Raj Kapoor surrounded himself with the foremost talents in filmmaking, acting, writing (Khwaja Ahmad Abbas’), music composition (Jaikishan Dayabhai Pankal, ‘Shankarsinh Raguwanshi’), and playback singers, including Mukesh, ‘Mohamed Rafi’, and Lata Mangeshkar. Kapoor continued to make films of varying critical and popular success up until his death in 1988, and apparently considered Mera Naam Joker his personal favorite. He is still a well-known name not only in India, but in the Middle East, SE Asia, and Eastern Europe. His descendants have attempted to continue the RK Films banner.

The songs of his films endeared Raj Kapoor not only to the masses in India, but to audiences in large parts of Africa, the Middle East, and the former Soviet Union, where his films were to become enormous commercial successes. Visual imagery would always be an important part of his films.