Raj Kapoor Little Known Facts

1.     At   the age  of 24, Raj  Kapoor became  the  youngest  film director  India  in 1948  to make Aag ,a blistering  film way ahead of its time   about  a  man whose  face is horribly disfigured by  fire.Many  years later he  tackled the same theme in Satyam Shivum Sunderam. This  time it  was Zeenat Aman with a scarred face. Both Aag and SSS  were major flops , putting   Raj Kapoor’s  RK Studios in  the red. Moral of the story:  do not disfigure  matinee  idols. Indian  audiences  do not like it.

2.     Satyam Shivum Sunderam  released in 1978 was    to be made much earlier with  Lata Mangeshkar….yes, the Nightingale …playing the lead  as a woman whose voice reflects  the beauty of her soul. Lataji who had experience as  an actor during her  childhood  decided against donning the greasepoint. Raj Saab decided  he won’t make the  film without his muse. But  changed his mind many years later. Lataji sang  the soul stirring songs of  Satyam Shivum Sunderam to immortality.

3.     Music  was  the soul   of Raj Kapoor’s cinema. It is an open secret among the close confidantes  of RK that  he  composed many  of  the evergreen melodies  , and let his  official  composers take credit for them. When  asked why he didn’t take  credit for his songs Raj Saab said, “I don’t want to  take  away the  meal of  my artistes.”  Years later Sanjay Leela  Bhansali followed  the same  model of  ghost-composing his  songs. Now of course Bhansali  takes credit for  the music score  of his film,something that Raj Saab never did.

4.     Lata Mangeshkar was Raj Kapoor’s muse .He openly acknowledged her  and Mukesh as the two voices of his cinema. Mukesh  was RK’s ghost-voice  in  every film that Raj Kapoor  directed or acted in. Holi  and  Diwali and Raj  Saab’s birthday on  December 14  the Mukesh family had  to be there at the Kapoors’  residence in brand new clothes.  Mukesh  would get new clothes   for  the entire family for all  the three occasions at  Raj Saab’s place.The  friendship between  Mukesh’s  and Raj Kapoor’s family has  continued over the years.

5.     Raj Kapoor  shared a beautiful  relationship with  Nargis. She was his leading lady  in all his directorial  ventures  from Aag in 1948  till  Shree 420 in 1955.After this,  they parted ways as  Raj Saab couldn’t offer  Nargis marriage  that she  wanted. Her last appearance in an RK Film  was  in  Jagte Raho where she did a cameo as the woman singing Jago mohan pyare in Lata Mangeshkar’s voice who  offers water to a parched Raj Kapoor