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Any AB fan will tell you that the Desai/AB movies are some of the greatest entertainers in bollywood. Having said that it is indeed sad that only some of them have good prints on DVD by decent companies, the rest are not that great, here is a list for the collector of Desai/AB movies, complete as far as I know, feel free to add.....
1. Amar Akbar Anthony (1977). Released by BABA and DEI. Get the DEI one. Its cheap right now at indiaweekly and not a bad quality DVD. Classic evergreen movie, it started the Desai/AB combo on a high note. Great lost and found formula worked to the extreme by Desai.
2. Parvarish (1977). Shemaroo, Bombino and DEI/BEI have just come out with one. I've ordered the DEI/BEI one. The Bombino one is horrible. Avoid that one at all costs. The movie itself is typical Desai with every cliche. A guilty pleasure. They don't (can't?) make them like they used to.
3. Suhaag (1979). As far as I know WEG have released it and are the only ones. I have it. I don't know why I bothered (oh yeah I kept renting it...), the quality is BAD. The print is grainy and you seriously wonder if your better off with a VHS copy. By this time the Shashi/AB combo was seen in a lot of movies. The movie itself has some ridiculous scenes in it (climax involves both AB/Shashi hanging from a helicopter). But if your a fan its good time pass and is to be seen without thinking too much. Just enjoy.
4. Naseeb (1981). Baba released it and I have it. Its not as bad as you may think. BUT going by standards these days it is avoidable. Hopefully someone else will redo it. The film itself: I find this multistarrer a bit over rated. I would have preferred wall to wall Bachchan in a Desai movie. BUT we are saddled with Shatrughan Sinha, Rishi, Hema Malini, Reena Roy and a whole bunch of bad guys from Prem Chopra, Shakti Kapoor, Kader Khan, and Amjad Khan. The highlight of the movie is of course the John Jaani Janardan song sung by Kishore Kumar, picturized on AB where the whole industry is seen or close to it from Raj Kapoor to Dharmendra.
5. Desh Premee (1982). Eros/B4U version and Eros/DEI versions are out there. I have the Eros/DEI one. I think there as bad as each other. A full comparison is here at zulm. These days when patriotism is in, Desh Premee may have been valued and I think it was in its time. The double role played effortlessly by AB is good. The story has holes but doesn't every Desai story, with plenty of cliches and coincidences thrown in....Ja Jaldi Bhaag Ja, Nahin Baba Nahin.
6. Coolie (1983). Indiaweekly just released their version of it (another Angoor type deal I guess). I got a no name one (mastered by "Ivrug sounds" it says on the back). IT IS BAD. Worser than VHS. That's right folks avoid the Ivrug sounds at any cost. Desai returns to his lost and found formula and throws in the poor working class vs. the rich class. Of course nothing of substance is said or told of. Just good old formulaic fun. Not a bad movie but definetely not one of AB/Desai's best.
7. Mard (1985). Some company has released it. I rented it from the local videoshop and it didn't work on my DVD (and my DVD is top notch Sony Progressive Scan)...that's right, didn't even work. Probably a good thing since its probably another bad bad transfer. You could see the team was running out of ideas. The movie is set around the Independance of India if memory serves. Dara Singh is AB's dad and Nirupa Roy his mother. Amrita Singh is his love interest and he has a dog AND a horse. That's right a dog AND a horse, are the Rajshri's listening?
8. Ganga Jamunaa Sarswati (1989). DEI/BEI have released it. A while back Yashraj was going to release it. Don't know what happened there. I don't have it but I hear there is that infamous "squash" problem. Then again you really have to be a fan of Desai/AB combo since this is their last and worst movie as the director/actor duo went out badly. Toofan was produced by Manmohan Desai and directed by his son Ketan Desai (has been released by WEG, don't know about the quality), but this is the last one Manmohan Desai directed with AB. The film itself is so crap you really have to want to "complete" your collection to buy it. It offers nothing but cliche ridden crap. Mithun is crap, Jaya Pradha is crap, Amrish Puri is crap, and Meenakshis Seshadri is...whats the word...crap. AB tries his best to pull it out the fire but Manmohan Desai's formula no longer fits in the late eighties.
My ranking of the eight in terms of what to watch (in terms of quality):
1. Amar Akbar Anthony
2. Parvarish
3. Desh Premee
4. Coolie
5. Naseeb
6. Suhaag
7. Mard
8. Ganga Jamunaa Sarswati
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