Filmmaker K.C. Bokadia has shared a small, telling memory from the set of Maidaan-E-Jung (1995), the multi-starrer that placed Dharmendra, Manoj Kumar and Akshay Kumar on one call sheet alongside Jaya Prada and Karisma Kapoor.
Speaking in a new interview, Bokadia said Manoj Kumar accidentally caught Dharmendra on the shoulder during a shot. Dharmendra turned to his director at once, and Bokadia’s instruction was brief: leave him.
A delicate set before the take
The incident, he recalled, sat on top of older friction. Bokadia described Dharmendra as a close friend, and said there were already “some problems” between Dharmendra and Manoj Kumar. When he first told Dharmendra about the project, the response, he said, was a sceptical “Boss why,” until Bokadia assured him all would be fine.
That exchange doubles as a production story: two towering presences had to be managed before a single frame rolled, and a word from the director was enough to keep the day moving.
Who shot Maidaan-E-Jung
Bokadia’s account is also a reminder of the film’s unusually wide ensemble:
- Lead cast: Dharmendra, Manoj Kumar, Akshay Kumar, Jaya Prada and Karisma Kapoor
- Supporting cast: Mukesh Khanna, Amrish Puri and Gulshan Grover
Why the memory matters now
Both men at the centre of the story have since left the stage. Manoj Kumar, the actor-director known as “Bharat Kumar” for films such as Upkar, Shaheed and Purab Aur Paschim, died on April 4, 2025, aged 87. Born Harikrishan Goswami in Abbottabad in 1937, he received the Padma Shri, the Dadasaheb Phalke Award and multiple Filmfare Awards.
Dharmendra, often called Hindi cinema’s “He-Man,” died on November 24, 2025. His long career stretched from Anupama and Aya Sawan Jhoom Ke to Sholay and Chupke Chupke.
What was a minor on-set collision now reads as part of the record: one call sheet held three generations of stardom, and a director’s small gesture of patience helped the production push on. For those who want to see it for themselves, Maidaan-E-Jung remains a 1995 ensemble film worth revisiting less for the off-screen friction than for what the frame itself holds.
Source: The News Mill
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