When Manoj Kumar revealed why Raj Kapoor kept ‘his head on my lap and started crying’

Raj Kapoor and Manoj Kumar appeared in the 1970 hit film Mera Naam Joker. In an old interview, Manoj said that once, Raj kept his head on his lap and cried after they had a misunderstanding. Raj Kapoor died in 1988 due to complications related to asthma. Also Read: I could not believe it: Manoj Kumar on winning Dadasaheb Phalke award

Manoj said that Raj felt he was trying to avoid him as once when he tried to call Manoj, he was rudely told that it was a wrong number. But the truth was that when Raj had called him, Manoj was shooting in Mumbai and never received the call.

In an old interview with Mumbai Mirror, Manoj had recalled how he tried to explain the situation to Raj. “We met at 4 pm at (composer) Jaikishan’s residence, where I assured Raj saab that neither I nor my wife Shashi would dare discomfit him. I told him I was looking forward to working with not the showman but a karmayogi and went on to tell him about the earlier incident at Regal theatre in Delhi. Raj saab quietly heard me out, then, put his head on my lap and started crying.”

Manoj said that Raj was so impressed with him when he was given the permission to rewrite his own scenes in Mera Naam Joker. “When I demurred, pointing out that (KA) Abbas saab (who wrote the story and screenplay) was a senior writer, he made me speak to him on the phone and he gave me his permission. Appreciating that dialogue (God and joker do things for others, not themselves), Raj saab called (DoP) Radhu Karmakar and a few others to listen to me as I narrated what I’d written, pointing out that I had encapsulated the philosophy of the joker in these lines.”