It was not difficult for me to meet with Raj Kapoor, one of the top Indian actors of the ’50s and ’60s. The others included Dilip Kumar and Dev Anand. But Raj was the son of an actor called Prithviraj and the most flamboyant. That was why the press called him the showman of the industry. In a few years he was so successful that he was able to build his own studio, called R.K. in the Chembur suburb of Mumbai, which enabled him to make his own films and to rent it or part of it to other filmmakers. His comrade and fellow actor Dev Anand did the same thing by building his own studio called Navketan, which minted money for him. Dilip Kumar did not build a studio for himself.
My access to Raj was fairly easy because two sons of his cousin Trilok were my classmates at Xaviers College near Metro Cinema. Within months of arrival in the college the Kapoors invited me to their home in Chembur and took me to visit RK studios where Raj was supervising the shooting of one of his films. At the time he was still working closely with his partner Nargis. Nargis later became quite famous for her role in Mother India although starring in it with Sunil Dutt, father of their son Sanjay, who would much later go to jail for possessing light arms for self-defense against the Mumbai mafia.
Raj had his own personal wing within the studio where Nargis would stay when she is not living in her Marine Drive flat also in Mumbai. He made a few good films which quickly made him a household name in India.
His film Sangam meaning confluence, like in the case of two rivers meeting, ran for several years in Egypt making good business for the movie houses and his company. But the film that nearly unmade his empire was Mera Nam Joker which means my name is joker. He was fascinated with Charlie Chaplin and tried to imitate him on the Indian screen with some success. So he made the film to depict the career of a clown and called himself joker. He seized the opportunity to embody the joker when a Russian circus visited Mumbai, then called Bombay. He joined the band and acted as part of it and fell in love with one of the girls. He appeared as a joker and made a few scenes in which he made a big clown of himself. But the film nearly a four-hour long, which bored everybody in India despite the appearance of pretty Russian girls in bikinis trapezing before the Indian public. The viewers became tired of them and of Raj and his maudlin tears. The film flopped at the box office much to Raj’s disappointment but more seriously much to his shock. It damaged his reputation since he had to sell most of his assets and mortgage his famous studio.
He stood on the verge of collapse after a wonderful career as one of the top three actors in the Indian film history.
But then something akin to a miracle happened. He made a film, Bobby, featuring his youngest son Rishi – who is still active in films — and a young girl called Dimple Kapadia who played the role of daughter of the family’s housemaid. The two were teenagers but hit it so well that the film was a smashing success throughout the world. Dimple Kapadia, in her role as Bobby, was not only a beauty but an amazing actress who won the hearts and minds of the public all over the world where Indian films were being shown. Both actors are still alive and kicking and they remade their romance in another film, Sagar, which was fair but nothing like the original sensation.
The success of the film made up all Raj losses in Joker and compensated him for the heartbreak and frustration of his misadventure. He continued making films enrolling his three sons in some of them but there was no Bobby again although it continues to make money for the heirs.
Raj Kapoor was born in Peshawar, now in Pakistan, and moved to India with his father after partition of the subcontinent. He made his debut when only 11 years old in a l935 film called Inquilab. His big break came with a film starring Madhubala the great beauty of Indian cinema who went on to make great films like Mughal-e-Azam opposite Dilip Kumar, another great Indian actor. In l948 he amazed the public by building his own studio which made him a fortune but which he nearly lost in his misadventure Mera Nam Joker.
His story would be incomplete without special mention of his partnership with Nargis his first lady for many years starting with his blockbuster film called Aag and many other films. He was tireless in his pursuit of a great career in film acting, directing and producing and utilizing his studio to make more and more money. His memorable films include Barsaat and Awara, which has perhaps the most popular Hindi language song of all time.
And then came Shree 420, which became synonymous with lawbreakers because of the number 420 in the Indian penal code, and other films in which he shamelessly imitated Charlie Chaplin as the tramp.
He launched his three sons in his films and in one film, Kal Aaj Aur Kal meaning Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow, he acted with his father Prithviraj and his son Randhir. Earlier on he had launched his son Rishi in his film as joker and also his third son Pinchoo. But only Rishi went on to become a successful actor and he is still good.
Many years later I met his son Randhir who told me that his father's films were in demand abroad especially if they have English subtitles although I believe that it is the music that delights the foreign audiences.
In l988, suffering from asthma and a heart condition he went to Delhi to receive the Dadasaheb Phalke Award. Out of respect for this iconic actor, Indian President Venkatraman came down from the stage to present the award to him, Soon after Raj collapsed, taken to hospital where he died shortly thereafter. His films and specially the songs continue to live on like Awara Hun and “my shoes are Japanese, my trousers English, my red cap is Russian but my heart is Indian.”
“From Shree 420 to 3 Idiots to Raavan, dancing in the rain has been an integral part of Bollywood masala movies,” writes Shama Rana.
“The drops of water falling from the sky have never failed to cast a spell on the 70mm screen. From the evergreen song, "Pyaar hua ikraar hua" in Shree 420 (1955) to the peppy "Zoobie doobie" in Rajkumar Hirani’s 3 Idiots, Bollywood’s romance with the rain continues. Bollywood’s sizzling duet of Raj Kapoor and Nargis made the melodious song "Pyaar hua ikraar hua" probably the most iconic rain song of Hindi cinema. Composed by Shankar Jaikishen and rendered beautifully by Lata Mangeshkar-Manna Dey, the song made ‘under umbrella romance’ a sure shot hit in the film industry.”
• Farouk Luqman is an eminent journalist based in Jeddah.