Manoj Kumar

Some Lesser Known Facts About Manoj Kumar

• Did Manoj Kumar smoke?: Not Known

• Did Manoj Kumar drink alcohol?: Not Known

• Manoj Kumar was born in a Brahmin family. When he was 10 years old, his family left Abbottabad, Pakistan and migrated to Delhi.

• When he came to India due to the partition, his family lived as refugees in Vijay Nagar, Kingsway Camp and later moved to the Old Rajendra Nagar area of New Delhi.

• From a young age, he was inspired by Dilip Kumar and Ashok Kumar and thus decided to name himself Manoj Kumar. However, his real name was Harikrishna Giri Goswami.

• Manoj Kumar’s film career began with the 1957 movie Fashion, wherein he played the role of an 80-year-old person.

• Manoj Kumar’s patriotic image was truly recognized after the release of the 1965 film, Shaheed. The movie was based on the life of freedom fighter Bhagat Singh.

  

• After the 1965 Indo-Pak War, the then PM of India, Lal Bahadur Shastri, asked him to create a movie based on the popular slogan Jai Jawan Jai Kissan. To fulfill his words, he made Upkaar in 1967, in which he played both a soldier and a farmer.

• The Film Upkaar won Kumar his first Filmfare Best Director Award.

  

• In 1981, he directed a movie, Kranti. The movie was a big hit at the box office. After Kranti, his film career began to decline because his movies were not performing well.

• Due to his many roles on Patriotism, he was nicknamed ‘Bharat Kumar’.

• In 1989, he was the first ever Indian director to cast Pakistani actors.

• In 1992, he was awarded Padma Shri by the Government of India.

• In 1995, he quit acting. He acted for the last time in the 1995 film Maidan-E-Jung.

• Before 2004, it was announced that Manoj Kumar had joined the Shiv Sena.

• In 2016, Manoj Kumar was bestowed with the Dadasaheb Phalke Award lifetime contribution to Indian cinema.