When JYOTHI VENKATESH barges into MANOJ KUMAR at his apartment Goswami Towers in Juhu, the evergreen star and a living legend on his own right is lying down on his bed because he is suffering from an acute slip disc. His wife Shashiji offers him hot cups of tea and from then on there is none stopping the 80 year old veteran actor from unwinding.
The talk hovers around the business that films are doing today at the box office. “If my films like Upkar, Roti Kapada Aur Makaan had been released today, they would have romped home with over 500 to 700 crores. In those days the rates of cinema tickets were in the range of just Rs 2 to Rs 5 and multiplexes had not mushroomed though today the ticket rates have gone up to Rs 800 to Rs 1000. The population then was just around 40 crores whereas today it has spiraled to 130 crores.”
Manoj Kumar says that he does not deride filmmakers today for making films which do not have content. “If films had no content, how do you explain the phenomenal success of Baahubali which was dubbed from Telugu to Hindi that too with not so known faces? Didn’t the film collect over 800 cr all over the world? If we try to make films which have good content, we too can come up films which can do business worth 2000 cr. When my own film Kranti was released way back in the 80’s, no one believed that it could collect a crore and a half in Delhi and UP, since it was then considered a phenomenal figure.”
Manoj Kumar feels that today India has overtaken even Hollywood as far as making good films with emphasis on content. “Hollywood is now making only sc fi films or films with super heros whereas we continue to make films which are rich in content and soaked in emotion. Unfortunately the corporates feel that they cannot make a film without stars. In the first place, till date, it is only films which have made stars and not a single star has made a hit film.”
I had to struggle a lot in the initial stage of my career. I was just 19, I played the role of a 40 year old beggar.
“There is a belief in the industry that I am the pioneer of the trend of multi star films. I do not subscribe to this view. When I had launched Roti Kapada Aur Makan, Zeenat Aman and Moushumi Chatterjee had not become stars to reckon with. Shashi Kapoor was at the lowest ebb of his career, while Amitabh Bachchan had only a couple of films to his credit, since Zanjeer had not been released. However by the time RKM was released, all of them had become stars and hence my film was hailed as a multi star film. While some ‘accuse” me of having started the trend, some “compliment” me on my achievement. To call Kranti a multi- star film, is an insult to my product, because it was basically an artiste- oriented project, where the star had absolutely no role to play. I signed Dilip Kumar, Hema Malini and Shashi Kapoor for what they were worth as artistes and not with the intention of cashing in on their star status.”
“Salim and Javed wrote the script of Kranti and I wrote the dialogues. I suggested the idea of Kranti to them and they worked on it to give me the complete script. I am a slave to my script and I respect my script writers. Though Salim and Javed had given me the full liberty to change the script if the film demanded it, I did not want to misuse the liberty they had given me. I did change here and there but before I went on the floors, I would ring them up and ask them for their permission. They told me not to ‘embarrass’ them by asking them their ‘permission’. Go ahead with the necessary changes and inform us after the day’s shooting is over, they used to tell me.
“Though it is almost 61 years since I had started acting by making my debut at the age of just 19, with the film Sahara, I have acted till date in only 50 films. It has not been a very easy climb for me as far as stardom is concerned. I had to struggle a lot in the initial stage of my career. In the film Fashion, though I was just 19, I played the role of a 40 year old beggar. In films like Picnic, Naqli Nawab and Reshmi Roomal, I was nothing but a glorious junior artiste. It was not until I started acting in films like Anita, Do Badan and Grahasti that I was noticed. Though till then success eluded me and I had to my credit a lot of flops, I can without any hesitation state that my success ratio is as good as that of Don Bradman.
“I never condemned the West in my film Upkar though I had set out to show the contrast between India and the West in it. How can we forget that it was the British who had given us the railways? We say everything is there in our Vedas but why are vedas not taught in schools today? Till date, though it is true that I have acted in roles which have had gray shades in some of my films, not even a single producer has offered me a negative role, thanks to my clean and pure image as Mr Bharat.
“I remember I used to fight in the crowds by braving the heavy rains just to buy a ticket to watch Dilip Kumar’s films. Mera Naam Joker, Kagaz Ke Phool etc did not click at the box office but no one said that Guru Dutt and Raj Kapoor are cheats. If you make your film with great conviction, even if you fail, it’s okay. If you don’t, then you can’t make your mark as a filmmaker.
I think that I am totally unfit to make a film in the kind of a system we have today.
“Greed has absolutely no end to it at all. When I came to Bombay, in 1956, I wanted to be a hero and earn three lakhs- one lakh for myself, one lakh for my parents and one lakh for my brothers and sisters.In 1954, I started courting my wife and married her after seven years but was so bashful that I did not even talk to her for a year and a half. Thanks to God’s grace, by the time I married when Haryali Aur Raasta was released in 1962, I managed to get more than five lakhs of rupees”.
You have been away from the camera for a long time. Can we see you staging your comeback as a director? I ask him gingerly. He shoots back honestly. “Why do you guys don’t ask David Lean why he hasn’t directed a film for a long time? I think that I am unfit to make a film in the kind of a system today. My biggest asset was Manoj Kumar the star then. I would not tell you a lie. I have three scripts ready with me but the only problem is my back which keeps on troubling me. I cannot sit on a chair on the sets and ask my DOP to shoot the film. I may produce a film if I cannot direct”.
What is your message to the readers of Cine Buster? I ask Manojji. Manojji signs off. “If people want to enjoy their rights, they should be ready to shoulder their responsibilities too by adhering to the rules and regulations of the nation. Only then, you can feel proudly that every day is Independence Day and need not to wait till August 15 every year to celebrate the country’s Independence Day”.
