Manoj Kumar (1937-2025) played Bharat in his films with humility — not as a chest-thumping saviour, but as a conflicted son of the soil. His was a cinema of conscience.
Manoj Kumar, one of the last surviving legends from a golden era of Hindi cinema, who has passed away at the age of 87, had a knack for weaving his patriotic ideals into mainstream entertainment. Born Harikrishan Giri Goswami on July 24, 1937, in Abbottabad, now in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the actor, director, lyricist, and screenwriter, was hailed as Bharat Kumar for his immense contributions to Hindi cinema’s nationalistic fervour.
His films, often dismissed by critics for being overly sentimental or jingoistic, were lapped up by audiences. That Manoj Kumar wore his patriotism on his sleeve was never a secret; what remained remarkable was the sincerity with which he believed in the nation shown in his films.
Born into a Punjabi Hindu Brahmin family in Abbottabad, Manoj Kumar experienced displacement in his childhood. When he was only 10, his family migrated to Delhi following the Partition of India, a wound that would leave a deep imprint on his creative psyche. Though his birth name was Harikrishan Giri Goswami, he rechristened himself Manoj Kumar, inspired by Dilip Kumar’s character in the film Shabnam (1949).
Settling in Delhi, he completed his Bachelor of Arts from Hindu College. The capital’s post-Partition restlessness, with its refugee colonies and makeshift lives, must have sharpened his sense of identity. A fan of Dilip Kumar, Ashok Kumar, and Kamini Kaushal, it was only inevitable that he found himself drawn towards cinema.
Turning point as the patriot
Manoj Kumar’s initial years in cinema were unremarkable. His debut in Fashion (1957), followed by minor roles in Sahara (1958), Chand (1959), and Honeymoon (1960), left him stranded in the purgatory of the unnoticed. It was only with Vijay Bhat’s Hariyali Aur Rasta (The Greenery and the Road, 1962), a commercial success starring Mala Sinha, that he found a foothold in the industry. But it was his performance in Woh Kaun Thi? (1964) that truly announced his arrival.
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Directed by Raj Khosla, Woh Kaun Thi? was a mystery thriller remembered for its tight screenplay and haunting music, especially Lata Mangeshkar’s iconic renditions of Lag Jaa Gale and Naina Barse Rimjhim. Kumar’s stoic, introspective turn complemented the film’s eerie mood, and he proved himself a bankable star with the film.
1965 was a turning point for Manoj Kumar. Starring in Shaheed, a tribute to Bhagat Singh, Kumar’s performance was loved by audiences and even caught the attention of then-Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri. That year also saw him star in Vijay Bhat’s romantic drama Himalay Ki God Mein and Raja Nawathe’s thriller Gumnaam, which cemented his position as a versatile lead actor.
The encounter with Shastri proved to be pivotal. Inspired by the prime minister’s slogan, Jai Jawan Jai Kissan, Kumar embarked on making Upkar (Favour, 1967). His directorial debut, the film depicted the plight of the farmer and the soldier with an unvarnished sincerity that resonated with the masses. It was an immediate blockbuster, which won him his first Filmfare Best Director Award and the National Film Award for Second Best Feature Film.
The song Mere Desh Ki Dharti became a national anthem of sorts, played during Republic Day and Independence Day celebrations across the country. For Kumar, the label of ‘Bharat Kumar’ subsequently became both his identity and his artistic obsession.
Roti Kapada Aur Makaan, Kranti, and the fall
Manoj Kumar’s films of the 1970s were defined by their social consciousness and unabashed patriotism. He became a brand unto himself, a storyteller who channelled his deep-seated idealism into films that were part melodrama, part nationalist discourse.
The social drama Roti Kapada Aur Makaan (1974) remains his most ambitious film. With an ensemble cast that included Shashi Kapoor, Amitabh Bachchan, Zeenat Aman, and Moushmi Chatterjee, the film was a colossal hit, recognised as an All Time Blockbuster. Its themes of poverty, unemployment, and political corruption struck a chord with the masses.
His 1981 film Kranti, co-starring Dilip Kumar, Hema Malini, Shashi Kapoor, Parveen Babi, and Shatrughan Sinha, was another monumental success. It was the most successful film of the decade and became a symbol of his relentless dedication to patriotic storytelling. But the 1980s also marked the beginning of his decline. Films like Kalyug Aur Ramayan (1987), Santosh (1989), Clerk (1989), and Deshwasi (1991) flopped. By the mid-90s, Manoj Kumar had retired from acting.
The final curtain
Like many Bollywood stars of his generation, Kumar attempted a foray into politics. He officially joined the Bharatiya Janata Party before the 2004 general elections, but his political career never quite took off. The recipient of the Padma Shri in 1992 and the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 2015, Manoj Kumar’s legacy remains that of a man who merged his love for cinema with his vision of India. Despite critical derision, his films were loved by audiences.
It may sound cliche, but Manoj Kumar’s death indeed marks the end of an era. His films stand as relics of a time when idealism still had a place on the silver screen. To generations of Indians, Manoj Kumar will always remain Bharat Kumar — the man who gave patriotism a face in Hindi cinema. It is important to emphasise that his cinema wore patriotism with honesty and heart; tender in its expression, intense in its call, but rarely bitter.
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Movies like Upkar and Purab Aur Paschim showed love for the country, but they also asked the country to do better. Kumar wasn’t shouting slogans — he was telling emotional stories about sacrifice, duty, and what it means to truly care for your land. His idea of India was about unity, compassion, and healing after pain. He believed in an India that needed healing post-Partition, an India that could be loved more by understanding its fractures. Even when he played Bharat, he played him with humility — not as a chest-thumping saviour, but as a conflicted son of the soil, caught between change and tradition, modernity and roots. His was a cinema of conscience.
Contrast this with the last decade of ‘patriotic’ filmmaking in Hindi cinema, when patriotism has often been stripped of nuance and dressed in hyperbole. Many recent films like Uri: The Surgical Strike (2019), The Kashmir Files (2022), Gadar 2 (2023), and Article 370 (2024) are driven more by agenda than empathy. They focus on national pride through military victories, religious identity, or political triumphs. These films often paint a black-and-white world — us versus them, heroes versus traitors. Unlike Manoj Kumar’s India, which was fragile, diverse, and worth saving, today’s India in cinema is often aggressive, loud, and looking for someone, the usual suspect, to vilify.
These are films made not to ask difficult questions but to drown out dissent — nationalism as art. Unlike Kumar, whose stories felt rooted in the everyday Indian’s anxieties and aspirations, today’s jingoistic spectacles often serve the state more than the citizens. Where Manoj Kumar once opened a dialogue between the past and future of India, much of today’s patriotic cinema is all about monologue, twisting facts and changing history to suit a particular narrative and fuel propaganda.
