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BORN ON DECEMBER 14, 1924 to Prithviraj Kapoor even before Prithviraj had graduated from college, Raj knew from childhood where his destiny lay. It is said of him that even as a boy, he'd mutter to himself; "They call me the son of Prithviraj Kapoor. The day will come when the world will call Papajee, the father of Raj Kapoor." Vanity? Bragaggadocio? Call it what you want. But the fact remains that he knew where he had to go and how to reach there. Even as a little boy, Raj rubbed shoulders with the 'greats' at New Theatres, Calcutta; he-had already felt his dormant passion for melody and rhythm surge violently-forward into passionate consciousness in the company of composers like R.C. Boral and Pankaj Mullick and singers like K.L. Saigal and Kanan Devi. Prithvi Theatre, Bombay, was Raj's next stop. Still under the shadow of his gigantic father. Raj literally 'did everything' there was lo do at the old Opera House, where Prithvi Theatre' was headquartered in the forties — and 'everything' meant not only cleaning and dusting, ironing costumes of the other players, fetching tea and being a general handy boy — but playing on-slage roles as well. Thai was 1945. Ten years earlier, however, when Raj was only eleven years old, he had already 'tasted celluloid'. In 1935, Raj had made his first screen appearance as a child artiste at New Theatres, Calcutta. The film, titled 'Inquilab', starred his own father with Durga Khote, K.C. Dey and others. It was directed by Debaki Bose and its music was composed by the noted R.C. Boral, under whom Raj had already begun to learn music. Prithviraj's eldest son was very clear about what he wanted to do with his life. He wanted to learn cinema right away, both acting and direction. Prithviraj immediately took him to Sardar Chandulal Shah, the mighty emperor of Ranjit Studios.
He told Chandulal: "My son wants to learn direction. So start him at the bottom!" The following morning, the eldest son of Prithviraj became fifth assistant to director Kedar Sharma. Even while learning the craft of direction, Raj Kapoor was grasping eagerly at all the acting assignments offered to him. And there were many. After working as a child artiste in 'Inquilab', Raj's next screen appearance happened eight years later in his 'guru' Kedar Sharma's 'Gauri' which was produced by Ranjit Movietone and starred Prithviraj, Shamim and Monica Desai. In short order came 'Valmiki' (1946) and four films in 1947 'Chittor Vijay', 'Dil Ki Rani', 'Neel Kamal' and 'Jail Yatra'. By 1948, Raj was ready to start R.K. Films. The earliest roles of Raj Kapoor as an actor were those of intense and sensitive young men, frequently broken-hearted in love, the kind of tragic heroes who were then very popular in Hindi cinema. In this image, many memorable films came to be made. Notable amongst them are Kedar Sharma's 'Neel Kamal' (1947) and 'Bawre Nain' (1950) and Mahesh Kaul's immortal 'Gopinath' (1948) in which Raj co-starred with one of Bengal's greatest actresses — Trupti Mitra. Three Raj Kapoor starrers made at that time sparked off the inspiration which was to lead Raj to applying his mind seriously to taking another route, not just dramatically but also flamboyantly. The first, of course, was Mehboob's 'Andaz', where he matched Dilip Kumar's histrionics scene-to-scene with consummate counterpoint. The second one was A.R. Kardar's 'Dastaan' (1950) in which Raj's mischievously emergent comic persona made him out-act both Al Nasir as well as Suresh, both very prominent leading men of that era. And the third was Filmistan's 'Sargam' (1950) which P.L. Santoshi directed. See both 'Dastan' and 'Sargam' again today and you will understand the importance of those two films in providing the gateway to the new persona which was to take Raj Kapoor to unchallenged heights of immortality.
It was time to make 'Awara' and here was the golden opportunity to cut his histrionics teeth on the new persona the persona of 'the funny little man'. Jn • 'Awara' followed by 'Shri 420' ensconced 'the funny little man', that Chaplinesque creature, firmly in the hearts of the masses. The next was 'Jagte Raho', also one of Raj's personal favourites and the last of the Raj-Nargis legendary combo. Incidentally, in 'Jagte Raho', Nargis made an appearance only at the end of the film. Then came a series of assignments done as an actor "outside R.K." which made the box-office jingle with the sound of success in films like 'Chori Chori', 'Kanhaiya', 'Do Ustad', 'Main Nashe Mein Hoon' and 'Chhalia'. The best of this lot of course were the Hrishikesh Mukherjee-directed 'Anari' and poet Shailendra's 'Teesri Kasam' which Basu Bhattacharya directed. The 'little man' reached new heights in Raj's own 'Jis Desh Mein Ganga Behti Hai' in a performance which stole the Best Actor award (1961) away from Dilip Kumar, who was also nominated for 'Ganga Jumna'. However, Raj Kapoor's market as an actor was very limited since he reserved his superlative performances only for his own productions. 'Mera Naam Joker' brought the career of Raj Kapoor as leading man to its conclusion. 'Mera Naam Joker' was also the turning point in Raj's career as a a director. It's collosal collapse at the box-office completely shattered Raj's faith in his audience. Raj considered 'MNJ' as a mirror to his personality and it was a film that was closest to his heart. Post the 'MNJ' failure, Raj changed tracks completely. Almost in retaliation, he made 'Bobby' (1973), a youthful love story — a film that became a benchmark for all romantic movies made thereon. The brief bit of eroticism that was first evident in 'Bobby' was brought alive on celluloid by Raj full-scale in 'Satyam Shivam Sundaram' (1978). But the film failed to arouse interest at the box-office.
The director stormed back in 1982 with 'Prem Rog' and as the crowning glory, in 1985 with 'Ram Teri Ganga Maili', which went on to become the biggest hit of his career. Raj Kapoor passed away in 1988. He was 64. In all the movies he made and starred in, Raj Kapoor had touched the hearts, souls and lives of people across so many countries across the
globe. Over decades, he had also become a part of this nation's pysche. |
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