The stardom and fan following of the Kapoor clan is majorly courtesy Raj Kapoor who was one of the finest actors and directors that Bollywood has seen. Raj Kapoor, to a great extent, was an epitome of cinema, bringing in stories that appealed to the masses, with a pinch of youth added to them. It is no surprise that the ‘Sangam’ stud was popular worldwide, especially in Russia.
India-Russia ties – full of fond memories……..like Raj Kapoor’s movies running to full houses in Moscow & beyond pic.twitter.com/geJ2OyHPEV
— Anurag Srivastava (@MEAIndia) December 11, 2014
In one of the anecdotes shared by his son, Raj Kapoor once at the 1st BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) Film Festival in Delhi, we get a glimpse of the level of fan following that Raj Kapoor had in Russia.
Showman Raj Kapoor clicked during overseas shoot of Around the World (1967)#RajKapoor #Showman #Bollywoodflashback #WaybackWednesday pic.twitter.com/jE73GTJCZK
— Movies N Memories (@BombayBasanti) May 13, 2020
Back in the mid-1960’s Raj Kapoor was working on his film Mera Naam Joker and was in talks with Russian circus troupe to be part of the film. The legendary actor was in London and had to be in Moscow, Russia which was then the Soviet Union. The actor landed in Moscow thinking that he had the visa.
“But he didn’t have a visa to come into Moscow. Still, they welcomed Raj Kapoor… There was no welcome committee for him because he landed unannounced. So he got outside and waited for a taxi… By then people started recognizing that Raj Kapoor is in Moscow. His taxi came and he sat in. Suddenly what he saw was that the taxi is not moving forward and instead is going up. The people took the car on their shoulders,” said the late Rishi Kapoor at the event.
Showman Raj Kapoor with lead actor Shashi Kapoor and than child artist Padmini Kolhapure at the premier of Satyam Shivam Sundaram (1978)#RajKapoor #ShashiKapoor #PadminiKolhapure #Bollywoodflashback@KolhapureP @TejuKolhapure pic.twitter.com/w3QuLDREwY
— Movies N Memories (@BombayBasanti) May 20, 2020
In fact, once, Ranbir Kapoor was asked the true meaning of stardom, to which Ranbir had referred to this exact incident. This to him is the true definition of stardom, and we can’t but agree!
Raj Kapoor was the force behind legendary films like Awaara and Sangam which are entertaining after decades of being made. We remember the timeless entertainer who helped shape the Indian cinema.
Classic #Hindi cinema moment – Raj Kapoor and Dilip Kumar creating music. pic.twitter.com/DzFgWuUH9n
— Aseem Chhabra (@chhabs) May 26, 2014
We lost the greatest showman in India on 2nd June, 32 years ago But in a certain sense, he will always be around us with his unparalleled contribution to Indian cinema we know and love today.
