The
Hindi Film industry has never been short of jacks of all trades. In fact, there
have been several personalities who have been good at what they do…and then at
some other tasks too. The first man who immediately springs to mind is of
course, the legendary Kishore Kumar. Not only did he leave behind a legacy in
singing, he was an actor, a film director, a music composer…besides of course his
comic genius in real life.
Then,
there was also Raj Kapoor, who had a successful stint as an actor, then became
a topnotch film maker. And whose banner has given us the most memorable songs
as an enduring legacy – songs over which he had his personal stamp of
supervision.
Then
there are others too, like Dev Anand and Feroz Khan who have alternated wearing
hats of acting, producing and directing, most effortlessly. But this is about
another man altogether – a man who not only dabbled in the various trades in
the film industry, but has also won widespread accolades in various
disciplines.
That man
was Manoj Kumar – an intense actor, a script writer concerned with real issues
and a nuanced film director. It would surprise many to know that he is probably
the only one who has won an award or been nominated in most of the categories
he worked on. In 1968, Manoj Kumar swept the Filmfare Awards for the film “Upkar”
in the categories for Best Film, Best Story, Best Director and the Best
Dialogue. In 1972, he bagged the best actor award for the film, “Beimaan” and
then repeated his award winning streak with the Filmfare Award as the Best
Director for the film, “Roti, Kapda Aur Makaan.”
It is probably this recognition over diverse disciplines that earned him the respect and admiration from the film industry as a knowlegable and complete filmmaker. The following anecdote illustrates this perfectly.
When
the movie Don was being made and was almost finished, its director, Chandra
Barot, sought out Manoj Kumar and showed him the film and asked him for his
views. Manoj Kumar told him that he liked the film very much, but he felt that
the second half had belome very heavy because of its intesnse scenes and the
actionfilled climax. He told Chandra Barot that he needed to insert a song in
the second half to make it a more balanced viewing experience.
Chandra
Barot was in a dilemma. It was a suggestion that would have been easy to ignore
if it was given by anybody else – but this was Manoj Kumar, a man who had his finger
on thepulse on the audience. He created a situation for a song in the movie, briefed
Kalyanji Anandji to create the song and went about shooting and editing it into
the film.
When “Don” released in 1978, it stormed the boxoffice…and
the song, “Khaike Paan Banaraswala, inserted on Manoj Kumar’s advice was the
movie’s biggest draw. Chandra Barot had referred his fim to the encyclopedia of
Hindi films and had come out a winner.
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