Prithviraj Kapoor Raj Kapoor Father

Date of Birth
3 November 1906, Peshawar, British India. [now in Pakistan]

Date of Death
29 May 1972, (cancer)

Birth Name
Prithvinat Kapoor


Spouse
Rama Kapoor (1923 - 29 May 1972) (his death) 4 children

Trivia
Son of Dewan Basheswarnath Kapoor. Father of Raj Kapoor, Shammi Kapoor and Shashi Kapoor. Grandfather of Randhir Kapoor, Rishi Kapoor, Rajiv Kapoor, Karan Kapoor, Kunal Kapoor and Sanjana Kapoor. Great-grandfather of Karisma Kapoor and Kareena Kapoor

Considered the most handsome Indian actor of Pre-Independence India and the founder of India's first film family, the Kapoors.

Born in Peshawar in a middle-class landlord family. His father was a police officer. He enrolled at Edward College, Peshawar after finishing his schooling at Lyallpur and Lahore. He was married at 18 and did a year of law after graduation but interrupted his law studies to pursue his dreams of acting.

Was posthumously awarded the Dadasaheb Phalke Award for his contribution to Indian Cinema.

In 1944, he invested in and set up Prithvi Theatre. He was the first to use the concept of modern, professional urban theater in Hindustani. In over 16 years of its existence under Prithviraj Kapoor, the theater did some 2,662 shows, with Prithviraj starring as the lead actor in every single show.

Acted in India's first ever talkie Alam Ara (1931), although not in the lead role, which was given instead to Master Vithal.

Prithviraj did his B.A. from Edward college, Peshawar, a feat that few of his descendants were destined to match. He also studied law as a graduate student for one year, but his heart was in the theatre. In 1928, with the help of a loan from his aunt, Prithviraj moved to the city of Bombay (present-day Mumbai) which is the switch of the Hindi film industry.

He acted as an extra in his first film role, though he grew up to get a lead role for his third Cinema Girl in 1929 [8]. After featuring in nine silent films [9], Kapoor did a supporting role in India's first film talkie, Alam Ara (1931). His performance in Vidyapati (1937) was much appreciated. His best-known performance is perhaps as Alexander the Great in Sohrab Modi’s Sikander (1941). He also joined the only English theatrical company called 'J. Grant Anderson' which remained in India for a year [8]. Through all these years Prithviraj remained devoted to the theatre and performed on stage regularly. He developed a reputation as a fine actor on both stage and screen.

By 1944, Prithviraj had the wherewithal and standing to found his own theatre group, its premiere performance was, Kalidasa's "Shakuntala" in 1944. His eldest son, Raj Kapoor, had already struck out on his own; the films he produced had been successful and this was also an enabling factor. Prithviraj invested in and founded Prithvi Theatre, a travelling troupe which staged memorable productions across India. In over 16 years of existence, the theater staged some 2,662 shows. Prithviraj starred as the lead actor in every single show.[10]


Commemorative stamp celebrating 50 years of Prithvi Theatre, 1945-1995By the late 1950s, it was clear that the era of the travelling theatre was past; that art-form had been irreversibly supplanted by the cinema. No longer was it financially feasible for a troupe of up to 80 people (as Prithvi theatre was) to travel the country for four to six months at a time with their tons of stage props and equipment, living in hotels where possible and at campsites otherwise. The financial returns, through ticket sales and the rapidly diminishing largesse of patrons from the erstwhile princely class of India, was just not adequate to support such an effort. Many of the fine actors and technicians that Prithvi Theatres nurtured had found their way to the movies. Indeed, this was the case with all of Prithviraj's own sons. As Prithviraj progressed into his 50's, he gradually ceased theatre activities and accepted occasional offers from film-makers, including his own sons. Later, under his son, Shashi Kapoor, and his wife Jennifer Kendal, it merged with the Indian Shakespeare theatre company, "Shakespeareana", and the company got a permanent home, with the inauguration of the "Prithvi Theatre" in Mumbai November 5, 1978 [11].

In 1995, the 'Golden Jubilee year' of the founding of Prithvi Theatre, India Post, issued a special two Rupee, 'commemorative' postage stamp in New Delhi [12], it featured the logo of Prithvi Theatre 1945-1995, and an image its founder 'Prithviraj Kapoor', without the name, as just his face seemed enough, being the legend that he had become in his lifetime and beyond in Hindi theatre [13]. The first day cover, (stamped 15-1-95) showed a illustration of performance of travelling theatre in progress, on a stage that seem fit for a travelling theatre, as Prithvi theatre was for sixteen, till 1960 [11].

His notable filmography of this period includes Mughal E Azam (1960) where he gave his most memorable performance as the Mughal emperor Akbar, Harishchandra Taramati (1963) where he played the lead role and unforgettable performances as Porus in Sikandar-e-Azam (1965) and the stentorian grandfather in Kal Aaj Aur Kal (1971) where he appeared with his son and grandson Randhir Kapoor.

Kapoor starred in the legendary religious Punjabi film Nanak Naam Jahaz Hai (1969), a film so revered in Punjab that there were lines many kilometers long to purchase tickets.

He also starred in the Punjabi films Nanak Dukhiya Sub Sansar (1970) and Mele Mittran De (1972).

In 1954, he was awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship, and in 1969, the Padma Bhushan by the government of India. He remained Nominated Rajya Sabha Member for eight years [9].

After his death in 1972, he was posthumously awarded the Dadasaheb Phalke Award for the year 1971. He was the third recipient of that award, the highest accolade in Indian cinema.

As was customary in that era, Prithviraj married at a young age. At age 18, Prithviraj married the 15-year-old Ramsarni Mehra, in a match that was arranged by their families. Their eldest child, Raj Kapoor, was born in December 1924. By the time Prithviraj moved to Bombay in 1928, the couple were the parents of three children. In 1930, Ramsarni joined Prithviraj in Bombay. The following year, while she was pregnant for the fourth time, the couple suffered the tragic loss of two of their three children in the space of one week.[14] One of their children, Devi, died of double pneumonia while the other child, Nandi, died of poisoning in a freak incident when he swallowed some rat-poison pills strewn in the garden.

The couple went on to have four children further. All three of their surviving sons, Raj Kapoor, Shammi Kapoor and Shashi Kapoor, were to become famous actors and film-makers in their own right. They also had one daughter, Urmila.

After his retirement, Prithviraj settled in Bombay, in a cottage near Juhu beach. The property was later to be converted into a small, experimental theatre, the Prithvi Theatre. Both Prithviraj and Ramsarni suffered from cancer in their declining years and died within a fortnight of each other. Prithviraj died on May 29, 1972 and was followed by his wife of 48 years on June 14th the same year.

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Raj Kapoor on his life and times

Raj Kapoor on his life and times, Interview Of Raj Kapoor By Rohini Iyer


He would tell his life story passionately. Like he made films. From Awara to Ram Teri Ganga Maili, he was obsessed with all his films even though his profession had taken much more than given in return. It took me a long time to convince him to talk about himself. It took me even longer to tell him that it was for an interview for public reading. Finally, after much cajoling from me and my good friend Randhir Kapoor, Raj Kapoor, relented.

It was over innumerous cups of tea, and endless meetings at his cottage that I finally got him to relive his past. And the glory of it!

He sat cross-legged on the divan, with a far away look in his eyes. With the shades drawn and the décor tastefully subdue in the pearly light, time in the RK cottage seemed to have suspended. Even the sun tiptoed in with caution as Raj Kapoor spoke:

My parents:
We hail from a small town called Samandru. My grandfather was a judge and my grandmother wished that my father Prithviraj Kapoor too would study law and become a judge like her husband. But my father had other plans. A graduate, he took keen interest in literature and Shakespeare. He was very fond of Ramleela and that's how he got interested in theatre.

Once, he was chosen to play Ram in a small Ramleela company, but his parents were against it. Those days acting was not considered a respectable profession. Only prostitutes and other such lower classes were associated with it. My grandparents felt very humiliated that their son was a part of Ramleela. But my father had made up his mind and one fine day, he gave up his studies, left home and came to Bombay with my mother and me. We lived in a one-room tenement on Reay Road.

From here he started his struggle in films. And that was the beginning of the legend that he was to become. Papaji was like a universe. I've never seen a more complete man. We, Shammi, Shashi and myself are nothing compared to him. In a way he was responsible for the star system. He was the first actual star on Hindi screen.

His spirit was always the same, undiminished till the last day. Papaji died of throat cancer. I took him to Sloane Kettering and we tried everything to save him. The doctors gave him three months to live. He wanted to come back and die in his own house. When the end came, Shashi was in London and its incredible how Papaji remained alive till his son's return. As soon he arrived Papaji took his three son's hands in his and said: 'Never shall you three brothers part!' and then passed away.

My brothers:
I think we brothers realised his loss more and more as we grew older. We actually grew closer after his death. Earlier we had drifted apart in search of our goals... our success. But strangely with age our memories of our childhood sharpened. I used to work on stage as a child artist. Shammi and Shashi also joined me. Shashi loved the theatre like Papaji, while I loved cinema. Shammi struck a happy medium. Nobody knows this, but my parents had two more children, Virendra (Bindi) and Davendra. Both died at a very young age. Virendra by accidentally swallowing rat poison, and Davendra of pneumonia, at the age of three. Recently when Shashi and I were jointly admitted in the Breach Candy Hospital, I felt very protective towards him. A woman always has her man, but the man unconsciously leans on his roots, his heritage. He feels like an orphan without his parents.

My marriage, my family:
Mine was the only arranged marriage among us brothers. Actually Krishna is my bua, my father's second cousin. One fine day my father said, "You are getting married," and I said, "Yes father". That was in 1946 when I was 22 years old.

Nine months later Daboo was born. When he was 15 days old my father introduced him to the audiences at the Opera House where he was performing a play. He put paint on his face and applied a tilak on his forehead and announced his birth. That was the kind of pride he had in his work. He was far removed from today's actors, and this includes my own sons, who make their living out of films and hypocritically say: "Oh, we don't like filmi people!"

My studio:
I've struggled a lot for what I have today. Those days most of the shootings took place indoors, there were very few outdoors. Once when I was shooting for Awara, I had completed 13 days of shooting when on the 14th day I was asked to dismantle my sets because the studio had been hired to someone else. I was very upset and that day I decided to make my own studio. I put together all the money I had and laid the foundation of RK Studio. During our days money was very hard to come by. It took almost ten years to earn my first lakh!

When I was picturising the song Ghar aaya mera pardesi on 13 different sets my wife Krishna saw it and her reaction was: "We don't have a house to live in and you are spending all your money on your studio!" I understood her concerns and explained to her: "Jo pehle set banate hain, unke ghar baad main bante hain. Jo pehle ghar banate hain unke set kabhi nahin bante."

Initially I had thought that only RK films would be shot in my studio but God had something else in mind for me. Jab main fakir ban gaya, I had to let others shoot in my studio. No, Nargis never helped me financially. I never took money from her to build RK but RK ke har set par Nargis ki mehnat aur lagan chuppi hui hai. The RK emblem is a reflection of her contribution to the studio. Without her the emblem cannot fully represent RK. Later, I bought a house in Deonar and shifted there with my children. My father refused to come with me, he preferred to stay back in our old house in Matunga, nor did he ask for anything from me. He never asked me how much I earned. I've continued this tradition.

Disillusionment:
One has to change to adapt to the new breed. But sometimes I don't understand the new world. I remember, some years ago, an actress came to me with her father for a role in Kal Aaj Aur Kal. While negotiating the price the father said: "Look I'm not interested in your RK banner. I'm only interested in how much you pay my daughter." This is what the system has done to today's actors. Maybe they are right, but there is a sense of loss in all this.

A girl like Padmini Kolhapure, who is tremendously talented, is allowing herself to be a victim of the system by her choice of films. Why, for Mr Rishi Kapoor's dates I've got to go to his secretary and plead with him! I laugh when people call me a legend or an institution. V Shantaram or Mehboob Khan could be called that. Not me. I only feel old and tired. And I see RK as a flickering flame. It is up to Daboo, Chintu and Chimpu to keep it burning. It is now up to them.

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