Raj Kapoor, who is known as India’s Charlie Chaplin for his outstanding acting skill, is called as the greatest showman of Indian Cinema. He was known to many by his pen name, while his original name was Ranbir, which is now adorned by his grandson Ranbir Kapoor.
Raj Kapoor, whose Hindi-language films were popular throughout India, the Middle East, the Soviet Union and China, was born on December 14, 1924 in Kapoor Haveli now located in Pakistan’s Peshawar region.
Kapoor has won three National Film Awards, 11 Filmfare Awards in India, the Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award and many more. He breathed last in June 1988 at the age of 63 due to complications related to the asthma disease.
Looking at his contributions to the Bollywood industry, Kapoor created history in 1948 by becoming the youngest film director at the age of 24. After that he established his studio, RK films, and debuted as a director in the film ‘Aag’ starring Nargis Dutt, Premnath, and Kamini Kaushal.
On Dilip Kumar‘s birth anniversary, let’s have a look at his 5 best movies
1. Mera Naam Joker
The movie directed, edited and produced by Raj Kapoor is a philosophical. The iconic movie was made under his banner R.K Films. Khwaja Ahmad Abbas was the writer of the film. The plot of this film focuses on a clown who must make his audience laugh at the cost of his own sorrows.
2. Shree 420
The Raj Kapoor directed comedy film has a story of a small-town man who comes to make it big in the city, where he is almost instantly relieved of all his possessions. However, the number 420 refers to section 420 of the Indian Penal Code which prescribes the punishment for the offence of cheating.
3. Jagte Raho
This film is based on the life of a poor villager (Raj Kapoor) who migrates to city in search of a better life. However, the naive man soon becomes trapped in a web of middle-class greed and corruption.
4. Barsaat
Barsaat is a hit musical and an overtly emotional melodrama. Barsaat who had became the highest-grossing movie in Indian cinema at the time of its release beating Mehboob Khan’s Andaz which released 2 months earlier, was Raj Kapoor’s second directional assignment after Aag.
The film revolves around two love stories Pran (Raj Kapoor) and Reshma (Nargis) and Gopal (Prem Nath) and Neela (Nimmi). Two friends with opposite personalities, the rich but sensitive Pran and the womanizing Gopal both have affairs with two mountain girls while holidaying in the valley of Kashmir.
5. Awaara
This is an Indian crime drama film, produced and directed by Raj Kapoor. In this movie, a poor young man named Raj played by Raj Kapoor joins a criminal gang to feed his mother but when he falls in love with Rita, he decides to reform himself for her.