Raj Kapoor
Raj Kapoor (pronunciation: [ɾaːd͡ʒ kəpuːɾ], born Shrishti Nath Kapoor;[1] also known as Ranbir Raj Kapoor;[2] 14 December 1924 – 2 June 1988) was an Indian actor, film producer and film director who worked in Hindi cinema.[3][4] He received multiple accolades, including three National Film Awards and 11 Filmfare Awards in India. The Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award is named after Kapoor. He was a two-time nominee for the Palme d’Or grand prize at the Cannes Film Festival for his films Awaara (1951) and Boot Polish (1954). His performance in Awaara was ranked as one of the top ten greatest performances of all time by Time magazine.[5] His films attracted worldwide audiences, particularly in Asia and Europe.
The Government of India honoured him with the Padma Bhushan in 1971 for his contributions to the arts.[6] India’s highest award in cinema, the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, was bestowed on him in 1987 by the Government of India.
He was inspired from silent film’s great actor Charlie Chaplin and played the character based on Chaplin’s The Tramp in films such as Awaara (1951) and Shree 420 (1955).[7][8] Raj Kapoor was known as the Charlie Chaplin of Indian cinema.[9][10][11] His best known characters was based on Charlie Chaplin’s poor but honest Tramp.[12]
Kapoor was born on 14th December 1924 at Kapoor Haveli, a house then owned by his father in the Qissa Khwani Bazaar neighborhood of Peshawar, North-West Frontier Province, British India into a Punjabi Hindu Khatri family[13] to parents Prithviraj Kapoor and Ramsarni Devi Mehra; who were from Samundri Town, Samundri Tehsil, Lyallpur District, Punjab Province.[14] He was the eldest sibling of six children in the family.[15][16] He was the grandson of Dewan Basheshwarnath Kapoor, great-grandson of Dewan Keshavmal Kapoor, and great-great-grandson of Dewan Murli Mal Kapoor, and was part of the famous Kapoor family. His brothers were the late actors Shammi Kapoor and Shashi Kapoor. He also had a sister named Urmila Sial. Two other siblings died in infancy. Kapoor’s family later on moved from Peshawar, North-West Frontier Province to Bombay City, Bombay Presidency for residence and for education. His father’s cousin was film producer Surinder Kapoor, whose children are producer Boney Kapoor, actors Anil and Sanjay.[17] His maternal cousin, Juggal Kishore Mehra, was a singer, whose step-granddaughter, Salma Agha, later became an actress.
