Give youth a dream: Manoj ‘Bharat’ Kumar

Veteran actor Manoj Kumar, who can be considered a pioneer of patriotic movies, profusely lamented that today’s youth do not have a unanimous leadership. “Whom should the youth follow? Where are the leaders? They are the leaders of their party and not of the nation. The youth are disillusioned. Most of the leaders today are involved in some or the other scam. Earlier, we had leaders like Mahatma Gandhiji. That collective leadership is clearly missing today,” he rued adding the youth feel cheated.

So, what is the message of the 75-year-old actor — who has been associated with patriotic movies such as Shaheed, Upkar, Purab aur Paschim, et al earning him the nickname of ‘Bharat’ Kumar — to the nation on the I-Day. “I request the nation to celebrate the Independence Day and celebrate it in a very meaningful way. With all the celebrations, today’s generation which was born in an independent India, should never forget the contribution of the revolutionaries because of whose sacrifice we achieved independence. We should pay homage to all those leaders right from Mahatma Gandhi to Bhagat Singh,” he says.

“Today, ask any body who is his or her ideal, and they would not be able to give an answer. With all due respects to the Constitution, we need to give the nation a unanimous leadership and a dream,” he said.

Quiz the filmmaker on whether a patriotic movie would click if made and pat came the reply, “Why not?”.

“Action movies were always there and would continue to be there. Jog your memory a bit and you would realise movies such as Border and Rang De Basanti were made and did well. Cine-goers are not concerned whether it is a patriotic film or not. What they want is a good, genuine product,” he said.

“Also, I get very annoyed when today’s filmmakers copy foreign movies and remake them and take award for best director, story,” he adds.