Raj Kapoor: Bollywood’s golden man

It is intriguing how fascinating is the persona of Raj Kapoor that anything about him is always readable.

This book presented by his daughter Ritu Nanda is no different; in fact more so because here we have Raj Kapoor talking about himself.

The pieces where he does so, are eminently interesting, an honest insight into what made him the person he was, the filmmaker he was. He analyses for us what were to become his influences. Obviously, he had the clarity of thought to delve into himself to find the sources that made him.

For instance, in the beginning, he reveals. “I was extremely precocious. And I was a worshipper of nudity. I think it all started because of my intimacy with my mother who was young, beautiful and had the sharp features of a Pathan woman. We often bathed together and seeing her in the nude must have left a deep erotic impression on my mind... women in general occupy most of my early memories…..”

Admissions such as these solve in one stroke all the allegations of Raj Kapoor’s obsession with the female body.

As you go along, this presentation systematically builds up his personality, his honesty is quite enthralling, anyone else would have covered up the earlier admission in euphemisms but not Raj Kapoor and this honesty pervades the entire book where he is speaking, while inputs by others have mostly been heard before and sound repetitive, it is Raj Kapoor’s spirit pervading the book that makes it so un-put-down-able.

Raj Kapoor’s generosity is legendary, his givingness was as larger-than-life as his personality.

To add an extra anecdote about one of his friend-cum-employee mentioned in this book, the story goes that he’d travel by public transport and just when he was nearing the RK Studio he’d take a taxi and collect payment for an entire taxi ride from his home. Once someone complained to Raj Kapoor and he replied “I am aware of what he does and I let him!”

This is confirmed when he says “what really hurts me is to see people, many of whom profess to be my friends, trying to deceive me, smugly thinking that they can get away with it. Of course they do, because I allow them to. I pretend not to understand, when actually I keep track of everything!

That he was one of his kind is evident as the book unfolds. He was growing as a filmmaker and a human being, watching, learning so that his understanding of himself deepened. Raj Kapoor’s “team” is legendary yet once he angered Jaikishen by having Lata Mangeshkar sing without him, when Jaikishen showed his resentment Raj told him”Chhalia Babu [the pet name he called him by] what I have to do, I will do. Please do not interfere.” Evidently for him his film was paramount, not massaging egos.

Anecdotes, such as his visiting Pt Jawaharlal Nehru with Dilip Kumar and Dev Anand are heartwarming making the book very pleasing to the film lover and particularly to Raj Kapoor fans.

Raj Kapoor, making films as he did post Independence when the country was still finding its feet, took on the responsibility of societal concerns without being preachy. His concerns were masked in humour ,emotion, empathy particularly for the poor.His Chaplineque “little man” became the symbol of what he was.

As a filmmaker he was whimsical sometimes impractical, also an extension of Raj Kapoor the man.He had a special liking for’ Danube Waves’ and used the music in practically all his films from Aag to Bobby sometimes with surprising results and he didn’t care that he was repeating himself.

It is difficult to point out what makes this such a readworthy book despite the readers knowing a lot about the subject. His overwhelming love for love, his understanding that love is a unifying force.He says “human beings come into this world and go out of it naked.As for me, I even live in it naked.I have nothing to hide, everything to reveal.”

As a human being Raj Kapoor’s intuition and insight stand out particularly.

For him cinema was the medium through which he lived and understood himself.Raj Kapoor didn’t make arty, intellectual films, he made films that everyone could”feel” rather than discuss, he came to entertain and only the secondary purpose was to make people aware.As Ritu Nanda says”He evolved an approach by which he succeeded in influencing as many people as he entertained.”

The love and respect he garnered in foreign lands is astounding proving that cinema and music are universal.

Surprisingly interesting are the parts where he takes time out to talk to his children, pass on his experiences. He was as much a family man as a filmmaker.

It is difficult to point out the highlights of this book. The real highlight is the showman’s own words which make you privy to the real Raj Kapoor, thrilling you to bits.