‘Bharat ka rehne wala hoon, Bharat ki baat sunata hoon’.This song from 1970 film’Purab Aur Paschim’ depicts his thoughts exactly. If he was still working , Manoj Kumar would have been the poster boy for patriotism, even if his brand of nationalism belonged to a softer, gentler era.
Born on 24 July 1937, Abbottabad, Pakistan, he died on 4 April 2025 aged 87 years in Mumbai. He was an Indian actor, film director, screenwriter, lyricist & editor who worked in Hindi cinema. One of the most successful & finest actors in the history of Indian cinema.
Shubra Gupta beautifully pens her thoughts on the veteran actor. More than his name , Manoj Kumar became known as Mr Bharat, his identity cemented by a super hit clutch of patriotic films.
Harikrishan Goswami came to a newly born India after partition, changed his name to Manoj, a character in his idol Dilip Kumar’s film. He came into films towards the end of the 50s, when the iconic trio of Dilip Kumar- Dev Anand -Raj Kapoor was ruling. Like several of his contemporaries, notably Rajendra Kumar & Raaj Kumar, struggled to find a foothold in Bombay’s film industry.
Manoj Kumar’s early successes ‘Woh Kaun Thi ‘ 1964, ‘Gumnaam’ 1965 were some of the most interesting mystery thrillers made in Hindi cinema. Once he did films like ‘Shaheed’1965 & ‘Upkar’ 1967, there was no drifting to other genres. Three years later came ‘Purab Aur Paschim’which became the template for the ‘good desi, bad pardesi’ trope.
‘Upkar, set against the 1965 Indo- Pakistan war underlined Lal Bahadur Shastri’s focus on celebrating the ‘jawan’ and the ‘kisan’, the two pillars he saw as the inheritors & creators of 60s ‘India. The primary agrarian nature hadn’t taken over by industrialization.
The recipient of many top honors , including Padmashri (1992) & Dadsaheb Phalke award (2015).
His films live on.
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