Rare and unseen pictures of the ‘Great Showman’ of Indian cinema Raj Kapoor

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Legendary film actor, producer and director Raj Kapoor, who was popularly known as ‘greatest showman of Hindi cinema’, was born on 14 December, 1924 in a Pathan-Hindu family in Peshawar to Prithviraj Kapoor and Ramsarni Devi Kapoor. The blue-eyed boy of the Kapoor clan, Raj Kapoor decided to quit his studies as a teenager to work as an assistant producer. He made his debut when he was just 10 in 1935 with ‘Inquilab’. Later, he joined his father’s company Prithvi Theatre and worked as an actor and also as the backstage manager. Raj Kapoor acted in several films but he shot to fame when he bagged a lead role in ‘Neel Kamal’ alongside Madhubala. He was the youngest director of his time. His movie career reached new heights with his own directorial movie ‘Awara’ in 1951. Raj Kapoor is known for his song ‘Awara Hoon’ for which he is still remembered across China, Russia, Turkey and other Asian countries till date. Hindi cinema’s popularity rose in USSR with Raj Kapoor’s movies. He also became popular for ‘Shree 420’ and ‘Jis Desh Mein Ganga Behti Hai’ and several other films. Raj Kapoor is often called “the Clark Gable of the Indian film industry”. Time magazine rated his performance in ‘Awaara’ as one of the top 10 greatest performances of all time.

In This Pic : Raj Kapoor

Pic Courtesy : BCCL

In This Pic : Raj Kapoor

Pic Courtesy : BCCL - Non Copyright

In This Pic : Raj Kapoor, Nargis Dutt

Pic Courtesy : BCCL - Non Copyright