I was under the impression that Manoj Kumar ..... the Patriotic 'Bharat Kumar' might have been born on either 15th August or on 26th January ! But it is not so ! He was born on 24th July 1937 just like you and me as 'Harikrishna Goswami.!
After graduation, he decided to enter the films and adopted the name ' Manoj Kumar' for himself which he picked up from the character name of Dilip Kumar, his idol, in the film ' Shabnam '
His initial films were not noteworthy. He rose to the fame from ' Hariyali aur Rasta ' and thereafter from ' Woh Kaun thi '.
His patriotic fervour started from the role of 'BhagatSingh ' he played in ' Shaheed '. In 1965 the then Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastry has launched the slogan ' Jay Jawan Jay Kisan'. In his meeting with Prime Minister, Shastriji advised him to make a film based on this slogan. Manoj Kumar quickly responded by producing and directing ' Upkar ' which became superhit and fetched a number of awards. He continued the patriotic spirit by directing Purab aur Paschim and thereafter Kranti , in which he fulfilled his dream of directing his idol ' Dilip Kumar '.
In addition to his pursuit of patriotic films Manoj Kumar had an impressive presence in films due to his striking performances in Himalay Ki Godmain, Gumnam, Aadmi, Pathar Ke Sanam ,Do Badan, Roti kapda aur Makan, Shor ,Beiman, Sanyasi, Das Numbari etc. However in early 70s as like Rajendra Kumar his career was affected by the emergence of Superstar Rajesh Khanna. After Kranti his subsequent films flopped and he quit acting in 1995 after the film ' Maidan - e- Jung.
Manoj kumar was in the news a few years back when he sued for his parody in the film ' Om Shanti Om' in which the hero tries to sneak into the film premier by copying Manoj Kumar's favourite style of covering the face by hand. Since then, I have hardly heard anything about him.But I remember him without fail on every 15th August when his song मेरे देशकी धरती सोना उगले, उगले हिरे मोती from Upkar is played at every nook and corner !
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