Weekly Family News 10/07/2007

Some Lost Stories....
Randhir Kapoor on Raj Kapoor, RK Banner and returning to work with Ranbir Kapoor

The newest Kapoor to join films

Yes, we are all very happy for Ranbir, who is making his debut in Saawariya. Ranbir is my bhatija, Rishi’s son, and naturally my best-wishes and blessings go out for him. Sanjay Leela Bhansali is a very good filmmaker and I’m optimistic the film will do well. Being his first film, I’m certainly looking forward to it more than Kareena’s next film. Both my daughters, Karisma and Kareena, have added to the Kapoor’s family’s fame. I’m sure Ranbir will do the same.

His plans as head of RK Studios

We are planning two films. One will have Ranbir in it, the other Kareena. The scripting of both films is on and hopefully work will start by January.

On how filmmaking has changed since Raj Kapoor’s days

I think we have become escapists in our thinking. Our approach towards cinema has become plastic and life too has become far more expensive. That reflects in our films, not just in content, but also in the way we make films only to make money. My father, Mr Raj Kapoor, had the foresight. He made films that have endured not just in India but also abroad. Six-seven months back when I went to Tashkent and China , they kept asking me about his films. They see his films even now and have dubbedthem in their own languages. My father made films for the ordinary man and kept the ordinary man in the middle of the story. That he had an understanding of the Indian situation was apparent when he made Prem Rog, which was released in 1982. Before the film got made, I had a fight with him and he almost threw me out of the house. My contention was that a film on widow remarriage would not work in an era when people were marrying multiple times. Prem Rog, nevertheless, became a successful film and was his most dramatically correct film. Even today I see new films lifting shots and sequences from Prem Rog. Though I had heard of yuppies and puppies and all that, last day I got to know about DINK: Double Income No Kids, earning childless couples. That’s far things have changed. Around 1950, when he made Barsaat, the film was given an ‘Adults Only’ certificate. Later from archieved documents, we learnt that the A certificate was because of a scene where Nargis was wearing a salwar-kameez without a dupatta. The morals were different, morality was different.

The making of a showman

I think, these days anybody who attends a lot of parties or is seen often on television, becomes a showman. It is his films that made Mr Raj Kapoor India ‘s greatest showman. He did not have much to show outside his films. It is what he did in films like Mera Naam Joker that counts. We created a Russian circus, had very expensive shots involving trains and the whole thing had a very David Lean kind of approach. When the film flopped, the financial impact on us was tremendous. At that point many leading actors and actresses offered to act in his next film without charging any money. But my father instead decided to cast a newcomer, Dimple Kapadia, in his next film. Bobby went on to become a huge hit. More than that, Mera Naam Joker has since then been accepted as a classic. Fortunately, Mr. Raj Kapoor never saw any films and got to know of what Dilip Kumar or Dev Anand was doing from others. We are fortunate to have seen him at work from such close quarters.

On why his father never cast him

I was fortunate to have my father and my grandfather, Prithviraj Kapoor, acting under my direction in Kal Aaj Aur Kal, but it’s my misfortune that my father never considered me in any of his films. He cast Sashi, Rishi and other members of the family, but maybe he thought I did not fit any of the roles. Even now, actors of my age don’t get any roles. They lie when they say that they don’t want to work any more. It is only Amitabh Bachchan who gets taken for these roles.

On the Kolkata days

My father had great affection for Kolkata, where he spent a lot of time in his early days. My grandfather came from Peshawar in Pakistan , much before Partition, and started working in New Theatres in Kolkata. My father was a little child then and maybe it’s this background that made him speak Bengali very well. I remember when we made the Bengali of Jagte Raho, Ek Din Ratre, my father used to converse in Bengali with technicians like Taru Dutt. I come to Kolkata every few months, and each time I miss being with my father here. As kids, he used to take us around showing where he lived, where he worked, where he had misti doi and maacher jhol. Whenever I’m here these days, it brings those sweet memories back.