Manoj Kumar started his career as a romantic hero and moved on to family and social dramas blossoming as a patriotic hero in later years of his career. Born on 24 July in 1937 he was named Harikishen Goswami by his parents and adopted Manoj Kumar as a screen name. In the film fraternity, he is referred to as Panditji and the media has forever addressed him as Mr Bharat. Kumar. He is his parents’ oldest child and it is said that when his mother visited the hospital with her two-month -old baby, ten-year-old Manoj Kumar accompanied her to look after her.
The year was 1947 and when the riots broke out suddenly, the hospital staff deserted the patients and fled. Manoj Kumar saw his baby brother die in his mother’s arms but there was no time to mourn the loss because the family had to migrate to India. In Delhi, the family parked at the refugee camp and it is here that his younger siblings went to school and Manoj Kumar completed his graduation.
To be continued