Actor Manoj Kumar’s career in Bollywood makes for a moving, cinematic story in itself. He was considered a pioneer of patriotic cinema, and movies like Kranti, Purab Aur Paschim, Roti Kapda Aur Makaan and Shaheed earned him the moniker of ‘Bharat Kumar’. His life as an actor had its own crests and troughs, but one of the more memorable episodes took place during the tumultuous Emergency, when he was approached to make a pro-government film, but eventually ended up suing the government for different reasons.
During the Emergency, PM Indira Gandhi’s administration attempted to quell public backlash by having Manoj Kumar make a film for them. He was known to play deeply loyal patriots, and was considered the perfect candidate to help the Gandhi government regain the public’s trust. He even brought Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar on board as writers, according to a Lehren interview.
In a conversation with Hindustan Times, Manoj Kumar had revealed that the film was supposed to be called Naya Bharat, and that he met with PM Gandhi and her son Sanjay Gandhi to discuss it. He said, “At first, they loved the script. She even agreed to make a special appearance in it. But a few months later, they said that she could only give her voice in the film. The script had to be changed, and I was not okay with that. So I cancelled everything, and the film was eventually shelved.”
A little while later, Kumar voiced his concerns regarding the release of films on TV just two weeks after their theatrical debut. The government had resolved to show his patriotic movies on Doordarshan in an attempt to inspire patriotism among the masses. Naturally, this was affecting the number of people going to the cinemas. According to Manoj Kumar, his 1972 film Shor did not perform optimally at the box office due to this two-week policy, and his 1976 film Dus Numbri suffered the same fate. This pushed him to take legal action against the government, and he emerged victorious.
Interestingly, Shor had been re-released before the trial, after initially being banned. The actor stood his ground during this difficult time, and wasn’t the only one from Bollywood who pushed back against the government. He passed away at the age of 87 on Friday.
