Debut and struggle (1947–1948) At the age of ten, Raj Kapoor appeared in a
Hindi film for the first time, in the 1935 film
Inquilab. Some early success came with the lead role in 1947 with
Kidar Sharma's
romantic drama Neel Kamal opposite
Begum Para and
Madhubala. The film proved to be a semi-hit at the box office, but his other releases, such as
Jail Yatra,
Dil Ki Rani and
Chittor Vijay didn't do well. In 1948, he founded his own banner
R. K. Films and made his directional debut with the
musical drama Aag in which he starred alongside
Nargis,
Premnath and
Kamini Kaushal. The film was an average grosser, but received positive reviews from critics.
Stardom (1949–1964) Several films released in 1949 had a major influence on Kapoor's career. His first release
Sunehre Din flopped commercially, but his next release,
Parivartan, emerged as a commercially successful venture. His third release of the year,
Mehboob Khan's
romantic drama Andaz, which also starred
Dilip Kumar and
Nargis, went on to become highly successful at the box office. This was followed by
Barsaat, which he also directed and produced. The film went ahead of the former, eventually emerging as the highest grossing Indian film of all time, breaking the record of
Kismet. It ran in
Kolkata's
Paradise Cinema for almost two years. The huge box office success of
Andaz and
Barsaat made Kapoor one of the leading male stars of the time along with Dilip Kumar and
Dev Anand. The following year, he starred in
Sargam and
Dastan opposite
Rehana and
Suraiya, respectively. Kapoor also acted in the 1950 film
Pyar, which was not a hit movie and not a popular movie, and did not receive critical acclaim. In that film, the singers were
Kishore Kumar,
Geeta Dutt, and
Shamshad Begum. The film had a total of nine songs, with Kishore Kumar singing five songs which were two solos and three duets. The three duets Kishore had was two duets with Geeta Dutt and one duet with Shmashad Begum. Geeta Dutt singing six songs, which were two duets with Kishore Kumar and four solos, and Shamshad Begum singing only one song which was only one duet with Kishore Kumar. This movie marked the first, and last time Kishore Kumar sang for Raj Kapoor, and it was rare for only one male singer to sing in one film as in most of his films, more than one playback singer sings for him in his films, and Raj Kapoor's major playback singers for him were
Mukesh and
Manna Dey. Kapoor had only one release in 1951 which was his own directional, the
crime drama Awaara co-starring
Prithviraj Kapoor and Nargis. The film opened to highly positive response from critics as well as the audience and proved to be another major success for the actor. Its soundtrack composed by
Shankar–Jaikishan was the best-selling
Hindi film music album of the 1950s and became popular in foreign markets as well, especially in the
Soviet Union,
China,
Turkey and
Afghanistan.
Awaara also earned Kapoor a fan-following in Soviet Union where the film had approximately 100 million admissions and remains the third-most watched foreign film in the country. In 1952, he reunited with Nargis for
psychological drama Anhonee and
crime noir Bewafa. While
Anhonee was a success,
Bewafa only managed average returns. This was followed by a minor setback, the next year as none of his films, including
Aah and
Dhoon worked at the box office. After having no major appearance in 1954, he made a comeback in 1955 with the
comedy drama film
Shree 420, co-starring Nargis and
Nadira, which garnered critical acclaim and emerged as the
highest-grossing Hindi film of the year. Its songs, such as "
Mera Joota Hai Japani", a solo by
Mukesh, "Pyar Hua Iqrar Hua", a duet by
Manna Dey and
Lata Mangeshkar, and "Mud Mud Ke Na Dekh", a duet by Dey and
Asha Bhosle, topped the year-end annual list of
Binaca Geetmala and made its soundtrack the fourth best-selling
Bollywood album of the 1950s.
Shree 420 was released in the Soviet Union in 1956 and it took 2nd spot at the
Soviet box office charts that year. Despite being imported at an unusually high price, it was the most successful foreign film of the year at the Soviet box office, drawing an audience of 35 million viewers. At the
3rd National Awards, it won
National Award for Second Best Feature Film in Hindi. The following year, he starred in Anant Thakur's
Chori Chori and
Sombhu Mitra's
Jagte Raho (which he also produced). Although underperforming commercially, the latter received acclaim and its
Bengali version won Certificate of Merit at the
4th National Film Awards.
Chori Chori and
Jagte Raho also proved to be the final film appearances of Nargis opposite Kapoor. After delivering a moderate fare with
Sharada in 1957, Kapoor delivered two successful films, the next year -
Phir Subha Hogi and
Parvarish, both co-starring
Mala Sinha. In 1959, he collaborated with
Hrishikesh Mukherjee for the
comedy drama film
Anari, which also had
Nutan,
Motilal and
Lalita Pawar in the lead. The film took number one spot at the box office that year and was a blockbuster for Mukherjee whose last directional
Musafir received lukewarm response from audience. The soundtrack of
Anari became one of the best-selling Hindi film album of the decade. Especially the song "Kisi Ki Muskurahaton Pe", a solo by Mukesh, was very popular. Kapoor began the 1960s with
Radhu Karmakar's
Jis Desh Mein Ganga Behti Hai (which he also produced) and
Manmohan Desai's
Chhalia. The former did very well at the box office. It won Kapoor several accolades, including
National Award for Second Best Feature Film in Hindi,
Filmfare Award for Best Film and his second
Filmfare Award for Best Actor. On the other hand,
Chhalia based on
Fyodor Dostoevsky's "
White Nights" was a moderate commercial success, but received positive response from critics. From 1961 to 1963, he had only one success in
C. V. Sridhar's
melodrama film
Nazrana (1961). In 1964, Kapoor had two releases,
Dulha Dulhan opposite
Sadhana and his own directional
Sangam, co-starring
Vyjayanthimala and
Rajendra Kumar, which was the first
Indian film to be exclusively shot abroad on locations including
London,
Paris and
Switzerland and was also among the most expensive film of its time with the
longest runtime for an Indian film up to that time. Its soundtrack, composed by Shankar-Jaikishan, became very popular and included the songs "Dost Dost Na Raha", "Har Dil Jo Pyaar Karega", "Bol Radha Bol", "Yeh Mera Prem Patra".
Sangam also proved to be one of the last major hits of Kapoor as a lead.
Decline, focus on direction and further acting assignments (1965–1988) Kapoor lost stardom in the late-1960s as his subsequent releases, such as
Teesri Kasam (1966),
Diwana (1967),
Around the World (1967) and
Sapnon Ka Saudagar (1968) were commercially unsuccessful. In 1970, he starred, produced and directed
Mera Naam Joker, which took six years in making. However, in later years, it attained cult status and is now considered one of his best films with film experts labelling it a "misunderstood masterpiece". For portraying a kind-hearted clown in the film, Kapoor won
BFJA Award for Best Actor (Hindi). The following year, Kapoor produced and appeared alongside his son (
Randhir Kapoor) and father in
Kal Aaj Aur Kal. The film proved to be moderately successful and marked Shankar-Jaikishan's last collaboration with R. K. Films. In 1973, he decided to launch Rishi to cover-up the losses incurred due to the box office failure of
Mera Naam Joker, in the
romantic musical Bobby, which paired him opposite debutante
Dimple Kapadia. The film opened to thunderous commercial response, both in India as well as overseas, and emerged as the highest-grossing film of 1973, as well as one of the highest grossing to that point. In 1975, Kapoor returned to acting with two back-to-back successful films in Randhir Kapoor's
Dharam Karam and Naresh Kumar's
Do Jasoos. Upon release, it did not live up to expectations and underperformed domestically, but was successful overseas due to his popularity in the Soviet Union. In 1982, Kapoor once again directed his son Rishi in the romantic musical drama
Prem Rog opposite
Padmini Kolhapure. The film marked his return to social themes and emerged commercially successful at the box office as the
second-highest-grossing film of the year. The same year, he appeared alongside Shashi in
Asit Sen's
Vakil Babu, which marked his final film appearance. In 1985, he directed and produced the romance film
Ram Teri Ganga Maili, which had his youngest son
Rajiv Kapoor and the then newcomer
Mandakini playing the lead roles. Despite not having any stars, the film took first spot at the box office that year and proved to be one of the biggest hits of the 1980s. At the
33rd Filmfare Awards, it won five awards, including the
Best Film,
Best Director for Kapoor and
Best Music Director for
Ravindra Jain. The film was Kapoor's last before his death in 1988. A few months before his death, he had made a film with legendary actor
Ashok Kumar,
Chor Mandali (1986), but it was never released due to legal issues. Although the movie remains unreleased, its songs are available. He was also working on an
Indo-Pak cross-border love story
Henna, which was later directed and released by his son Randhir in 1991 and went on to become a major box office success. ==Personal life==