Manoj Kumar: Actor-filmmaker who blended patriotism with mainstream appeal

MANOJ Kumar will forever be Bharat for generations of filmgoers, an actor-filmmaker who turned his patriotism on celluloid just as a nascent India was coming into its own and beginning to realise its dreams and potential.

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It was a tortuous happenstance for the filmmaker who channelled his Partition angst to tell stories of an evolving India in films such as “Upkar”, “Purab aur Paschim” and “Roti, Kapda aur Makaan” in the mid 1960s and 1970s. They were all blockbuster busters, finding a ready audience at the time and each helping carve a niche all his own.

Kumar died in a Mumbai hospital in the early hours of Friday. He was 87, a one-time star battling multiple health issues who had long retreated into the shadows. His screen name was Bharat in several films, a cleverly chosen moniker that fused into his identity as a filmmaker and an actor and he came to be known as ‘Bharat Kumar’ to many.

Kumar, who found many takers for his brand of patriotic idealism, was also the romantic hero of films such as “Himalay Ki God Mein”, “Do Badan” and “Pathar Ke Sanam”. His real success came in 1965 with “Hariyali Aur Raasta” opposite Mala Sinha.

The films were huge hits and so were the songs. Khemchand Prakash's “Mujhe Milti Hain Zindagi Mein” , Mukesh's “Chand Si Mehbooba Hoja Meri”, “Ek Pyaar Ka Nagma Hai” and Pathar Ke Sanam.

But Manoj Kumar's legacy will always be tied to his brand of patriotism rooted in an earlier era. Some of his films, including “Purab Aur Paschim”, could be viewed as conservative and complicit with an idea of India and the West that may sit uncomfortably with today's audiences.