With India completing 60 years of independence this year, it is a special year for Bollywood also. This year marks the 60th anniversary of RK films, the banner synonymous with the actor-director-producer Raj Kapoor.
The Chaplinsque wanderer who dreamt of a fair and happy world, who broke all barriers with his child-like innocence was the enduring icon of the early films by Raj Kapoor.
It was the year of India’s Independence, when Raj Kapoor, then 24, turned director with Aag and launched his own banner RK Films. With that he became the youngest filmmaker of his time. As the country realised its long awaited dream of freedom, so in Aag, Kapoor’s hero Kewal Khanna breaks away from family tradition to pursue his own dream. The success of Aag prompted Raj Kapoor to set up his own studio, a sprawling landmark in Chembur.
In the following years, Raj Kapoor went to produce, direct and star in many hit films which have gone on to become classics – Barsaat, Andaaz, Aawara, Boot Polish, Shri 420, Anari, Jis Desh Me Ganga Behti Hai, Chhalia and Sangam.
RK Films established itself as a banner that entertained people with its heart in the right place. In Shri 420, he sang the song that still holds true for the ‘Made-in-India’ spirit in this age of globalisation.
"We were a young India at that point of time, when my father was at youth we were young, achieved independence, the youth was aimless, didn’t know what to do, the British had gone and we were picking up our own identity, so there were lovely stories to say. India was building up, India was being made,”says actor Rishi Kapoor.
Raj Kapoor’s ambitious 1970 film, Mera Naam Joker which took more than six years to complete did not work at the box office. In the 70s as the country welcomed its first ‘new generation’ since independence, RK Films bounced back with Bobby. It was a new generation romance, bold and beautiful, a Romeo and Juliet story about feuding families, the rich-poor divide, but, with a happy ending.
In his later years, Raj Kapoor made a handful of films that commented on the status of women in society – Satyam Shivam Sundaram, Prem Rog and Ram Teri Ganga Maili, all filmed as commercial potboilers. Ironic that the very films he described as sympathetic to the cause of women, were accused of being exploitative.
Both Satyam Shivam Sundaram and Ram Teri Ganga Maili made news for their bold scenes. Prem Rog, however, was praised for its progressive theme of widow remarriage.
It’s difficult to separate RK Films the banner and Raj Kapoor the filmmaker. The banner flourished for over four decades under the leadership of Raj Kapoor, the success and popularity of whose movies made RK Films one of the most formidable film-producing companies in the country, churning out money-spinning hits prolifically, giving other big banners a run for their money.
The success of RK Films can perhaps be measured by the fact that even today, movie channels shell out crores of rupees to purchase telecast rights of their golden classics.
The studio in Chembur is considered a movie museum of sorts, its godowns and storerooms housing some of the oldest and most memorable props from RK’s early films.
And even if the banner has been lying low for the last eight years or so, the RK flag is expected to fly high again, interestingly enough in its 60th year. The Kapoors have revealed that a major announcement is on the way. RK Films will produce a brand new film starring the new face of the family, Rishi Kapoor’s son Ranbir Kapoor.
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