Raj Kapoor was first presented to the Soviet Union in the 1951 film Awara, where he was immediately adored by the locals.
Raj Kapoor, one of the most important figures in Indian cinema, was born on this day 98 years ago. It was expected that Raj would enter the film industry since his father, Prithviraj Kapoor, one of the pioneers of Indian talkies, entered it when he was born on December 14, 1924. Later, his brothers Shammi and Shashi Kapoor followed suit. Raj Kapoor was a pioneer in cinematic experimentation, both as an actor and a director. It is said that some of his most ambitious ventures, including Mera Naam Joker, flopped at the box office at that time because he was seen to be decades ahead of his time.
However, did you know that Raj Kapoor was regarded as a superstar in the Soviet Union?
Raj Kapoor was first presented to the Soviet Union in the 1951 film Awara, where he was immediately adored by the locals. The film Awara was dubbed into Russian and distributed there under the title “Bradagya.” People allegedly had to wait in line for hours in the rain to buy movie tickets in the Soviet Union.
When Jawaharlal Nehru visited Russia once, he was invited to a state banquet. When Nikolai Bulganin, the Russian prime minister at the time, had his chance to speak, he and his ministers sang the well-known song Awara Hoon from the Raj Kapoor movie. Nehru was shocked by this.
Famous director Yash Chopra once had a scene that perfectly captured Raj Kapoor’s appeal abroad. In an interview, Yash Chopra stated, “We attended the Tashkent Film Festival in 1976. I had previously attended several events as well, but Raj Kapoor was the only Indian filmmaker I witnessed treated like a king abroad. There was a special bus set aside for our 48-person delegation, with the exception of Raj Kapoor, who had a large automobile and an interpreter. We had seats reserved on a train from Tashkent to Samarkand, but Raj Kapoor had the entire compartment. The entire city appeared to have assembled at the station to welcome Raj Kapoor when we arrived in Samarkand.
Raj Kapoor passed away on June 2, 1988, leaving behind a sizable legacy that was carried on by his sons Rishi, Randhir, and Rajiv, and is currently being carried on by their offspring.
