For almost three decades between 60s and 80s, Manmohan Desai was a successful maker. He knew the pulse of the film lovers very well and offered all those commercial formula based lost and found dramas through his films, to achieve success. ‘Sachha Jhutha’ was one such film, which achieved grand success. The film was also counted among the 17 consecutive hit films of Rajesh Khanna between 1969 and 71. ‘Sachha Jhutha’ was released in May 1970 and has completed 50 years since it celebrated Silver/Golden Jubilee.
Written by Desai’s wife Jeevanprabha, ‘Sachha Jhutha’ was edited by Kamlakar Kamkhanis and directed by Manmohan Desai. The film had Rajesh Khanna in a double role i.e. a simple villager (Bhola), who has a look-alike, a crook (Ranjit Kumar), who takes advantage of the former’s simplicity. The film also had popular stars like Mumtaz, Vinod Khanna, Naaz, Dina Pathak, Jagdish Raj, Viju Khote , Kamal kapoor and Faryal. A well trained dog played an important role in this film, especially in the climax. The music of the film was offered by kalyanji Anandji who offered some hit songs. Above all, Rajesh Khanna won the filmfare award for best acting for his superb performance in this film. Those days, Manmohan Desai used to be very fond of Cricket and played Tennis Ball cricket matches almost every Sunday at a ground in Grant Road.
The film was no doubt an emotion filled lost and found drama, but the screenplay of this film and the clever direction of Manji ,entertained the audience. The film was remade in Tamil with MGR playing the double characters of Rajesh Khanna. After 50 years, this film is still a popular watch on internet channels.