When the world celebrated 100 Years of the Cinema, Russia had planned to release a series of picture books on the great personalities of cinema who had influenced Russian viewers. They released books on such film craftsmen as Sergei Eisentsien, Sergei Bondarchuk, Charlie Chaplin… and Raj Kapoor.

Raj Kapoor! What was India’s legendary showman doing on the Russia’s list of great filmmakers? Plenty, actually!  For many decades, Raj Kapoor was the one foreign filmmaker (apart from Charlie Chaplin) who had a faithful fan following deep in the heart of Soviet Russia!

In 1951, Raj Kapoor had laid the foundation of his RK Studio in Mumbai. A few years later, the studio rolled out its early films – Awara and Shri 420 – which became hits in India and cult classics in Soviet Russia.

Raj Kapoor Magic

1947. While Prithviraj Kapoor’s Prithvi Theatre Company was touring the country performing traditional and experimental plays across India, his son up-coming actor Raj Kapoor, who had already made hits like Barsaat and Aag, was dreaming of setting up his own film studio in Bombay – the vibrant heart of the growing film industry of India.

1951. Raj Kapoor set up RK Studio in the suburb of Chembur, and even while the studio was semi-complete, he shot the famous dream sequence of Awara there.

1954. With the releases of Awara, followed by Shri 420, Raj Kapoor became one of the top actor-directors of the Bombay Talkies.

His early films were extremely popular in Soviet Russia. These were the first Indian films to be screened in Russian cinemas, as a prelude to Prime Minister Nehru’s first visit to the former Soviet Union. Most of the films being made in the Soviet Union were heavy propaganda films. Raj Kapoor’s films presented almost the same pro-poor, pro-working class “propaganda” – but in such imaginative and splendid settings that the Russians were mesmerized.  Raj and Nargis were tremendously popular even with the people on the streets. When they visited Russia, the people recognized them on the streets. They would request Raj to sing Awara hoon for them. And he had a hard time convincing them that it was a playback singer – not him – who had actually sung the song in the film. What was more significant was that Raj Kapoor’s films caused the Russian filmmakers to gradually change their own heavy-handed style of making propaganda films. Raj’s films directly influenced such latter Russian classics like Ballad of a Soldier.

However, the era of light, romantic RK movies concluded when the Raj-Nargis affair ended in the late 50s — after she married Sunil Dutt whom she had met while shooting Mother India. Raj returned to RK Studio with a determination to show the world (and Nargis) that he could still make great movies on his own! He was fired by the true-life story of a schoolteacher in Gujarat, who reformed a tribe of dacoits by education. This became the setting of Raj’s finest movie Jis Desh Mein Ganga Behti Hai (1961) set in the UP badlands. RK movies were known for their great songs (most of them personally scripted by Raj himself), but this movie has a string of beautiful songs – each of them a gem!

The success of Jis Desh, led him to think really big. Sangam was a four-hour, Technicolor magnum opus, which hopped around the world (Switzerland, Paris, London). That is when he earned himself the title The Great Showman of Indian Cinema.  But, Sangam was followed by two critical successes that flopped at the box-office – Teesri Kasam (1966) and Mera Naam Joker (1970). The failure of Joker almost wiped him out (both financially and emotionally) – but Raj re-invented himself with a fresh, love story – Bobby – that took the younger generation by storm. And RK Studio’s fortunes were smiling once more!

The last great movie that the Showman made was Ram Teri Ganga Maili. Perhaps it lacks the frothiness of his earlier romances or the sincerity of Jis Desh Mein, but Ram Teri Ganga shows Raj Kapoor at his matured best.

The story is the age-old melodrama of a tourist visiting a hill station and leaving behind an innocent who he has loved and forgotten. What is different, however, is Raj Kapoor’s symbolic journey that traces the heroine’s evolution from simple village lass to unwed mother as she travels down the Ganges — from Gangotri in the Himalayas to the evil cities on the plains.

But, like in most Raj Kapoor films, the film has an is a happy ending — for deep down in his heart, the Great Showman was an optimistic romantic, who believed that individuals could rise from the sorriest situations to plains of bliss – with a little effort, some luck and guidance from the greatest showman of them all – God!