel written by Sarat Chandra Chatterjee. The story pivots a tragic triangle linking Devdas, an archetypal lover in viraha (separation); Paro, his forbidde ...

'', (1935), which was a big hit at the box office. Surendra was chosen as the singing star to rival

K. L. Saigal Kundan Lal Saigal, often abbreviated as K. L. Saigal (11 April 1904 – 18 January 1947), was an Indian singer and actor who is considered the first superstar of the Hindi film industry, which was centred in Kolkata during Saigal's time, but is ...

from

New Theatres New Theatres is an Indian film studio. It was formed in Calcutta by producer B. N. Sircar (Birendranath Sircar, the recipient of Dadasaheb Phalke Award of 1970). It was formed on 10 February 1931. Motto of this company was– ''Jivatang Jyotiret ...

Calcutta, whose songs from ''Devdas'' had mesmerised the nation.Ahmed, p.29 Though ''Manmohan'' was referred to as the "poor man's Devdas" it went on to do well and the songs became very popular. The film starred

Bibbo Bo "Bibbo" Bibbowski is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. He is typically shown as a good friend and supportive advocate of Superman. Bibbo Bibbowski first appeared in '' The Adventures of Superman ...

Surendra Surendra is an Indian masculine given name. Notable people with this name include: * Surendra (actor/singer) * Surendra Bhave * Surendra Chaturvedi * Surendra Dubey * Surendra Gambhir * Surendra Hiranandani * Surendra Jain * Surendra Jha 'S ...

, Yakub, Kayam Ali,

Bhudo Advani Bhudo Advani (17 August 1905 – 25 July 1985) was an Indian character actor and comedian. He started his acting career in theatre with the notion of spreading awareness on social issues. He came to Bombay on the advice of an Ajanta Cinetone rep ...

and Mehdi Raza. The film which revolves around two childhood friends, Vimala (Bibbo), and Ashok (Surendra), who loves her but loses her to another, finally taking to drink.

Plot

Ashok (

) is an artist in love with Vimala (

). On learning that she is to marry Jagdish (Yakub) he is devastated and paints her portraits which become popular. He starts drinking and finds comfort with another woman. Soon his family wealth starts dwindling. Vimala, who is married by now, tries to help him with her husband's efforts. However, Ashok misunderstands the overture, leading to tragedy for him.

Cast

as Vimala *

as Ashok * Yakub as Jagdish *Ashalata as Shanti *Ramchandra Pal *

*Pande *Pesi Patel *Kayam Ali *Mehdi Raza *

Music

The music composition was by Ashok Ghosh, with assistance from a then "young arranger", Anil Biswas. The lyrics were written by a then "small-time" actor Zia Sarhadi. The film's soundtrack became its "highlight" with "chart-busting" music. Surendra was brought in as a singer actor to counter New Theatres K. L. Saigal.Ahmed, p. 30 The duet by Surendra and Bibbo "Tumhi Ne Mujhko Prem Sikhaya" is considered a hit song and remains popular. The songs from this film made Surendra a popular singing star.

Songs

References

External links

* {{Mehboob Khan 1936 films 1930s Hindi-language films Films directed by Mehboob Khan Indian romance films 1930s romance films Indian black-and-white films Hindi-language romance films