Bharat’s pride

M. L. Dhawan on Manoj Kumar, recipient of Dadasaheb Phalke Award, 2007

ACTOR, director and producer Manoj Kumar, who is being conferred upon with the coveted Dadasaheb Phalke Award, was born as Hari Krishan Goswami. He changed his name to Manoj Kumar at the age of nine after watching his idol Dilip Kumar in Shabnam (1948).

In his debut film Fashion, 19-year-old Manoj Kumar played a 90-year-old beggar. Thereafter, he did bit roles in films like Sahara (1959) and Chaand (1960) before he hit the jackpot with Kaanch Ki Gudia (1961) for which he was paid a princely sum of Rs 3000.

After the success of Kaanch Ki Gudia, he signed at least half a dozen films like Reshmi Rumal, Suhag Sindhoor, Apna Bana Ke Dekho, Banarsi Thug, Dr Vidya etc. However, it was with Vijay Bhatt’s Haryali Aur Rasta that he really created a niche for himself in Bollywood. Haryali Aur Rasta (1962) was a musical melodrama set in Darjeeling’s tea plantation where Shanker (Manoj Kumar) falls in love with Shobhana (Mala Sinha), the daughter of a plantation supervisor. When Shanker marries Rita (Shashikala), Shobhana uses a train accident to disappear and starts a new life as Kamala, a hospital nurse. When Ramesh, the son of Shanker and Rita, is brought sick to the hospital, she nurses him to health. When Shanker falls sick, her second rescue act brings the two together. The success of Raj Khosla’s Woh Kaun Thi (1964) catapulted Manoj to stardom.

However, it was with blockbuster Shaheed (1965) that Manoj turned a new leaf in his career. In the touching tale of Bhagat Singh, Raj Guru and Sukhdev, Manoj Kumar was the de-facto director of the film. The popularity of the film changed the course of his cinematic career. When Lal Bahadur Shastri, the, then, Prime Minister saw this film he was moved and exhorted Manoj Kumar to make a film on the slogan of Jai Jawan Jai Kisan. This resulted in the making of his magnum opus Upkar (1967).

In Upkar, Manoj Kumar tackled the problem of farmers deserting agriculture. With this stridently nationalistic melodrama Manoj Kumar launched himself as Bharat, contrasting his son-of-the-soil simplicity with westernised decadence. He tends the fields to pay for the education of Puran, his younger brother, who spends the money in a dissolute life in the city. The film’s nationalism is encapsulated in the theme song "Mere desh ki dharti sona ugle ugle heerey moti".

Purab Aur Paschim (1970) highlighted the issue of brain drain. His wife Shashi is said to have suggested Manoj that the subject that had been giving nightmares to the intelligentsia for decades could be the subject of the film. The film inspired well-known surgeon Dr Narendra Pandya to leave his cushy life abroad and return to India for good.

In his school days, Manoj Kumar had heard his seniors sing "Maang raha hai Hindustan/Roti kapda Aur Makaan" and these lines stayed with him. An incident in Delhi University where a graduate tore up a degree during the convocation ceremony asserting that it was nothing than a useless piece of paper egged him to make Roti Kapda Aur Makaan (1974). Through the film, Manoj brought forth the frustration of the jobless youth.

In Kranti, he reintegrated quislings like Shashi Kapoor, who had been collaborating with the British. His Jai Hind was a tribute to the 50 years of independence. Films like Shaheed, Upkar, Purab Aur Paschim established Manoj Kumar as Bharat. According to Manoj Kumar, filmmaking is a business of ideas as nothing can survive on hype alone. He is a filmmaker with a vision whose patriotism galvanised those around him. His message-oriented patriotic films were superb entertainers whose topicality and appeal enhanced with years. The award is recognition of his contribution to the development of the Hindi cinema.

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