It may not be official. But there is more in common between Manoj Kumar’s 1967 paean to patriotism Upkar and Sohail Khan’s Kissan than the song Mere desh ki dharti for which Sohail has officially taken the rights from Manoj Kumar. The two films share a common theme as well, so much so that the basic plotting of the two films is almost identical.
Take a look. Upkar is about a mother Radha (Kamini Kaushal) from an agricultural family in a village. She can only afford to send one son for education to the city. While Bharat (Manoj Kumar) grows up to be an uneducated patriotic son of the soil, his brother (Prem Chopra) returns from the city burdened with the corrupt idea of progressive living with no respect for the motherland.
Cut to Kissan where Kamini Kaushal changes gender to become the farmer-father Jackie Shroff who can afford to send only one son for education to the city. Prem Chopra from Upkar transforms into the city-bred son Arbaaz Khan in Kissan, while Sohail Khan is the son who stays back in the village to be a farmer with his father.
‘Till’ debt do us part? How does Sohail feel playing Manoj Kumar? The young actor is quite flattered to have elements from Manoj Kumar’s Upkar coming into his film.
Says Sohail, “Upkar, Mother India, Deewaar…now Kissan. They’re in the same mould. Emotional drama about a family torn by ideology. I’m being asked, why I’ve chosen to produce a film that has a village and a farmer family in its background. It seems our filmmakers have forgotten that a majority of India still lives in the villages. I’ll be proud of Kissan for as long as I’m a filmmaker.”
Let’s hope Manoj Kumar who took great offence to the way he was portrayed in Shah Rukh Khan‘s production Om Shanti Om will be pleased with this neo-Upkar produced by SRK’s archrival Salman’s brother.
— By Subhash K Jha
