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Raj Kapoor – Early Years

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Back to Legends – Raj Kapoor
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As a kid Raj Kapoor had three nick names. They called him Chisto, also Gora, and sometimes Lashkaree.

(Born 14th December 1924 — died 2nd June 1988) Ranbir Raj Kapoor, like many pre-partition Indians, was born in Pakistan, in Peshawar, to Prithviraj Kapoor and Ramsarni Kapoor. Few know that apart from the flamboyant Shammi Kapoor and the charming Shashi Kapoor, Raj Kapoor had two more brothers, Virendra and Devendra, who died early. They have one sister, Urmila.

Raj Kapoor’s parents migrated to Mumbai in 1927. While Prithiviraj Kapoor was looking for work and doing small roles to keep the home fires burning, the young Raj Kapoor, completely disinterested in studies, became increasingly fascinated by films. He also started getting spoilt, was self-indulgent, loved eating and hated studying.

Recalls brother Shammi Kapoor, “Rajji had a cupboard in his room which was always kept locked. No one dared to open it. I always wanted to know what was inside. Once I got the chance to open it and guess what I found? Innumerable stacks of magazines, cuttings, posters, dress designs — everything to do with costumes, set designing, Hollywood filmstars and the like. He had been meticulously collecting this stuff for years and storing it like invaluable treasure.”

This was Raj Kapoor preparing to be a filmmaker. He had managed to reach the matriculation level, but failed the preliminary examination. Papa Prithviraj took this lightly enough saying, “Oh! well there’s always next time.”

Raj Kapoor then announced his intention of not appearing for the exams again. He explained, “Papaji, when a boy wants to become a doctor, he goes to medical college, when he wants to become a lawyer he goes to law college. I want to make movies, be a director, a producer, an actor. And instead of wasting five years studying something I don’t want to learn and joining a studio finally, I’d like to start work in a studio at once.”

A worried Papa Prithviraj confided his anxiety to friend Kidar Sharma, who offered to take the boy under his wing. But there were conditions — Raj had to start on the lowest rung and work his way up. Nor was Prithviraj allowed to interfere in his son’s training.

“Prithvi agreed,” recalled Sharma, “and Raj Kapoor came in as a third assistant, as a clapper boy, in my production house. I noticed that he was very taken with his looks. Even though his job was just to give the clap, he’d make it a point to find out how far he needed to be from the camera in order to get a close-up of himself. (Raj Kapoor later admitted that the cameraman and he had a pact that he’d take a close-up of him and give him the photo). He’d watch the camera eagerly and if there was an opportunity to get in front of it, he took it. Each time he had to give the clap, he’d quickly comb his hair, steal a glance in the mirror and only when he was satisfied with what he saw, would he come and sound the clapper board.

“I noticed this but attributed it to the vagaries of youth and let it pass. But one day I needed to take a shot of the setting sun and we had lost precious days because the weather had been playing up. I called Raj and told him, ‘Look son, promise me two things today. When I shoot these scenes, do not comb your hair or preen yourself before the mirror. I cannot afford to lose another day.’ Raj promised he wouldn’t.

“It was a scene where an old king was to be shown at the end of his life and the ebbing sun was to symbolize this. As soon as we were ready, Raj forgot his promise and went to comb his hair. Then, flustered, he came so close to the king and sounded the clap, that the king’s beard got caught in the board and we had to cut the shot.

“I was furious and slapped Raj Kapoor hard. He was so fair that my finger marks showed up on his face immediately. But he didn’t say a word. I went home that night and just couldn’t sleep. Had I been unfair to the boy? After all, I wasn’t paying him anything. He had a right to be resentful. He was the son of the well-known Prithviraj Kapoor.”

“Then, I made up my mind. Next morning as soon as Raj Kapoor arrived I called him to my room. He came in smiling and said, ‘Do you want to make these finger marks on my other cheek also?’ I said, ‘No son’ and gave him a cheque for Rs. 5000/- and told him that he would be the hero of my next film, Neel Kamal (1944). He looked surprised and said, ‘No, don’t cast me. I am too fat, your film will fail.’ But I had realized after my sleepless night that this boy craved to be in front of the camera.” The film was made with a 19-year‑old Raj Kapoor and a 13-year-old Madhubala (her first film as the leading lady)”

The film became a big hit. It was technically Raj Kapoor’s first film, though he had done bit roles as a child artiste in films like Inquilab in 1935 (Debaki Bose) and in plays such as ‘The Toy Cart’. After that it did not take too long for the actor to conceptualize films for himself and at the age of 23, he came up with his first film — Aag (1948). This was the birth of Raj Kapoor the director, producer and actor all rolled into one – Lata Khubchandani

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