Raj Kapoor, The Master Showman Options

[swarapriya]

Raj Kapoor - The Master Showman

Raj Kapoor was only 11 years old when he made his acting debut. The film was “Inquilab” starring Durga Khote and his father Prithviraj Kapoor in the principal roles. This was in 1935. However, he did not act in another movie for the next eight years. But in 1943 he appeared in a couple of movies. He was in “Gauri” which starred actress Shammi and Prithviraj Kapoor. His second movie in 1943 was “Hamari Baat” where he had another small role. This movie starred Devika Rani, Suraiya, and Jairaj in the lead. After a gap of three years, in 1946, he appeared in another small role in “Valmiki”, this was when he was 22 years old. This movie starred Shanta Apte and his father Prithviraj in the principal roles. (Prithviraj played “the title role of “Valmiki” whereas Raj played “Narada” in the movie!)

During much of this time he worked under Kidar Sharma as a clapper boy. Later he also worked for Devika Rani who was controller of production for Bombay Talkies. He was exposed to musicians and singers of that period and learnt the importance of what good music is all about. This keen sense for music and songs played a major role in Raj’s future as a filmmaker. During this time he also worked as one of the junior assistants to director Amiya Chakrabarty (“Patita”, “Dekh Kabira Roya”, “Kath Putli” etc.). This is where he had a chance to play a bit role in 1943 in “Hamari Baat”. He got frustrated with lack of active participation in movies and decided to join his father’s Prithvi Theaters. He finally had an opportunity to hone his skills in multiple areas including acting.

Not until next year, 1947, Raj got his biggest break. Raj, who was chubby as a boy and while growing up too, working at Prithvi Theaters slimmed down. With blue eyes and all he grew to be a handsome man. Kidar Sharma, under whom Raj Kapoor worked as a clapper boy before, decided to cast him in the leading role opposite beautiful Madhubala. For Madhubala, who already acted in several movies starting as a child artiste, this was the first time she was playing the role of a heroine. Name of the movie was “Neel Kamal”. This movie was not commercially successful.

After Kidar Sharma signed young Raj Kapoor as his leading man, several other producers came forward to sign him in their movies. Beside “Neel Kamal”, Raj Kapoor made three other movies in 1947. These were “Chittor Vijay”, “Dil Ki Rani”, and “Jail Yatra”.

In 1948, when he was only 24, Raj Kapoor decided to turn a producer and director on borrowed money and with spirited enthusiasm. His first film as a producer and director was “Aag” in which he also starred. It had three leading ladies; Nargis, Kamini Kaushal, and Nigar Sultana. Even though this movie was a commercial flop, now there was no turning back for Raj Kapoor. But this was the beginning of great many pictures of Raj Kapoor to follow that made history and left an indelible mark in moviegoer’s minds.

“Aag” was the first of 16 movies Raj Kapoor costarred with Nargis that ended with “Jagte Raho”. This winning pair was internationally recognized because Raj’s pictures were every popular in many foreign countries, especially Russia.

The very next year was a banner year in Raj Kapoor’s young life. He starred in Mehboob Khan’s “Andaaz” with Nargis and Dilip Kumar. The movie was a huge hit and he ran away with most of the laurels. But this was the year he also produced, directed, and acted in the trailblazing “Barsaat”. This movie which was shot mostly outdoors introduced actress Nimmi, lyricist Hasrat Jaipuri, and music director duo Shankar & Jaikishan. The leading lady again was Nargis. “Barsaat” was a runaway success beyond anyone’s wildest dreams.

Shankar & Jaikishan composed music for 20 movies in which Raj Kapoor starred. Mukesh sang most of his songs. Raj Kapoor directed 10 movies, all for his banner. During his lifetime, he produced 17 movies. His sons kept the banner alive by continuing to produce movies under the same banner. He wrote the story for one movie (“Ram Teri Ganga Maili”). Raj was the editor for five of his movies (“Sangam”, “Mera Naam Joker”, “Bobby”, “Satyam Shivam Sundaram”, “Prem Rog”, and “Ram Teri Ganga Maili”). He was a co-writer of screenplays for four movies (“Aag”, “Barsaat”, “Awara”, and “Shri 420”).

Raj was nominated for Filmfare award 18 times, six times as best actor, once as best supporting actor, six times as best director, and five times for best picture. He won best actor award two times (back to back in 1959 and 1960), four times best director award, and twice for best picture. He was honored with Padma Bhushan in 1971 and was awarded Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 1987. His “Jagte Raho” won the Grand Prix award at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in 1957.

His last appearance for a TV show (“Kim”) in 1984. His last appearance as a full-fledged actor was in 1982 (“Vakil Babu”). He acted in nearly 70 movies.

Actor Anil Kapoor is reportedly in the process of making a movie on Raj Kapoor’s life. Anil himself is planning to act as Raj in the movie. There are also plans by Raj Kapoor’s three sons, Randhir, Rishi, and Rajeev to make a movie on their father’s life.

Raj Kapoor was born with a golden spoon in his mouth. He had good looks and talent to go along with it that left a mark in each of his movies. He knew what people wanted and always made movies to entertain them. In most of his early movies, he played a common man bent on becoming a social change agent. Gifted in many ways, Raj Kapoor’s keen musical mind left a legacy of some important body of work in films and a string of beautiful songs for rest of us to remember for generations to come.

Except for his early years, over the years I procured original CDs of most of Raj Kapoor’s movies. In the next few months I would like to share songs from these albums with our Forum members.

[swarapriya]

Awara (1951)

K.A. Abbas had a tremendous influence over the movies Raj Kapoor made early in his career. He wrote either stories, dialogues, or screenplays for some of Raj’s best movies. These include “Awara” (1951 - screenplay and dialogue), “Shri 420” (1955 - story, screenplay, and dialogue), “Jagte Raho” (1956 - screenplay), “Mera Naam Joker” (1970 - story and screenplay), “Bobby” (1973 - story and screenplay), and “Henna” (1991 - story). Almost all these movies were smashing successes except for “Jagte Raho” and “Mera Naam Joker”. Even these two became kind of cult classics many years after their releases.

Abbas ji came from a distinguished family background. One of his forefathers was a student of Mirza Ghalib. His grandfather was one of the chief rebels of the 1857 Rebellion movement. His father was also educated and practiced Unani medicine.

After graduating Abbas ji worked as a contributing editor for various magazines. He came to Bombay as a film critic for a magazine and during this time got an opportunity to know film folks. He started writing screenplays and submitted them to various directors. Chetan Anand made “Neecha Nagar” based on one of his scripts. This movie won the prestigious Golden Palm award at the Cannes Film Festival. To date this is the only Indian movie to achieve such a distinction. Shantaram’s “Dr. Kotnis Ki Amar Kahani”, a true story, was also based on Abbas ji’s screenplay.

Later Abbas ji found his own company to make social dramas that were close to his heart. One of his films “Munna” won wide acclaim. His “Shehar Aur Sapna” won the National Film Award. Abbas ji directed well over 30 movies.

Abbas ji was a prodigal when it came to writing. He published over 70 books in Hindi, Urdu, and English. He also published several short stories. “Inquilaab” was one of his best known fictions that drew its story from communal violence. His books were translated into several Indian as well as foreign languages such as Arabic, French, German, Italic, and Russian.

Apart from writing stories and books and making movies, Abbas ji was also a weekly contributor to the Blitz magazine. He wrote the column “The Last Page” week after week for nearly 25 years. A collection of these writings were published as books.

In a lifetime that was rich with so many accomplishments to his credit, Abbas ji was showered with numerous awards throughout his distinguished career. Among them was the honor of Padma Shri that was bestowed on him by The Government of India.

Abbas ji in an interview fondly recalled his association with Raj Kapoor as follows: "While Raj Kapoor is no great ideologue, he is not allergic to ideas. Indeed, with his basic sympathy for the common man, he is more than amenable to socially progressive ideas and humanist ideals, so long as their presentation does not interfere with the popularity potential of his film".

What did Raj Kapoor thought of Abbas ji? Here is what Raj said in one interview: “Fortunately, I have from the very start been happy in my professional associations and it was quite early in my film career, when I was scarcely a film and a half old, that my association with K.A. Abbas began. That was ‘Awara’, an exciting intellectual adventure, which set off an exchange of ideas and a way of working between Abbas sahib and myself that continues to this day. ‘Awara’ embodies my earliest fashioning of the sort of universal humanity symbol which was to go on taking finer shape through a succession of films until ‘Mera Naam Joker’, where it emerged as the crystallization of my entire philosophy of life.”

This post has been edited by swarapriya: Nov 10 2008, 10:33 AM