Manoj Kumar: The Legend passes on

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Hari Krishen Goswami, a.k.a. Manoj Kumar, actor, writer, director, producer, editor and lyricist, may be known as Mr. Bharat, but his films and his talent have been much more than just about patriotism. The legend passed away at 87 on April 4 after a prolonged illness. While Akshay Kumar, who has “inherited” his love for patriotic subjects, paid him a moving tribute on X, as did Salman Khan, and reportedly Dharmendra and Hema Malini both broke down on hearing the news.

Here’s looking back at the life and career of a man, who (in my several meetings with him) came across as one of the sweetest people in showbiz.

The trauma that shaped Manoj Kumar

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Manoj Kumar was nine years old when his family was uprooted by Partition from his Punjab village named Jandyala Sher Khan (now in Pakistan). After seeing terrible bloodshed and mental trauma, his family put up for two years at the Kingsway Refugee Camp on the outskirts of Delhi.  “Every morning, I had to trudge two kilometers to get milk, and another two in the opposite direction to get bread! Anything emotional or touching in my scripts was exclusively born from these experiences. My approach to characterization is a by-product of these memories. I missed schooling for two years. By the time we settled and I resumed school in Delhi, my fondness for films had been established,” Manoj had told me.

But Mr. Bharat, as he came to be called, was not a by-product of that phase. “I had named my hero Ram in Upkar as he was noble, an ideal son and a maryada-purshottam. But then I thought, ‘He is a farmer, and the real India lives in the villages, so I renamed him Bharat,” says the actor. “I saw no reason to change the name in Purab Aur Pacchim, which was about an ideal Indian youth who goes abroad for further studies. And then came Roti Kapada Aur Makaan and Kranti.”

Cinema-wards

Manoj Kumar’s cousin, Lekhraj Bhakri, was making films in Mumbai. “It’s strange how these dates get linked to me, but on January 26, 1956, he had come to Delhi for the premiere of his film Tangewali starring Shammi Kapoor!” smiled Manoj. “I was 18 and when we met at the premiere he said, ‘Arre yaar, tum to bilkul hero lagte ho (you look just like a hero)!’ and I replied, ‘To banaa dijiye (Then make me one)!’”

Manoj soon left Delhi for Mumbai and the first break was again a pre-destined link to deshbhakti! “I played a mendicant in a song cameo in my cousin’s Fashion (1957). The words were Maati ko lajaana nahin mera desh hai mahaan (Don’t smear the reputation of this soil, for my nation is great)!” recalled Manoj. Lyricist Bharat Vyas even told Lekhraj, “Your beggar does not look like one but like a hero!” After this, Manoj acted in Homi Sethna’s documentary Gangu Teli in the title-role and did a few scenes in Bhakri’s Sahara, Chand and Panchayat. Bhakri was to give him lead roles only later, in Maa Beta and Banarasi Thug.

As it happened, Rajendra Kumar recommended him to H.S. Rawail, who gave Manoj his first lead role in Kanch Ki Gudiya opposite Sayeeda Khan. The film flopped, but the fact that he had been signed by the leading filmmaker got him six assignments, including Reshmi Rumal, directed by Ashok Bhatt. Manoj recalled how Ashok’s uncle, the famous director Vijay Bhatt, was often called on the sets for advice. And Vijay signed him for Hariyali Aur Rasta, his first jubilee, opposite Mala Sinha.

Birth of an all-rounder

Manoj then took a crucial decision: that despite needing work and money he would first check the setup before accepting any film. The actor added, “So I accepted S.S. Vasan’s Grihasti but rejected N.N. Sippy’s Woh Kaun Thi?. I was married and about eight months later, my son Vishal was born. Nari Sippy actually came to the maternity hospital and said, ‘Look, you have now got a son. You need the money. Accept my film, and we will do the setup together.’”

Raj Khosla as director was a big name but Sadhana had faced some flops and Manoj had an erratic innings. When Raj suggested her name, Manoj’s reply was, “Why not take her? Two negatives might make a positive!” And Woh Kaun Thi? proved a whopper hit in 1964 and became the ticket to stardom for the lead pair.

Early during the making of the film, when the unit was in Shimla for some songs and sequences, Manoj was not happy with the scenes. “I rewrote many of them and one evening I showed my work to Raj-ji,” Manoj remembered. “He did not say a word, just took the file and went away and shortly returned with Nari Sippy and simply told him, ‘There is my dialogues writer.’ I ended up rewriting the dialogues of most of the film!”

On a parallel track, Manoj had already penned a script on Bhagat Singh. “Not many are aware that I would professionally ghost-write three or four scenes every week for different films and would be paid Rs 11 per scene!” the actor told me. “And Bhagat Singh was my dream character as an actor. My secretary and friend Kewal P. Kashyap was keen on turning producer. He read my script and was adamant that he would make it, even though there was no heroine!”

Shaheed (1965) was an instant hit, and was appreciated by critics. “At a particular point in the film, the director was at a loss how to proceed. I took over and shot a few scenes. And that’s when I realized, ‘This is it! This is the ultimate creative area, the real job!’

Manoj’s dream was consolidated when a special screening of Shaheed was held for Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri. “Shastri-ji loved the film and asked me, ‘Why don’t you make a film on my slogan, Jai Jawan Jai Kisan?’ His words inspired me. On my 24-hour rail journey back to Mumbai, I wrote the story of Upkar. Sadly, Shastriji never lived to watch the film, which was the biggest hit of 1967 and won the President’s Gold Medal, which was what the National award for Best Film was called then.”

Manoj decided to direct the film himself. “Friends discouraged me and said, ‘Everyone can’t be Raj Kapoor. You are doing fine as a hero!’ But I took the plunge!” smiled the star.

By that time, Manoj had acted in multiple successful films like Grihasti, Ghar Basake Dekho, Apne Huye Paraye, Sawan Ki Ghata, Do Badan and Gumnaam.

The King Midas

The filmmaker Manoj Kumar soon began to be called King Midas as he could do no wrong. Purab Aur Pacchim (1971), Shor (1972) and Roti Kapada Aur Makaan (1974) were all blockbusters. Manoj also was approached by a Sai Baba organization in Shirdi to make a film on the saint-poet who also represented secularism. “I was already a Sai Baba bhakt, and I wrote Shirdi Ke Sai Baba (1977) and my brother-in-law Ashok Bhushan directed it. I even wrote two of the songs, Sainath tere hazaaron haath and Sai Baba bolo, for they just flowed. The first song was written in seven minutes,” smiled Manoj.

After the blockbuster success of Kranti (1981), Manoj seemed to lose steam. “It was not so!” smiled Manoj gently. “My next production to launch my brother Rajiv as actor, Painter Babu, did not do well only in Mumbai, so it was labelled a flop. Kalyug Aur Ramayan was a solid story that the censors mauled, but it still broke even. And my last film, Jai Hind: The Pride (1999) on Kashmiri Pandits, which was delayed by one of the actresses in the film and was a hot topic in 1993 when I launched it, still made money for its distributors.” Manoj stresses that his only flop was Clerk. “It failed because of the fake climax that I wrote, so I cannot blame anyone!”

In the 1980s and 1990s, Manoj did work that was of interest to trivia hunters. He presented and did a cameo in his brother Rajiv’s debut as producer and director, Deshwasi, wrote (including lyrics) for his son Kunal’s starring vehicle Ricky that never released and in which son Vishal Goswami sang all the hero’s songs, acted in a special cameo under presenter L.V. Prasad’s direction in Mujhe Insaaf Chahiye directed by T. Rama Rao and wrote lyrics for films like Kalakar (starring son Kunal Goswami) and Dharmesh Darshan’s Lootere, while Maidan-E-Jung (1995) was his last film as actor.

His delayed films Amaanat (1978) and Santosh (1989), for which he also wrote a few songs, were flops, but even as an actor Manoj Kumar had a very high percentage of successes after Upkar. Neel Kamal, Patthar Ke Sanam, Sajan, Yaadgar, Dus Numbri and his famous trilogy with Sohanlal Kanwar, Pehchan, Beimaan and Sanyasi were all super-hits as against just three flops, Aadmi, Mera Naam Joker and Balidaan.

Mera Naam Joker, however, has very fond memories of Raj Kapoor for Manoj. “For the first chapter that starred Rishi Kapoor, Simi Garewal and me, I also worked with Raj-ji as a writer – the solah baras concept and philosophy were mine, and Raj-ji was big-hearted enough to mention to many people in the film industry that I had a hand in shaping the screenplay,” recollected Manoj.

Manoj Kumar also introduced Meenakshi Seshadri in Painter Babu, lyricists Santosh Anand (Purab Aur Pacchim), Rajkavi Inderjit Singh ‘Tulsi’ (Shor) and gave a major fillip to singer Nitin Mukesh in Kranti.

Clear-cut fundas

The filmmaker, who is widely appreciated for his technical wizardry, says, “Direction is that which is not on paper! I can never understand directors who say that they plan their shot divisions at home. I relish Mrinal Sen’s statement that a good director writes a film with his camera. You have to go beyond the script into another audiovisual dimension.”

An admirer of Raj Kapoor, V. Shantaram, Satyajit Ray and Guru Dutt, Manoj admitted to the last-mentioned filmmaker’s influence on his song-conception and filming. “Guru Dutt’s influence on me was tremendous. A song had to be a scene from a film told differently.” He was modest about his terrific musical acumen but gave maximum credits to his music directors Kalyanji-Anandji and Laxmikant-Pyarelal.

Explaining his success at multitasking in every department, he said, “When I go on floors, the director in me discards my brilliantly-written scene, if it is not necessary for the film. As film editor next, I ruthlessly edit in the interests of both the film and the audience, never caring for the efforts of the writer, director and actor and for the money spent by producer Manoj Kumar. Only the final product matters!”

Legends do go down, but only in history.

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