The show-man Raj Kapoor

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Raj Kapoor was born on 14 December 1924. Raj Kapoor also known as the show-man, was a legendary Indian film actor, producer and director of Hindi films. Winner of eight Filmfare Awards. Raj Kapoor's films like Awaara (1951) and Boot Polish (1954) were nominated for the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival.

Raj Kapoor began his career as a clapper boy assisting Kidar Sharma at a film studio. When he was 11 years old, Raj Kapoor appeared in films for the first time, in the 1935 film Inquilab.

Raj Kapoor's big break came with the lead role in Neel Kamal in 1947 opposite co-star Madhubala. In 1948, at the age of 24, Raj Kapoor established his own studio, R. K. Films, and became the youngest film director of his time.

Raj Kapoor's first film as a producer, director and actor was the 1948 film Aag. However the film failed to do well at the box office. In 1949 the actor once again starred alongside Nargis and Dilip Kumar in Mehboob Khan's classic blockbuster Andaz which was his first major success.

Since then he went on to produce, direct and star in many box office hits such as Barsaat (1949), Awaara (1951), Shree 420 (1955), Chori Chori (1956) and Jis Desh Men Ganga Behti Hai (1960). In 1964 he produced, directed and starred in Sangam which was his first coloured film.

Raj Kapoor moved onto directing and starring in his ambitious 1970 film, Mera Naam Joker, which took more than 6 years to complete. The film got released in 1970, and was a box office disaster.

He made a come back in 1971 when he co-starred with his eldest son Randhir Kapoor in Randhir's acting and directorial debut Kal Aaj Aur Kal (1971) which also starred Raj Kapoor's dad Prithviraj Kapoor as well as Randhir's wife to be Babita.

In the latter half of the 70s and early 80s Raj Kapoor produced and directed movies which focused on the female protagonists like Satyam Shivam Sundaram (1978) with Zeenat Aman, Prem Rog (1982) with Padmini Kolhapure and Ram Teri Ganga Maili (1985) which introduced Mandakini.

Raj Kapoor last was seen in Vakil Babu (1982). Raj's last acting role was a cameo appearance in a 1984 released British made-for-television film titled Kim. The star died of asthma in 2 June 1988.