Legandary actor director Manoj Kumar passed away on April 4, 2025 due to a prolonged illness and LEGEND is a word used very easily but here was a man who has a legitimate claim. There is not much to say about him as a director of blockbusters as that will be pretty well documented but as actor he also had a record which would put the people with tags like superstar, megastar, emperor, king, queen etc. to shame.

Manoj Kumar was an actor who started his career in the late 50's and that time there was hardly anything called PR as this started in the late 60's. Then the tags mentioned above came into play as the media also sprang its wings with many more publications. So, various journalists probably got the nudge to write certain things and it continues till date. The super and mega tags were missing even for all the legends who came before the late 60's as they did not indulge in PR. There will be exceptions but the real talents did not at that time. Actually its easier to write about people whose success is less documented as the ones with the tags who are no doubt huge also but the level of success tends to get overrated due the actors pushing a lot themselves.

The track record of Manoj Kumar as an actor may well be second to none or at least up there with Dilip Kumar in terms of HIT ratio and success ratio if we count post stardom only. There was selective work as the filmography is only 50 films plus but this is the method of almost all the major stars today as well. However, they are unable to have this sort of track record even though it is actually easier today as an initial and seven days does the job.

In the times of Manoj Kumar, it had to be done over weeks and many of his films hit 25 weeks in ten centres or more. Obviously he was a better filmmaker than anyone today in the industry so that understanding helped pile up the HITS (many were ghost directed by him though credits had other names) and even other wise, there were generally better filmmakers around then who knew how to tell a story the Indian way.

It was on April 9, 1965 that HIMALAY KI GOD MEIN first released in Delhi/UP which made Manoj Kumar a box office star and there was no looking back after that. In the next 15-16 years, which was his peak before health took its toll, he had 25 releases and out of them only three films flopped and another four were successful while all the others were HITS or better. Out of the three films which flopped, there was the long delayed PICNIC which should have come a few years earlier and in 1976 there was another long delayed film AMAANAT which should have come in the early 70's. But such was the goodwill of Manoj Kumar that even AMAANAT somehow succeeded to the shock of its distributors.

Despite just twenty five films in these fifteen odd years there was a clash also as PEHCHAN and YAADGAAR released on the same day in 1970 and both did well. At that time, clashes were not important as a film would release in Mumbai and another film would have its premiere in Delhi/UP or East Punjab or West Bengal but here it was a genuine clash. Both these films started their journey in the same circuit as PEHCHAN released in Delhi /UP and CP Berar while YAADGAAR released in Delhi/UP and East Punjab. Business of both films was similar but PEHCHAN had less costs involved.

Below is the phenomenal box office record of Manoj Kumar between 1965 and 1981. The HIT or better films are in BOLD and the verdicts of these will be put up later this year as the site is updated. The way its going today, it may all be about nostalgia and the great records of years gone by. Nevertheless, you live in hope for things to get better and a director or two like Manoj Kumar would give confidence. This list does not include two films, MERA NAAM JOKER and SHIRDI KE SAI BABA, as they are seen as guest roles. The former failed while the latter did well.

The list is in release order.

Poonam Ki Raat (1965) - FLOP

Bedaag (1965) - AVERAGE

Anita (1967) - FLOP

Picnic (1967) - FLOP (Delayed Release)

Yaadgaar (1970) - SEMI HIT

Balidaan (1971) - SEMI HIT

Amaanat (1976) - SEMI HIT (Delayed Release)