Veteran actor Monty Kumar has been quite vocal about his love and admiration Manoj Kumar. He has also often called him his mentor as he worked with the actor and filmmaker as an assistant for about 8 years. Looking back on their time together, Nath opened up about his bond with Manoj Kumar, sharing more details about how the two first met.
Monty Nath shares how he first met Manoj Kumar
While talking to Vickey Lalwani on his talk show, the veteran icon opened up about what it was like meeting Manoj Kumar for the first time. When asked by the reporter about his first meeting with the ‘Purab Aur Paschim’ actor, Nath shared that the two had first met on the sets when Kumar and his father, legendary star Prem Nath they were working together on a project.He shared that there was an incident with the two of them on the sets, adding more details and sharing, “On the day of the shoot, he asks the assistant, ‘I haven’t got the dialogues’, and he said, ‘Manoj ji aaye nahin’, Manoj ji was writing the dialogues. ‘Woh aayenge, abhi dialog likhenge, then we will give it to him.’
Monty Nath shared that his father and Manoj Kumar developed an understanding
However, this was not the way his father worked. Monty Nath explained that his father was from the theater and was used to preparing for his lines and “doing homework” a day in advance. However, when he came to know that the dialogues were still being written, he called Manoj Kumar to his dressing room at that time. He added, “So he said, ‘Please call Manoj-ji.’ Manoj-ji entered the make-up room. My father explained, “This is my problem. I think you write the dialogue on set and I’m used to getting my lines. So, I’d like to prepare beforehand what I’m getting into, what I’m doing, before I do it.”Manoj Kumar then told his father that the two should compromise and meet in the middle, while working on their own styles. Kumar then told his father, “‘Let me do it my way. I will bring the dialogues to the set. Take time to prepare as you wish, and then we will do it.’ So it started on that note, but what a tune they developed between the two of them…”Monty Nath and Manoj Kumar were very close and worked together for years. Monty started as Kymar’s assistant, and even contributed behind the scenes to one of his most famous films, ‘Kranti’.