New Delhi:
Manoj Kumar died in Mumbai due to heart-related complications in the early hours of Friday (April 4). He was 87 years old. The film veteran, popular for his patriotic roles, once called his contemporaries Shashi Kapoor and Dharmendra “greedy” actors.
In a career spanning four decades, Manoj Kumar acted in a fewer number of films compared to his contemporaries. “I am not a greedy film person even as an actor. While my contemporaries Dharmendra and Shashi Kapoor acted in nearly 300 films each, I’ve done hardly 35 films in my entire career,” Manoj Kumar told Subhash K Jha in an old interview when he was asked why he hadn’t done more number of films.
On Friday afternoon, Film veteran Dharmendra arrived at Manoj Kumar’s house to pay his last respects to the film veteran.
Take a look at the video here:
Actors like Akshay Kumar, Ajay Devgn, Farhan Akhtar, Kareena Kapoor, Sunny Deol, filmmakers Karan Johar, Hansal Mehta, Madhur Bhandarkar paid their emotional tributes to the actor.
Hours after his death, Manoj Kumar’s son, Kunal Goswami, addressed the media and expressed his deep sorrow on his father’s death. He also shared details about his father’s final moments.
In a conversation with ANI, Kunal said, “Namaskar Ji, I am Kunal Goswami. Unfortunately, my father, Manoj Kumar, passed away today at 3:30 AM at Kokilaben Hospital. He had been feeling unwell for a long time, but he fought every hurdle with resilience and grace. He peacefully breathed his last by God’s grace and Sai Baba’s blessings. His cremation will take place tomorrow. Thank you to all of you. Sia Ram.”
When asked about Manoj Kumar’s final moments, Kunal shared that the cinema icon was close to his family. He said, “Usually, he would interact a lot with his grandchildren and the younger kids in the family. He was very family-oriented and happy. But in recent times, he was in some pain due to age-related illnesses.”
Manoj Kumar’s cremation will take place at noon tomorrow at Pawan Hans in Mumbai. Before that, the late actor’s body will be kept at his residence, Goswami Towers, at 10 am for the final tribute.
