Who Was Manoj Kumar ?
Manoj Kumar was born in Abbottabad, a city in the North-West Frontier Province (now Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) of Pakistan, which was a part of pre-partition India. His original birth name was Harikishan Giri Goswami. When he was 10 years old, his family had to move from Jadhiyala Sher Khan to Delhi due to Partition. His family remained as refugees at Vijay Nagar, Kingsway Camp and later moved to the old Rajendra Nagar area of New Delhi.
After graduating from Hindu College, University of Delhi, he decided to enter the film industry.
The star of his acting shone in producer-director Vijay Bhatt’s 1962 classic film “Hariyali Aur Rasta”. Her opposite Mala Sinha was in the film. Viewers liked the pair of both. In 1964, another superhit film “Woh Kaun Thi” was released. 1965 itself, another superhit film “Gumnaam” by Manoj Kumar was also released.
In this film, the fabric of mystery and adventure, melodious song-music and sound were imaginatively used. It was only in 1965 that he got an opportunity to work in Vijay Bhatt’s film “Himalaya Ki Lap Mein”, which proved to be a super hit at the ticket window.
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The film “Shaheed” released in 1965 is considered one of the important films of his cine career. He portrayed the role of Shaheed-e-Azam Bhagat Singh on the silver screen in this film full of patriotism. In the 1967 film Upkar, he appeared in the role of a farmer as well as a young man. His character’s name in the film was Bharat. Later, Manoj Kumar became famous in the film industry by the same name.
In 1970, another superhit film “Purab Aur Paschim” released in his production and direction was released. Through the film, he showed the story of such people who migrated to the West, leaving the soil of their country in the greed of wealth.
In the year 1972, another important film “Shor” was screened in Manoj Kumar’s cine career. “Rotti Aapda Aur Makaan” released in 1974 is considered one of the important films of his career. Through this film, he deeply hurt the economy of the society.
Like and dislike
Manoj Kumar often likes to wear turtleneck clothes. Be it a kurta or a shirt. Apart from this, you will often find one hand of Manoj Kumar on his own mouth. Manoj Kumar liked to do patriotic films instead of romance in films. Manoj Kumar stepped on the big screen with the film ‘Fashion’ made in the year 1957. His first leading role was Kaanch Ki Gudiya (1960).
Later he had two more films Piya Milan’s Aas and Resham Rumple but his first hit was ‘Hariyali Aur Rasta’ (1962). Manoj Kumar acted in good films like Woh Kaun Thi, in the lap of Himalayas, Gumnaam, Do Badan, Patthar Ke Sanam, Yadgar, Shor, Sanyasi, Dus Nambri and Clerk. His last film was Maidan-e-Jung (1995). As director, he made his last film Jai Hind in 1999.
Manoj Kumar was awarded the Filmfare Award for Best Actor for the film Dishonor in the year 1972 and the Best Director for the Roti cloth and house in the year 1975. Later in the year 1992, he was awarded the Padma Shri award. Manoj Kumar was also honored with the Phalke Ratna Award.
Award
- 1992- Padma Shri Award by Government of India
- 1968 – Filmfare Award for Best Film, Best Director, Best Story and Best Dialogue category for the film ‘Upkar’
- 1972 – Filmfare Award for Best Actor for the film ‘Dishonor’
- 1975 – Filmfare Award for Best Director for the film ‘Roti Aapda Aur Makaan’
- 1999 – Filmfare Award for Life Time Achievement
- 2016 – Dada Saheb Phalke Award by Government of India.
Some interesting information related to Manoj Kumar
- Manoj Kumar was born into a Brahmin family. When he was 10, his family left Abbottabad, Pakistan and moved to Delhi.
- He came with his family at the time of Partition of India, at that time his family lived as refugees at the Kingsway Camp in Vijay Nagar and later moved to Old Rajendra Nagar in New Delhi.
- Since childhood, he was inspired by Dilip Kumar and Ashok Kumar. Due to which he decided to name his name Manoj Kumar. However, his real name was Harikrishna Giri Goswami.
- Manoj Kumar’s acting career began with the 1957 film Fashion, in which he played the role of an 80-year-old man.
- After the 1965 film Shaheed, Manoj Kumar‘s image as a patriot was established. The film was based on the life of freedom fighter Bhagat Singh.
- After the Indo-Pak war in 1965, the then Prime Minister of India Lal Bahadur Shastri asked him to make a film based on a popular slogan “Jai Jawan Jai Kisan”. Due to which he directed the film “Upkar” in the year 1967, in which he played the role of a soldier and a farmer.
- He was awarded the Best Director Filmfare Award for the film Upkar.
- In the year 1981, he directed the film Kranti. The film was a super hit at the box office. But after this, the graph of his film career started falling rapidly, because his films were not doing well.