Manmohan

Manmohan is a 1936 Indian Urdu/Hindi-language romantic tragedy film directed by Mehboob Khan. This was Khan's third film for Sagar Movietone after Al Hilal (1935) and Deccan Queen (1936). The cinematographer was Faredoon Irani who, starting from Mehboob Khan's Al Hilal (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 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, (1935), which was a big hit at the box office. Surendra was chosen as the singing star to rival K. L. Saigal from New Theatres Calcutta, whose songs from Devdas had mesmerised the nation. 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, Surendra, Yakub, Kayam Ali, Bhudo Advani and Mehdi Raza.