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The Real Mughal of the Indian Cinema
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Emperor Akbar will probably always be the booming, stern and imposing, oratorical dialogue-spewing persona that Prithviraj immortalized for us. Prithviraj's rendition of the emperor has been so perfect and spellbinding, capturing the imagination of an entire nation, that if we happened to encounter the real Akbar by any mishap in the time and space continuum, he would fall short of the image of Akbar that the ultimate Screen Mughal created for us.
Once referred to as an uncouth, brawny Pathan, who had nothing to do in the acting field, Prithviraj Kapoor turned out to be the foremost show man of Indian Cinema. With his striking height, majestic demeanor and arresting speech, he was unquestionably the most eye-catching and handsome actor of the time when Hindi cinema was still in its infancy. He lived his dream of acting and performing for 40 memorable years in the areas of theatre and film.
The charismatic legend that we know as Prithviraj Kapoor, was born in 1906 in Samundri, a district of Lyallpur, Punjab, as Prithvinath Kapoor, in a middle class family of land lords. His father was a sub-inspector with the police force. His grandfather, Dewan Keshavmal, laid the first foundation for the actor in him. His first foray into acting began when he joined Edward College at Peshawar and savoured the experience of performing on stage as an amateur actor. After graduation, he pursued a degree in law for a year but put it on hold to follow his dream of acting professionally. By then he was married and had had three children. Nevertheless, armed with a loan from his aunt, he went to Bombay, assuring his wife and children that he would send for them soon.
Prthviraj traveled to Bombay in 1928 and joined imperial films, where after working for a few days as an extra, he landed the lead role in the silent movie, Cinema Girl(1930). Unfortunately, the movie bombed and he was reduced to minuscule roles. But he enjoyed the merit of being an extra in the first Indian talkie, Alam Ara (1931) Later he joined the Grant Anderson Theatre Company where he performed Shakespeare in English. He was specially applauded for his portrayal of Laertes in Hamlet. Then came the turning point in 1933 when he shifted to New Theatres, Calcutta. He came into himself that year, when he performed in Rajrani Meera and then in Debaki Bose's Seeta (1934). He starred in the best of films made by New Theatres, like Manzil (1936), President (1937) and the role believed to be one of his best in Vidyapathi (1937), was given to him by New Theatres.
Sohrab Modi called him from Calcutta and cast Prithviraj in his epic, Sikander (1941), which was about the Greek warrior, Alexander the great, because he believed him to be the perfect Alexander. And with his faultless performance, he immortalized himself in the film industry. With his dashing persona, He seemed to be tailor-made for playing royalty. Despite such gut busting performances few good roles came his way.
He invested his earnings and set up a traveling theatre group called, Prithvi theatre in 1944; his most significant and influential contribution to the world of drama. He was the pioneer who started modern theatre in Hindi at such a scale that hadn't been imagined before. Prithvi theatre was the love of his labour and he was extremely passionate about it. He ran the theatre for 16 years and it staged about 2,662 shows in every single of which, he played the lead! Prithvi theatre launched many new talents like Ramanand Sagar, Shankar Jaikishen and Ram Ganguly. His son, Raj Kapoor also started his career in this theatre.
In films his major performances include, Dahej by V.Shantaram in 1950 and Raj Kapoor's Awaara in 1951, Aasmaan Mahal in 1965, Teen Bahuraniyaan in 1968, his grand son, Randhir's Kal Aaj Aur Kal in 1971. He poured life into the Punjabi movie industry with Nanak Naam Jahaaz Hai in 1969, which had a profound effect on the Sikh community. He tried his hand at directing movies also. His only directorial venture was the celluloid version of his play, Paisa that suffered huge losses. The tragedy of the loss of his voice also struck during the making of this movie. Consequently, he closed Prithvi theatre.
He was affectionately known as Papaji by all and truly so he was the patriarch of the most celebrated film family in India. Members of the family have been stars in the tinsel town in their own right. His father Dewan Basheswarnath Kapoor wasn't to be left out of the limelight. He did a cameo in Awaara, thus, officially involving 5 generations of the Kapoor Khandan in the cinema world.
Prthviraj's undying effort in making landmark contributions to the Indian industry of cinema and virtually shaping the existence that it has today earned him the Padma Bhushan in 1969 from the President of India. He was the third person to receive the prestigious Dadasaheb Phalke Award in the year 1971, and the first one to do so posthumously.
He succumbed to Hodgkin's disease in 1972 after a full life of dreams lived and destinies fulfilled and a rich edifying heritage, which is being kept alive by his vision for the world of Indian creativity, that lives by his motto of, “The Show Must Go On…”
--Lekha Naidu
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