Manoj Kumar avoided histrionics when he wanted to show strong emotion on screen. Brooding silences, furrowed brows, and his trademark move of covering his face with his hand did the trick. The gesture became so iconic that even Shah Rukh Khan couldn’t resist parodying it in Om Shanti Om. Kumar wasn’t amused. He even filed a Rs 100 crore lawsuit over it, though he eventually dropped it.
The actor and director’s brand, after all, was built on weightier themes—sacrifice, idealism, and above all, patriotism. Long before Akshay Kumar’s string of nationalist films, including his upcoming Kesari 2, it was Manoj Kumar who turned patriotism into a box office success formula, with houseful shows for his nationalistic outings. And starting with Upkar in 1967, he was always named ‘Bharat’ in such films. Nobody could instil pride in sanskars like him.
One of his most famous lines as a Bharat came in Purab Aur Paschim (1970): “Apne yahan ki mitti ki khushboo hai na woh toh ajnabi logo ki saanson mein bhi sanskar bhar deti hai” (The scent of our soil can fill even a stranger’s breath with our values). The message about carrying Indian values wherever you go clicked at the box office and made for a blockbuster. Filled with rousing speeches, sermons, and songs, Purab Aur Paschim acquired lasting cult status.
Manoj Kumar often returned to these themes even when the rest of Bollywood was moving in another direction.
Speaking to ThePrint, trade analyst Taran Adarsh recalled asking Kumar why he wasn’t making masala, crowd-pleasing films like his contemporaries.
“He told me, ‘I love Bharat and I want to project it to the world’,” said Adarsh, adding that Kumar would always call India Bharat. His films always had a moral spine even if it meant eschewing commercial trends.
Originally called Harikrishan Giri Goswami by his middle-class family in Abbottabad, he changed his name to Manoj Kumar after being bowled over by Dilip Kumar’s performance as Manoj in Shabnam (1949). He would go on to direct his idol in Kranti (1981).
In the pre-Bharat days, his breakthrough role was Raj Khosla’s mystery thriller Woh Kaun Thi? (1964), which became a superhit, propelled by Lata Mangeshkar’s chartbusters Lag Jaa Gale and Naina Barse Rimjhim Rimjhim.
In a 2023 interview, Kumar cycled through many emotions while talking about his rebirth as Bharat. Visibly overcome, he said he chose the name Bharat rather than “Ramu or Shyamu” because “Bharat lives in the villages”. He took it seriously. So much so that it became a “bojh” (burden) at times.
“Uss image ko nibhana mushkil ho gaya. Uske baad maine kabhi kisi heroine ko touch nahin kiya,” he said—Living up to that image became difficult. After that, I never touched a heroine on screen.
Also Read: Manoj Kumar’s Purab Aur Paschim set the template for Bollywood’s East vs West showdown
Ghostwriter to hit-spinner
Long before he became the face of patriotic cinema, Manoj Kumar, a graduate of Delhi’s Hindu College, started out his career in showbiz as a ghostwriter. It gave him a grasp of the nitty-gritties of screenwriting.
Apart from acting and directing, he wrote screenplays, edited many of his movies, produced them, and even wrote lyrics.
“Dilip Kumar appeared in Kranti only because it was Kumar writing the screenplay. Dilip sir was very particular about screenplays,” said Adarsh.
Kumar’s creative instincts were trusted even beyond his own films. When his assistant director Chandra Barot was working on Don (1978) with Amitabh Bachchan, he asked Kumar for feedback. Kumar suggested adding two more songs.
“Dusra character jo tha na nakli Don, paan khata tha, toh unhone kaha paan ke upar kuch banao. Tab ye gaana bana (The other character, the fake Don, used to chew paan. So he [Manoj Kumar] said, ‘Make something around paan.’ That’s how the song was created),” Bachchan later said in an episode of Kaun Banega Crorepati.
Kumar’s legacy-defining streak of directing and acting in patriotic blockbusters began with 1967’s Upkar, which was inspired by then Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri’s slogan Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan. It turned Kumar into a household name. It was the top-grossing Hindi film that year and won seven Filmfare awards. Its song Mere Desh Ki Dharti became a staple of Republic Day and Independence Day celebrations.
He followed it with Purab Aur Paschim, which broke not only domestic records but also ran for over 50 weeks in London. It’s record for weekend earnings there was only broken after 23 years when Hum Aapke Hai Koun! (1994) came along. It’s music was evergreen as well.
“There was something about Kumar’s songs in his films,” said Adarsh. “There was a certain gravitas and grandness he brought in. Look at Bharat Ka Rehne Waala Hoon.”
However, Kumar’s patriotism was not jingoistic. It also took up social issues packaged in entertainment.
In 1974, Roti Kapda Aur Makaan borrowed another popular political slogan, this time from Indira Gandhi. The multi-starrer—with Shashi Kapoor, Amitabh Bachchan, Zeenat Aman, and Moushumi Chatterjee—was an action film but also addressed national anxieties like unemployment and economic despair.
In one scene, his character Bharat burns his university degree on his father’s funeral pyre, epitomising the frustration and dejection of educated youth. Another moment is the song Mehengai Maar Gayi, a sharp critique of inflation. This film, too, was a major success, and won three Filmfare awards.
Throughout the decades, Kumar played a variety of off-screen roles, including editing his films—although Kalyug Aur Ramayan (1987) was the only film that he both acted in and was credited as editor
It was also the film that landed him in the biggest controversy of his career.
Also Read: Manoj Kumar was Bollywood’s patriotic star. Akshay Kumar says he grew up learning from him
Kalyug row, censorship, and silence
In the mid-1980s, Manoj Kumar found himself in unfamiliar territory. Instead of being lauded for his sanskars and patriotism, he was accused of hurting religious sentiments.
The film in question was Kalyug Ki Ramayan. It was a satire on kalyug, the age of decline described in Hindu scriptures. Kumar played Hanuman, who comes to earth to help a family whose members are named after characters from the Ramayana.
Protestors burnt cassettes of the film for having a song with the lyrics Kalyug ki Sita,and the song was later changed to Kalyug ki Kanya. The Central Board of Film Certification also asked for the film’s title to be changed to Kalyug Aur Ramayan.
By this time, Manoj’s career was on a decline. After Kranti came a string of flops, including Kalyug Aur Ramayan, Santosh (1989), Clerk (1989), and Deshwasi (1991). He quit acting after his appearance in Maidan-E-Jung (1995).
His impact on cinema, however, continued to be recognised and he was honoured with multiple lifetime achievement awards, including the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 2015. Kumar died at 3:30 am on a Thursday at Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital, at the age of 87.
Despite enjoying a cult status among fans, he never felt the need to write a tell-all about his life. In a PTI interview, he explained why.
“I can write about myself, but there are other persons involved in it and I will have to name them,” he said. “I’ll be exposing them then, which I don’t like.”
(Edited by Asavari Singh)