Actor-filmmaker Manoj Kumar’s passing on Friday left a void in the Indian film industry, and actor Moushumi Chatterjee, who worked with him in Roti Kapada Aur Makaan (1974), remember him as a maverick director.
“He was a very good director, and even if there was less or not enough time, he would make it organised in such a way that you will never know how he managed it all. He could shoot three-four page scenes at one go. He would take half-a-day for rehearsal, lighting and cameraman, and then he will go for the shot. He was that kind of a person. He was very punctual about shoot and he used to work very hard,” Moushumi Chatterjee says, recalling him as a “quiet but observant person”.
Remembering his aware nature, Moushumi recounts one incident from the shoot of their film. “There was a three to four pages scene where I’m telling Manoj Kumar’s character about how I’d become what I did, and what was my life. Everything was going nicely, but there was one word I got stuck at due to my Bengali accent. The word was Rakshas and I would keep saying that ‘Rakosh’ in Bengali,” she shares, adding that while she tried to memorise everything, she’d get stuck at the word.
So, she told the assistant director Chandra Barot not to cut the scene because of that one word and she would learn it by the time of dubbing. “But Manoj Kumar was exactly beside me and I did not notice that. Suddenly, he said, ‘Dubbing mein bhi aap ko hi bolna padega na?’” Moushumi recalls, sharing that he got the lights off on set and told her to take as much time as she needed to practice. “I just kept saying ‘Rakshas, Rakshas, Rakshas’. We then did a full rehearsal and after the shot, when he said cut, I heaved a sigh of relief. He asked me post that, ‘do you want one more take’. I immediately said, ‘No, no, no’. I am anyway a lazy actress, and I have been told by the biggest directors that I am the laziest actress because I know that I can manage in one or two takes,” she quips.
But there was also an incident where Manoj got upset from her. “When I was pregnant with my elder daughter, the industry thought that I’m not interest in my career and many people got upset. One of them was Manoj Kumar. He did not make the silver jubilee trophy for me for the film, and I was told that by Shashi Kapoor ji. But then people turned into a bigger gossip,” she shares, revealing, “Since I was pregnant, Manoj Kumar gave the song Haye Haye Yeh Majboori to Zeenat Aman. Her character was so sophisticated and the language of the song was meant for my character Tulsi, but he got so angry that he gave the song to her.”
However, that anger was temporary, and Moushumi reveals that she met Manoj on several occasions post that and he was always “happy, courteous and normal” with her.