Raj Kapoor

Raj Kapoor was a famous Indian actor and director of classical Hindi films of Bollywood. In fact, he was one of the greatest actors who made the classic age rich forever through their genius performances. His fans often regard him as the ‘Great Showman of India’.

Raj Kapoor born in Peshawar on 14 December in 1924. His father Prithviraj Kapoor was a famous actor of that time. He had three siblings and he was the eldest. His two younger brothers Shammi Kapoor and Shashi Kapoor were also actors of Bollywood. Raj studied in different schools in Mumbai, Kolkata, and Dehradun.

Raj Kapoor first appeared in the film ‘Inquilab’ in 1946. but as a lead role, he appeared in the film ‘Neel Kamal’ in 1947. Kidar Sharma directed this film and it was a great success. He was so extraordinary that he started film direction in 1948 and became the youngest film director of Bollywood of that time. He established R K Films and first directed ‘Aag’ as his own film. It achieved huge success and he became a big star overnight.

Raj then continued his journey as a successful actor-come-director. He directed ‘Barsaat’ in 1949, ‘Awaara’ in 1951, ‘Sri 420’ in 1955 and ‘Sangam’ in 1964. Famous actress Nargis was his popular partner as an artist. He was famous among every section of the Indian society. His sense of music in films was outstanding. As a matter of fact not only in India but also in UK and Russia.

In the 70’s Raj Kapoor changed the track of filmmaking. He left the traditional theme of Romance and started to make films of different taste. He directed ‘Bobby’ in 1973 which was about teenage love. This was a bold attempt in the Hindi film world. Then he directed ‘Satyam Shivam Sundaram’ in 1978, ‘Premrog’ in 1982 and ‘Ram Teri Ganga Maili’ in 1985.

In personal life, Krishna Malhotra was Raj Kapoor‘s wife. Though he had a long-lasting but failed love affair with Actress Nargis. He achieved Padma Bhushan for his artistic contribution. This ageless actor died on 2nd June in 1988 in Mumbai.