One of the greatest stalwarts of Indian cinema, Raj Kapoor was born on this day, 98 years ago. Born on December 14, 1924, to one of the pioneers of Indian talkies, Prithviraj Kapoor, it was no surprise that Raj would follow in his father’s footsteps into films. Eventually, his brothers Shammi Kapoor and Shashi Kapoor did the same. The way Raj Kapoor experimented with cinema, both as an actor and a filmmaker, was unique. He was thought to be light years ahead of his time, which is precisely why it is believed that some of his most ambitious projects like Mera Naam Joker failed at the box office at that time.
But did you know that Raj Kapoor enjoyed superstardom status in the Soviet Union?
The 1951 film Awara was the movie that introduced Raj Kapoor to the Soviet Union, and people there fell in love with him. The movie Awara was dubbed into the Russian language and released there as ‘Bradagya’. It is said that people in the Soviet used to stand in queues for hours in the rain to purchase a film ticket.
Once Jawaharlal Nehru went to Russia and was given a government banquet. During this, when it was the turn of the then Prime Minister of Russia, Nikolai Bulganin to speak, he sang the famous song Awara Hoon from Raj Kapoor’s film along with his ministers. This surprised Nehru.
Famous filmmaker Yash Chopra once had an incident that described Raj Kapoor’s popularity abroad. Yash Chopra said in an interview, “We went to the Tashkent Film Festival in 1976. I had been a part of many functions earlier as well, but I saw king-like treatment from Indian filmmakers on foreign soil only with Raj Kapoor. We were a delegation of 48, and a special bus was arranged for everyone, only for Raj Kapoor there was a big car and an interpreter. The seats of a train from Tashkent to Samarkand were reserved for us but the entire compartment was reserved for Raj Kapoor. When we reached Samarkand, it seemed that the whole city had gathered at the station to receive Raj Kapoor.”
Raj Kapoor died on June 2, 1988, leaving behind a huge legacy that was continued by sons Rishi Kapoor, Randhir Kapoor and Rajiv Kapoor, and now their children are taking it ahead.
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