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Raj Kapoor – The Man

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Back to Legends – Raj Kapoor
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Raj Kapoor at cricket - his favorite sport

One could call him the eternal Sagittarian; full of optimism, a dreamer, shooting arrows at the stars, hoping one would fall into his hands…. He dreamt huge dreams and sold dreams to his audiences. His generosity is legendary. He was full of contradictions — loving, very affectionate but often malicious and harsh; and willing to go to any lengths to make his films. He had no qualms about apologizing to anyone if he was required back in the RK fold. His was an odd juxtaposition of the missionary and the star — a humility along with an innate arrogance which has become a Kapoor trademark.

In 1946, at the age of 22, he was married to Krishna, his father’s cousin. When Nargis came into his life, he was already married and the father of one child. With this new relationship, his marriage became increasingly turbulent. Krishna even left home with the kids to go to her father’s house in Jabalpur. But Krishna was given full support by her in-laws and was called back. So intense was his relationship with Nargis that Raj Kapoor never imagined that anything could spoil it. But Nargis realised that she couldn’t go on — she wanted marriage.

It is said that she even approached Morarji Desai, then Home Minister, for permission to marry the already married Raj, but was refused. Neither could she see Raj Kapoor leaving his children and family to marry her. He cared too much for his family and for the norms of society to really flout them, but in his naïve trustworthiness he hoped and perhaps expected, Nargis to understand. It was around this time that she was offered Mother India by Mehboob Khan. Here she met Sunil Dutt and after an incident where he saved her life when a set caught fire, she agreed to marry him.

Yet, the Raj Kapoor-Nargis romance remains one of the more popular off-screen and on- screen romances the Hindi film world has seen. There was a spiritual, exalted quality about their love and audiences identified with this. They did 15 films together and audiences adored them. The pair was looked upon with indulgence and affection and everyone accepted them both as a couple.

When Nargis left him, Raj Kapoor was broken. He couldn’t come to terms with the fact that she was no longer a part of his life and, more importantly, his films. The period when she left was one of his worst phases. He was difficult, moody, used to cry, was abusive and often uncontrollable. Friends used to advise him to take physical exercise, go swimming, get away from the familiar surroundings to get her out of his system, but to no avail.

Raj Kapoor had cast Nargis in his first film Aag but it was in Barsaat that they seemed to discover each other. After that they became a pair to be watched out for. Their involvement was there for all to see. On screen their love scenes crackled with an intensity which made for high drama.

In true celluloid spirit, Nargis’ last film with him was Jagte Raho in which she played a small cameo, coming in only in the last scene, and shown as the person who is finally able to quench the poor protagonist’s thirst. Very poignant. Audiences hated it. They wanted to see the romantic Raj-Nargis pair. They felt cheated to see her in this benevolent avatar. The film didn’t do well in it’s first run. But it seemed like poetic justice to all who knew them closely. For this was their final film together and what better way to say goodbye?

His “soft corners” for his later-day heroines like Padmini and Vyjantimala too created ripples. Krishna once again had occasion to leave home during his Vyjanti phase. But this didn’t last long and the family was together again. In later life, Raj Kapoor became very close to his wife Krishna. Even earlier insiders say that he never let her feel the want of anything as a wife. It might be truer to say that Raj Kapoor loved films so much that he loved everything that went with them — his cast, his crew, his workers, his spot boys, just everyone and this included his heroines too.

Nimmi recalls that during the shooting of Barsaat, he was so concerned about his workers that whenever there was night shooting, he would keep talking to the lightboys who sat near the roof of the studio on wooden planks, in order to keep them alert and in good humour. His workers all adored him for his affection. “On night shoots, there’d appear baskets of fruits which were peeled and cut and everyone was fed, not just the stars but the workers too; there’d be glasses of lassi going around, with that kind of atmosphere why wouldn’t anyone give their best to him?”

As a father, Raj Kapoor adored his children. He was particularly close to his daughters Ritu and Rima as well as to his sons Daboo (Randhir) and Chimpu (Rajeev Kapoor). But Neetu Singh, his daughter-in-law, laughs as she reveals: “Chintu (Rishi), my husband, used to be petrified of him for some reason. And as if that wasn’t enough, papa (Rajji) too was scared of Chintu. Chintu would call me and ask, ‘Papa has come, what is he saying’. And papa would refer to him as badasaab and say to me ‘badasaab aa gaya, kya kar raha hai badasaab? Would he like me to do something for him? Would he like this? Take some mithai for him.’ He would give me things to give him but they’d avoid talking to each other for some reason.”

Neetu Singh, who married Rishi Kapoor in 1980, lived with her in -laws in Chembur for the first year of her marriage and fell absolutely in love with her father-in-law. “He was so perceptive, he could look at your face and gauge what you were thinking. There were times when I’d be terribly hurt and nobody would understand but he’d call me and say ‘this is what is happening, I know’ and I’d burst into tears. You just had to sit with him to feel his affection and you would learn a lot. He would talk about life and its experiences and you were always the wiser for having listened to him. He never gave lectures, just talked about everything under the sun.”

“He adored his grandchildren. He named my son Ranbir after himself and my daughter Riddhima. Both my daughter and Kareena were born within a week of each other during the Ganpati festival and he was very moved. He would say, ‘meri do shakti as gayi’. When we shifted residence to Pali Hill, my children would run to be with their grandparents as soon as they got a day off. His pet name for Ranbir was ‘Gonglu’ and if I ever scolded him, he would ring up papaji and complain to him about me and papa would scold me for scolding him! The kids adored him.”

His contradictions were as huge as his personality. He loved to be surrounded by people, cared for his cast and crew as if they were family. Yet he could be as selfish as he was benevolent, as egoistic as he was friendly. He had an innate arrogance which kept people in awe of him. He loved to eat and drink and each day he would take whoever was with him at the time, to Geeta Bhavan, a small Udipi restaurant in Chembur, to eat his favourite idlis and vadas.

“He considered himself almost infallible” says Chandru Hingorani, brother of filmmaker Arjun Hingorani. He could be very selfish and arrogant but was so affectionate too, that one just couldn’t stay away from him. We used to fight and make up all the time. I joined him as an assistant in 1953 but became friends with him about six years later. Till his Joker flopped, he saw himself as supreme. He couldn’t believe he could do anything wrong. But after Joker, he was broken. He never recovered despite the success of Bobby and Ram Teri Ganga Maili.

Simi recalls his loving care during Mera Naam Joker. “He loved his unit. Every hour that we passed with him, whether it was travelling together or eating together, was fun. Once we were travelling by train, after a lovely shoot in Simla. When we reached Solan, he got out, went into the train’s kitchen, and announced, ‘I am going to make my eggs Monte Carlo’.”

“His recipe was to break an egg over a slice of bread and fry it. He must have made about 200 eggs that day, not only for our team but also for fellow travellers on the train. They couldn’t believe that here was filmstar Raj Kapoor making eggs for them. He fed his unit, loved them, looked after them. When we reached Delhi he said, Now you people go to your hotel, main kuch khaas cheez lane ja raha hoon‘. He went to Chandni Chowk and bought this unbelievable puri-aloo. Then he came and delivered this personally to everybody. He did such things out of sheer affection.”

People close to him say that he had this habit of getting drunk and speaking his mind. But the fact was that he was never really drunk. He just pretended to be drunk so that he could speak the unpalatable truth and tell someone what he thought of him in the plainest terms. Simi corroborates, “Yes, he was never really drunk. He knew what he was saying. But since he could not say it when he was sober, he pretended to be drunk and got it off his chest. I used to get very upset when he did this. And whenever I saw him get into this mood, I would run miles away from him.”

“He had his eccentricities but they were more fun than anything else,” recalls Simi. “I remember the fun times with him. He was a late riser and it was a pain and a nuisance for him to get up early. Once, while shooting in Darjeeling, I don’t know what made him get up as early as 4 or 5 in the morning and start banging on everybody’s door shouting in his affectionate way ‘sote rehte ho, kaam karo, the sun is rising, it’s a perfect day’. We all got ready with costumes, make-up, etc. and went to his room — only to find that his majesty had gone back to sleep!”

Waheeda Rehman laughingly recounts, “When we were cast in Ek Dil Sau Afsane, I arrived on the set at the required time, but he would come very late. For a nine o’clock shift, he would turn up at 2 pm. The director felt sorry for me and one day said, ‘Do not leave your house till I call and inform you that Rajji has arrived.’ Later that day, when the director jokingly asked what time he could be expected tomorrow, Rajji promptly replied, ‘At seven’. I added, ‘Do you mean seven in the morning or in the evening?’ He said, ‘You just wait and watch.’ The next day, though ready, I did not go to the set. Suddenly I got a frantic call from the director, Waheedaji, come soon, Rajji arrived here at a quarter to seven!’ He loved doing things like that.”

Raj Kapoor was one of the few people in the industry who remained loyal to those who had helped him. For example, whenever he was being applauded, he never forgot to mention Kidar Sharma, his mentor, teacher and the first filmmaker to cast him as hero. It did not make him feel small to acknowledge Sharma’s contribution in his life. After Neelkamal, Raj Kapoor set out on his own and became probably better known than his guru.

Kidar Sharma once called him to act opposite a new girl in his film Bawre Nain. The girl was Geeta Bali, a fledgling, while Raj Kapoor was an established star by the time. But Kidar Sharma knew the girl’s incredible talent though Raj Kapoor didn’t. Raj responded at once to his director’s call, merely saying “Sharmaji, I hope you are casting someone who is equal to me in calibre?” Kidar Sharma replied, “What calibre are you talking about?”

When shooting started, Raj Kapoor was flabbergasted by the girl’s incredible screen presence and had to admit that she was astounding. Sheepishly he took the director aside and said, “Sharmaji, please don’t take close ups of us together, this girl eats up the screen!” The girl later became his younger brother Shammi Kapoor’s wife.

A respect for elders and gratitude for those who had helped him were Raj Kapoor’s endearing characteristics. But he also had a typically chauvinistic attitude towards women — they must remain at home; at least the Raj Kapoor women must. Neetu remembers, “The holi revelries at RK were always fun. Family and friends would come, there was singing and dancing, and everyone was dumped into the pool, but not the women. Women played with dry colours and papa saw to it that no one misbehaved with the ladies.”

While his three sons Randhir, Rishi and Rajeev joined films, his two daughters, Rima and Rita have been successfully married off. His own wife Krishna always remained in the background. So much so that even today, thirteen years after his death, when a well known TV series commemorated his life and work and spoke to his whole family, Krishna refused to be interviewed. That his elder son Randhir’s daughters, Karisma and Kareena have become high profile filmstars was seen initially as an aberration even leading to a split in the Randhir-Babita marriage. While both Randhir and Rishi married established filmstars, they had to give up their careers in order to be Kapoor bahus.

Raj Kapoor believed in lasting relationships and this was seen in the cohesiveness of his crew in RK Productions too. Radhu Karmakar the cameraman who shot Awara, remained with Raj Kapoor till he died and shot his last film Ram Teri Ganga Maili as well as Henna after Rajji’s death. The music duo Shankar-Jaikishan remained with him till the latter’s death in 1970. And, he always maintained that he had on tape enough Shankar-Jaikishan melodies to last all RK films. Shailendra and Hasrat Jaipuri wrote for him till their respective deaths and writers V.P.Sathe and K.A.Abbas remained with him for decades.

Chandru Hingorani reveals, “Once, after a fight, I did not speak to him for five years. But he kept sending me messages to meet him. One day, in 1985, a common friend forced me to visit Raj Kapoor who immediately said, ‘Arre mere bhai… I am now dying. Don’t quarrel with me any more!’ His health was bad, his asthma had worsened and he had quit smoking by that time.”

“His simplicity was astounding in such a big star. His habits were sparse. Each time he went abroad, he would buy me these expensive shoes from Bally’s, a famous Swiss brand. Once, while shopping with Rajendra Kumar, the latter asked why he wasn’t buying these shoes for himself. He said, ‘I can’t afford such luxuries! These are for Prince.’ He always called me Prince because though I was always short of money, my tastes were royal!”

“During the film festival in Delhi, as I forgot my shaving kit and was going out to buy a razor, he said, ‘Are you crazy, use mine!’ I actually shared his shaving kit for the two weeks we were there.

He was so down to earth. If he was fond of you, he would go to any lengths for you. If I wanted to holiday abroad, he would buy me a return ticket and give me carte blanche to spend as much money as I needed!”

Nimmi agrees, “I was his raakhi sister from the start and he gave so much importance to this relationship. Once, on raksha bandhan day, I got delayed. On entering his house, I overheard him tell his wife, `Arre Nimmi ab tak kyon nahin aayi, phone karke dekho kahin tabiyat to kharaaab nahin hai?‘ His affection was phenomenal, he always addressed me as beheniya and he never forgot to invite me to every function in his house!”

Raj Kapoor was not merely a man, nor merely a filmmaker — he was an entire lifestyle. Everything surrounding him was larger than life — his films, his affairs, his affections, his eccentricities, his dreams, even his losses (he never quite recovered from the huge loss incurred by Mera Naam Joker, and it is said that he was scheduled to meet the President in Delhi to ask for a one-time tax amnesty, when he collapsed at the function where he was being honoured with the Dadasaheb Phalke award) his parties, his mahurats and his holi revelries. This festival of colours was celebrated at RK as a tradition. Everyone waited to be invited to it and only then could he/she be said to have “arrived” in true Hindi-­film-style!

At Loni, his farm near Pune, he was a much loved figure. While ‘home’ was wife Krishna’s domain, Loni and RK Studio was his, and he was inordinately proud of inviting people there and playing host. The villagers at Loni adored him and he’d sit with them on a cot and listen to their problems. Once they complained that there was no school nearby and Raj Kapoor is said to have built one for them.

“He would take the whole family to the farm,” says Neetu, “and we were made to relax while papa took over the kitchen. He was a fabulous cook and could cook everything. But he especially made exotic pastas and excellent gobi, his favourite vegetable. It’s a misconception that he loved to eat. He loved to see food and to feed people, but hardly ate himself. Even at home in Chembur, he would serve everyone but himself ate only a khurjaon (what Simi referred to as eggs Monte Carlo) a Peshawari way of making eggs — or have something simple like pao and chai. In the evening, he’d go to Geeta Bhavan to eat idlis but lunch was just a khurjaon.

“He would order these special Alphonso mangoes and place one in your hand, saying ‘Cut it and eat it, it’s very tasty’. There used to be boxes of chocolates in his room and his grandchildren were called in — ‘salaam karo’ he’d say, and then give them chocolates. This was a ritual he followed and the kids always fell for it.” Everything he did had that special Raj Kapoor touch to it.

Even his death, when it came, was spectacular. He collapsed during the ceremony when the Dadasaheb Phalke Award was being conferred upon him by the President. He was rushed in the President’s ambulance to the All India Medical Institute in Delhi. His last words as he was being carried on the stretcher were to his wife “Krishna, I’m going, I’m going, goodbye, goodbye!” – Lata Khubchandani

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