Born as Harikrishna Giri Goswami, Manoj Kumar was inspired by THIS Dilip Kumar film to change his name

Veteran actor Manoj Kumar passed away at the age of 87 today and left a deep void in the heart of Indian Cinema. While the actor will always stay in every cinema enthusiast’s hearts, let’s look back at an interview of him, where he opened up on changing his name after getting inspired by a film of Dilip Kumar.

Born as Harikrishna Giri Goswami, in present day Pakistan, Manoj Kumar was fondly addressed as Bharat Kumar owing to his choice of patriotic films. The actor, who brought a wave of patriotism back in the day, had once opened up about looking up to the late Dilip Kumar and getting inspired by him to change his name.

In an old interview with Lehren, Manoj, speaking about changing his name from Harikrishna Giri Goswami to Manoj Kumar reveals that he got inspired by Dilip Kumar’s film ‘Shabnam’ to change his name and decided to do it at the age of 12-13 years itself. He said, “Maine ye film dekhi Shabnam, Filmistan ki bani hue thi. Toh usme Dilip Kumar Shahab ka naam Manoj tha. Manoj ek bada naya naam, ek unusual sa naam laga. Toh maine soocha ki main actor banuga toh aapna naam Manoj Kumar rakhunga. Iska jo credit hai wo mai apne uss bachpan ko deta hun jisne 12-13 saal ki umar mein sooch liya ki maim actor banunga and aapna naam Manoj Kumar rakhunga.”

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Maine ye film dekhi Shabnam, Filmistan ki bani hue thi. Toh usme Dilip Kumar Shahab ka naam Manoj tha. Manoj ek bada naya naam, ek unusual sa naam laga. Toh maine soocha ki main actor banuga toh aapna naam Manoj Kumar rakhunga

- Manoj Kumar

“Maine kai filmon me kaam kiya, mujhe nahi pata kis kis film me mera kya naam tha, Dilip sahab ne kai filmon mein kaam kiya unko bhi nahi pata ki kis film mein kya naam tha. Toh main shabash deta hun aapne uss bachpan ko jisne ye sooch liya,” he further says.

For the uninformed, Manoj Kumar passed away at the age of 87 on Friday, April 4, 2025. Medical reports from the hospital call ‘decompensated liver cyrohssis’ the second cause of his passing