Kapoor began his acting career in the theatres of
Lyallpur and
Peshawar. In 1928, he moved to
Mumbai, with a loan from an aunt. There he joined the Imperial Films Company and started acting in minor roles in movies. He went on to earn a lead role in his third film, titled
Cinema Girl, which released in 1930. After featuring in nine silent films, including
Be Dhari Talwar,
Cinema Girl,
Sher-e-Arab and
Prince Vijaykumar, 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
Sikandar (1941). He also joined the Grant Anderson Theater Company, an English theatrical company that remained in Mumbai for a year. By the late 1950s, it was clear that the era of the travelling theatre had been irreversibly supplanted by the cinema and it was no longer financially feasible for a troupe of up to 80 people to travel the country for four to six months at a time along with their props and equipment and living in hotels and campsites. The financial returns, through ticket sales and the rapidly diminishing
largesse of patrons from the erstwhile princely class of India, was not enough 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 Kapoor progressed into his 50s, he gradually ceased theatre activities and accepted occasional offers from film-makers, including his own sons. He appeared with his son Raj in the 1951 film
Awara as a stern judge who had thrown his own wife out of his house. Later, under his son,
Shashi Kapoor, and daughter-in-law
Jennifer Kendal, Prithvi Theatre merged with the Indian
Shakespeare theatre company, "Shakespeareana", and the company got a permanent home, with the inauguration of the Prithvi Theatre in
Mumbai on 5 November 1978. It featured the logo of the theatre, the dates 1945–1995, and an image of Kapoor. The first day cover, (stamped 15-1-95), showed an illustration of a performance of a travelling theatre in progress, on a stage that seems fit for a travelling theatre, as Prithvi theatre was for sixteen years, until 1960. On the occasion of 100 years of the Indian cinema, another postage stamp, bearing his likeness, was released by India Post on 3 May 2013.
Later years His filmography of this period includes
Mughal-e-Azam (1960), where he gave his most memorable performance as the
Mughal emperor
Akbar, which earned him a nomination for the
Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor,
Harishchandra Taramati (1963) in which he played the lead role, an unforgettable performance as
Porus in
Sikandar-e-Azam (1965), and the stentorian grandfather in
Kal Aaj Aur Kal (1971), in which he appeared with his son
Raj Kapoor and grandson
Randhir Kapoor. Kapoor starred in the legendary religious
Punjabi film Nanak Nam Jahaz Hai (1969), a film so revered in
Punjab that there were lines many kilometres long to purchase tickets. He also starred in the Punjabi films
Nanak Dukhiya Sub Sansar (1970) and
Mele Mittran De (1972). He also acted in the
Kannada film Sakshatkara (1971), directed by Kannada director
Puttanna Kanagal. He acted as
Dr. Rajkumar's father in the film. == Awards and honours ==