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Manoj Kumar
Family and close friends from the Hindi movie industry, including Ashoke Pandit, Prem Chopra and others, paid their final respects to late actor Manoj Kumar at his residence here on Saturday. The veteran actor-filmmaker died on Friday due to age-related issues at Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani hospital. He was 87. A photo of a young Kumar was placed at the entrance of his building premises for everyone to offer their last respects. An ambulance carrying mortal remains of Kumar decorated in tri-colour flowers left the actor's residence at about 10:30 am for the funeral, to be held at Pawan Hans crematorium in suburban Juhu. On Friday, veteran actors Dharmendra, Prem Chopra, filmmakers Madhur Bhandarkar, Farah Khan with her brother Sajid Khan, and others arrived at Kumar's residence to offer their condolences. Kumar was known as 'Bharat Kumar' among his fans for his roles in a series of patriotic films like "Shaheed", "Upkar", Purab Aur Paschim and Roti, Kapda aur Makaan, among others.
Manoj Kumar will forever be Bharat for generations of filmgoers, an actor-filmmaker who framed his patriotism in celluloid just as a nascent India was coming into its own and beginning to realise its dreams and potential. It was a fortuitous happenstance for the filmmaker who channelled his Partition angst to tell stories of an evolving India in films such as Upkar, Purab Aur Paschim and Roti, Kapda aur Makaan in the mid 1960s and 1970s. They were all blockbusters, finding a ready audience at the time and each helping carve a niche all his own. Kumar died in a Mumbai hospital in the early hours of Friday. He was 87, a one-time star battling multiple health issues who had long retreated into the shadows. His screen name was Bharat in several films, a cleverly chosen moniker that fused into his identity as a filmmaker and an actor and he came to be known as Bharat Kumar' to many. Kumar, who found many takers for his brand of patriotic idealism, was also the romantic hero of films such