Manoj Tiwari

Early life

One of the six children of Chandradev Tiwari and Lalita Devi, his birthplace is Atarwalia, a small village in Kaimur district of Bihar.

Career

Manoj Tiwari has completed his education from Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi. He holds a Bachelors degree in Sociology and a Masters degree in Physical Education. Prior to Tiwari's involvement in cinema, he had spent ten years working as a singer.

In 2003, he took a role in the film 'Sasura Bada Paise Wala'. The BBC reported that the production costs of US$ 65,000 were turned into takings of US$ 3 million, while The Hindu reported a ₹ 3.5–4 million cost resulting in takings of ₹45 million (US$700,000). Indian Express reported a figure of ₹65 million (US$1.0 million) as the takings. The Bihar Jharkhand Motion Picture Association saw this production as being a turning point for Bhojpuri cinema. He followed this with the successful films Daroga Babu I Love You and Bandhan Toote Na. Tiwari is reported to have said in 2005 that although the Bhojpuri genre had generally kept to its traditional storylines, "Gone are the double entendres, thin story lines and poor technical quality. Films have been slick and producers are willing to put in close to Rs 8 million in a film because the returns are not bad,"

The BBC reported in 2005 that Tiwari and Ravi Kishan were the biggest male stars in the flourishing Bhojpuri cinema market and that Tiwari was able to charge US$ 90,000 per film.

In 2010, Tiwari was a contestant in the fourth season of reality television show Bigg Boss. He was reported by Rediff to say that his wife, Rani, "is angry with me" because she suspected him of having an affair with a fellow contestant, Shweta Tiwari, and that "Arbaaz Khan tweeted and asked people to vote for Ashmit [Patel]. I felt little bad about this because his brother is the host of the show and he is asking people to vote. I somehow didn't understand that angle." When asked whether he thought that the votes were manipulated, he said "I am bound by my contract so I can't comment on this. But it is little hard to believe that I got lesser votes than Ashmit. I guess viewers enjoy watching Veena Malik and Ashmit's fake romance. I really don't understand why the channel is still keeping them inside the house." NDTV reported a similar story, adding that he had been separated from his wife and child for some months. Tiwari had previously worked with Shweta Tiwari in two films, Kab Aibu Anganwa Hamaar and Ae Bahuji ke Sister. By mid-2011 he and his wife, were involved in divorce proceedings regarding their eleven-year marriage.

Tiwari continues to record music and release new albums. He performs around the world in concert. He released an album, Hey Mahadev, in 2009 that fused traditional music with contemporary genres. He is listed as being music director for numerous releases. Manoj Tiwari also sang the hit song "Jiya Ho Bihar Ke Lala Jiya Tu Haazar Sala" in Anurag Kashyap's film Gangs of Wasseypur.

Politics

In 2009, Tiwari contested elections for the 15th Lok Sabha as a candidate for the Samajwadi Party in the Gorakhpur constituency. He had been offered a choice of three constituencies and Zeenews reported him as saying that he was not "a political person but was concerned for the development of Purvanchal region of Uttar Pradesh." His interest was in developing that region and he had "submitted my development proposals to industrialist Anil Ambani". He lost to Yogi Adityanath.

His house in Mumbai was allegedly attacked in November 2009 by a group of people angry with remarks that they claimed he had made about Shiv Sena. Tiwari denied having made any comment on the matter, which revolved around a dispute between the Shiv Sena leader, Bal Thackeray, and the Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar.

In January 2011 Mid-Day reported that the BJP might invite him to join their party and that the association with him would assist their electoral efforts among North Indians. Tiwari dismissed the story as being hypothetical, although he would consider his options should an invitation emerge. He had been seen with BJP leaders at an event and had expressed admiration for Shatrughan Sinha, the BJP MP for Patna.

Tiwari was among the first celebrities to make an appearance in support of Ramdev's hunger strike at the Ramlila Ground protests on 4 June 2011. He sang various patriotic songs to the gathered protestors and claimed that he had ceased filming for a month in order to join the protest. In August of that year he was involved in protests surrounding the arrest of Anna Hazare, of whose popular anti-corruption movement he approved.

He won the North East Delhi (Lok Sabha constituency) in the 2014 Indian general elections from BJP

Support for cricket

Tiwari is a keen supporter of cricket and played for Banaras Hindu University. He has tried to buy the franchise for an Indian Premier League team in order to boost the sport in his home region and is also involved with Kirti Azad's Association of Bihar Cricket, a body that is campaigning to be recognised by the BCCI as the official organisation for Bihar cricket.

He has also announced that he would built a temple dedicated to 2011 Cricket World Cup winning team in his home village. He also plans to construct a world class cricket stadium in his home town, in Kaimur district.