Mumbai: Actor Manoj Kumar was born July 24, 1937 in Pakistan. His real name is Hari Kishan Giri Goswami.
Since his childhood, Manoj was very fond of movies. His passion for films can be assumed by the fact that he decided to name himself Manoj Kumar, after Dilip’s character in Shabnam (1949).
In the year 1965, Manoj did a film based on the life of Bhagat Singh. This movie was a super hit, after which he did many patriotic films one after another. In most of his films, his character’s name used to be Bharat and because of this people started calling him Bharat Kumar.
Former Prime Minister of India Lal Bahadur Shastri was a huge fan of his. After the Indo-Pak war of 1965, Shastri urged him to make a film on Jai Jawan Jai Kissan. After which Manoj made ‘Upkaar’ (1967) which also earned him his first Filmfare Best Director Award.
Some of his biggest hits were ‘Woh Kaun Thi’, ‘Shaheed’, ‘Purab Aur Paschim’, ‘Himalaya Ki God Mein’, ‘Hariyali Aur Raasta’, ‘Paththar Ke Sanam’, ‘Roti Kapda Aur Makaan’ and ‘Kranti’.
He received a total of seven Filmfare Awards in his career. Apart from this, he was awarded Padma Shri by the Government of India 1992 and also Dadasaheb Phalke Award for lifetime contribution to Indian cinema in 2016.
In an interview, Manoj spoke about his days of struggle. Manoj said that he lived in a refugee camp and lost his younger brother at a very young age. As a result he used to lose his temper. He started fighting and for this reason, he was once beaten by the police.
But Manoj realized his mistakes and brought his life to order and built an incredible successful career in Hindi cinema.
PNN/Agencies
