Bollywood lost its legendary actor and filmmaker Manoj Kumar on Friday, April 4. Popularly known as ‘Bharat Kumar,’ Manoj Kumar passed away at the age of 87 in Mumbai. He died of due to cardiogenic shock following acute myocardial infarction, according to medical reports.
Indians are not as worried about food, clothes and shelter — the very basic needs for survival — as they used to be 10 years ago. Roti, kapda aur makaan indicated the struggle of common Indians for bare necessities. But a radical shift in the way Indians consume has taken place in the past decade. According to the National Account Statistics 2024 data, consumers have shifted towards services, away from food, clothing and housing.
One of my last enduring memories of actor-filmmaker Manoj Kumar is of him wearing an orange Shirdi Sai Baba bandana, wheelchair-bound but in great cheer, receiving the Dadasaheb Phalke award for 2015 from then President Pranab Mukherjee.
A rare public appearance for someone who had nearly retreated into anonymity though his brand of patriotic cinema has seen a major rejuvenation in the last decade.
