Raj Kapoor: The man who made us laugh & cry

Ranbir Kapoor might be setting hearts aflutter back home in India, but Russia still has just one rockstar Kapoor — and that’s his grandfather. More than 29 years after his death, Showman Raj Kapoor continues to rule Russia as the king of the Indian film industry.

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Generations of Russians — even the young — are aware of Raj Kapoor and his cinema and regard him as Bollywood’s numero uno hero despite the new crops of Indian actors who have made a global mark, with their films being released worldwide.

“Raj Kapoor for sure still holds the title of the Indian film industry’s king here in Russia. He is the number one association we have when we talk about Indian cinema,” said 25-year old Annie Vo. Moscow-born Vo, of Vietnamese origin, stressed he was her “favourite” because of the true to life characters he played.

“His characters are very down to earth, true to life and genuine. Anybody can connect to his films, cutting across age, race, education and social status,” she said.

The creative director at Bardelhi restaurant, which serves Indian food and frequently screens Hindi films at its special movie nights, said she had heard of Ranbir and seen Barfi!, but it is Raj Kapoor’s legacy that lingers. “Call me conservative, but I relate more to Raj’s era of actors and their level of class,” she said.

Raj Kapoor, who passed away aged 63 in June 1988, acted in a series of classics such as Shree 420 and Awara and is still widely known as “the greatest showman of Indian cinema”.

Many in Moscow stressed it was his cinema that introduced Russians to Indian films, which was why he continued to wield such magic. Nozima Karimova, a PR firm employee, recalled the reception the actor was accorded at the Tashkent film festival. 

“I went to see Aradhana one morning. I liked it so much that I watched it three times the same day,” he said. Some of the newer releases have their share of viewers, too.  Leonid Parfenov, creator of a TV and book series called Namedni, year-by-year accounts of important developments in culture and everyday lives in Russia, mentions the role of Raj Kapoor in an article on the popularity of Indian cinema.  —PTI