Manoj Kumar, lovingly known as Bharat Kumar, passed away on Friday, April 4, at the age of 87. His role as Bharat in Upkar was loved so much by the audiences that he became known by that name. In a lot of his patriotic and nationalist films, he named his character Bharat to live up to the image. Today, we take a look at some of the best performances of the late actor.
Shaheed (1965)
Upkar (1967)
Purab Aur Pachhim (1970)
Roti Kapda Aur Makaan (1974)
Kranti (1981)
Shaheed (1965)
Manoj Kumar played the role of Shaheed Bhagat Singh in this S Ram Sharma directorial, evoking patriotic sentiments in people with his strong performance. For this film, which was released almost two decades after we got our independence, Kumar studied the life of the revolutionary Bhagat Singh and adapted his mannerisms. As a result, people who watched the film connected strongly with his character and the story. Notably, this was the first of the late actor’s series of patriotic films. He shared the screen with Prem Chopra, Anant Marathe, Manmohan, Kamini Kaushal and Nirupa Roy in this film. Prem Chopra perhaps acted in the only ‘positive’ role of his career as the revolutionary Sukdev Thapar.
Upkar (1967)
A farmer can very well turn into a soldier when a nation needs it, and this is what Manoj Kumar proved in Upkar. The late actor also made his directorial debut with this film. He played Bharat, a farmer who sacrifices everything for his brother Puran’s (played by Prem Chopra) education. However, the latter become selfish after getting attracted to city life. At the same time, the Indo-Pakistan war of 1965 begins, and Bharat joins it. The was inspired by then Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri’s motto, ‘Jai Jawan Jai Kisan’. Despite being a patriotic film, it never catered to jingoism of any sort. The title Bharat Kumar was given to him after the massive success of Upkar. He even won four Filmfare Awards for Upkar.
Purab Aur Pachhim (1970)
Purab Aur Pachhim made him Mr. Bharat in the true sense. As the name suggests, Purab Aur Pachhim (East and West) portrays the cultural difference and clash of values between the East and the West that occurred as a result of the British Raj in India. Bharat (played by Kumar) is a patriotic person, and despite going to England, never succumbs to the Western values. He holds Indian values very close to his heart, extolling the virtues of Indian tradition to the NRIs settled there. How he manages to convince his love interest Preeti (Saira Banu) to let go of the western practices and become truly Indian forms the crux of the story. Kumar’s portrayal of a man who is unabashedly Indian got him the title of Mr. Bharat.
