Veteran actor-director Manoj Kumar passed away on April 4, Friday, at Mumbai’s Kokilaben Dhirubai Ambani Hospital. He was 87 at the time of his demise. As per news agency ANI, Kumar suffered a cardiogenic shock following an acute myocardial infarction. He was already struggling with decompensated liver cirrhosis.
His son was quoted as saying, “It’s the grace of the god that he bid adieu to this world peacefully. His cremation will take place tomorrow.”
Soon after the news broke, Bollywood celebrities offered their heartfelt condolences. Akshay Kumar shared an old photo of the actor and wrote, “I grew up learning from him that there’s no emotion like love and pride for our country. And if we actors won’t take the lead in showing this emotion, who will? Such a fine person, and one of the biggest assets of our fraternity. RIP Manoj Sir.”
Filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri called him a proud nationalist and tweeted, “A proud nationalist. A staunch Hindu at heart. A visionary director who gave Indian cinema a new grammar — of song picturisation, of meaningful lyrics, of cinema that didn’t just entertain but remembered to belong. He made patriotism cinematic, without noise. He made nationalism poetic, without apology… In a time of borrowed voices and secondhand aesthetics, he dared to be rooted. Patriots and artists like him never die. They simply transcend — into memory, into celluloid, into the nation’s heartbeat.”
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, too, offered condolences.
Born as Harikrishan Goswami, Kumar debuted in showbiz in 1957 with Fashion Brand and then did a couple of films such as Sahara, Chand and Honeymoon, where his role largely went unnoticed. In 1961, he landed his leading role in the film Kaanch Ki Gudiya. However, his next films also did not make a mark. His major commercial success came in 1962 with the film Hariyali Aur Rasta, in which he shared the screen with Mala Singh. Following the success of this film, he was seen in Shaadi, Dr Vidya and Grahasti – all of which went on to be box office successes. Raj Khosla’s mystery thriller, Woh Kaun Thi? further cemented his position in the industry.
In 2016, he was awarded the Dadasaheb Phalke Award. He was previously awarded the Padma Shri in 1992.
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