Raj Kapoor

Raj Kapoor (December 14, 1924 – June 3, 1988) was a legendary megastar, producer, director, actor and showman. Raj Kapoor, was born Ranbir Raj Kapoor in Samandru (at Peshawar now in Pakistan), son of actor Prithviraj Kapoor. He moved along with his family to Mumbai in 1929.

Career

Raj Kapoor began his career as a clapper boy assisting Kidar Sharma. At age eleven, he bagged his first acting role. Raj Kapoor's break however came as a hero in Neel Kamal (1947) by Kidar Sharma. In 1948 at the age of 24, he established his own studio R. K. Films and became the youngest film directory of his time. His first movie as a directory Aag (Fire) became first of his many early successes along with Barsaat (Rain, 1949) and Shri 420 (Mr. 420, In India, 420 forms the part of the Indian Penal Code dealing with theft and deception, and is a reference to a person with questionable character) 1955.

Raj Kapoor embraced the Indian popular cinema from the very begining. He made every effort to ensure that his movies appealed to every section of society and in particular the common man. Film Historians and movie buffs speak of him as the "Charlie Chaplin of Indian cinema," since he often protrayed himself as a tramp like figure, who despite adversity, was still cheerful and honest, a gem among men. His films Aag,Shri 420 and Jis Desh Mein Ganga Behti Hein (In the Country where Ganges flows) carry a patriotic appeal, commemmorated in the famous lyrics from the movie Shri 420:

Mera joota hai Japani

Ye pataloon hai inglistani

Sar pe lal topi roosi

Pir bhi dil hai hindustani

Translation

My shoes are Japanese

And the trousers are English

The cap on my head is Russian

But my heart is Hindustani (Indian)

Songs of his movies endeared Raj Kapoor not only to masses in India, but to audiences in large parts of Africa, the Middle East and the former Soviet Union, where his movies would become enormous commercial successes. Many of his movies were to be characterized not only by lively music, but also by the extensive use of elaborate sets. The angst of the common man is portrayed through heavy brooding landscapes and sets with sharply contrasted light. Visual imagery was always a part of his films.

However, after the box office failure of his ambitious Mera Naam Joker (My name is Joker), which took more than six years to complete, his movies took a more sensual turn. The film Bobby (1973) introduced Dimple Kapadia, who would go on to become one of India's superstars, and established itself as the fore-runner of a new generation of romances targeted for adolescents. The film owed its phenomenal success to other considerations as well. By the restrictive if not puritan standards of commercial Hindi cinema, Kapadia appeared in suggestive, some would say rather sexually explicit, poses and scenes. Raj Kapoor kept up with this trend of titilating sexuality in later films like Satyam Shivam Sundaram (1978) and Ram Teri Ganga Maili (1985).

Some of the people introduced by Raj Kapoor to films include his sons Rishi and Rajiv, Nimmi, Dimple Kapadia, Zeenat Aman and Mandakini. Also music directors Shankar-Jaikishan, lyricist Hasrat Jaipuri started off working in Raj Kapoor films.

Raj Kapoor was given the Dadasaheb Phalke Award 1987, for lifetime commitment to Indian cinema.

At the time of his death he had been working on the movie Henna (Indo-Pakistani love story). The film was later completed by his son Randhir Kapoor.

Though Raj Kapoor was described by one critic as exhibiting "the carnality of a schoolboy" in his films, it remains indubitably the case that he was among the most successful film-makers for nearly four decades. Thus his sensitivity to the requirements of film audiences should not be dismissed. The present generation of films from Bollywood still borrows several themes that had been perfected in his films, and some believe that it is still a compliment for a commercial film to be compared to one of his works.

Personal Life

Raj Kapoor married his aunt (his father's second cousin) Krishna in 1946 when he was 22 years old. His first son Randhir was born the following year in 1947. His first daughter Ritu was born the year following that in 1948. His second son Rishi was born in 1952 and second daughter Rima in 1956. Youngest son Rajiv was born in 1962. Randhir, Rishi and Rajeev have also acted in films. In spite of being a married man, Kapoor also had a longtime romantic relationship with actress Nargis during the Fifties. The couple starred together in several of Kapoor's films including Awaara and Shri 420.

Raj Kapoor had been suffering from asthma during his last years and died of complications related to asthma in 1988 at the sixty four years of age.

References

• Rajadhyaksha, Ashish; Willemen, Paul. Encyclopedia of Indian Cinema. London: British Film Institute; New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1994
• Kishore, Valicha. The Moving Image. Hyderabad: Orient Longman, 1988