Why hit below the belt?: Manoj

But what about actors, even senior ones, being ridiculed in chat-shows or comedy shows all the time?

“As long as it’s healthy, it’s fine. But this hitting below the belt is not acceptable to me,” says Kumar, who went to see only the portion in which he’s been ridiculed in the film.

“I would have seen the whole movie but since I had to be at the house of my childhood friend who had passed away, I saw just the concerned bits, and left,” he informs, and adds, “What I couldn’t digest is that the 70s’ Manoj Kumar who is supposed to be a superstar is whom people don’t recognise. Tell me, if SRK who is a superstar now, goes to see a film, wouldn’t people recognise him?” But what gives him consolation is the fact that there were many in the hall who thought “this was too much.”

Even his contemporaries and friends are very upset. “But they’ve told me to forget about this and move on, which I am doing,” he asserts.

And moving on, Manoj Kumar wants to concentrate on his next film now. “After a long hiatus, which was forced on me because of a severe spinal and hip joint injury, I am ready with the script and the music of my next venture. I can’t sit idle. As a filmmaker, I only know how to make films and not gol gappas,” he smiles.
Prod him about the subject, and he says, “Of course, it’s about our motherland. I will deal with the issues and the environment that the country is facing today, but something that will apeal to people from India to America.” Ask him about the stars and he says, “Prem Chopra and Ram Mohan. Look, stars have never made films, films have made stars.”

What’s also keeping Kumar busy these days, is his biography. “I’ve been at it for the past 12 years. But sometimes, such incidents happen in your life that you get bogged down when you try to relive them again. I have seen my mother suffering when my little brother died and 60 of my relatives were killed in the Partition. So, it’s difficult but it has to be done,” says he. Not the one to “get into any conflict with anyone”, Kumar says, “All that I’ll write about is myself and the people who’ve been good to me”.

Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com