RAJ KAPOOR KE DO LAADLE BACHCHE

In his four decade long career as a director , the showman Raj Kapoor has made some of the best films in Indian Cinema, which have made his a legend in the true sense - Ali Peter John

How can history and the generations to come forget his films like "Barsaat" ," Shri 420 " , "Jis Desh Mein Ganga Behti Hai", "Sangam" "Bobby" " Prem Rog", "Satyam Shivam Sundaram" and "Ram Teri Ganga Maili".

"Henna " was started by him but he died before the shooting could start and the film was then directed by Randhir Kapoor .

Raj was proud of all the films he directed, but strangely , the two films made under the RK banner he loved " like his children " were "Jagte Raho" and "Mera Naam Joker"

"Jagte Raho " was made in 1956 and was not directed by Him Shambhu Mitra , but by the well-known Bengali director.

Raj was not the leading man in the usual sense and had played a role that was close to his heart .

Motilaal known as the first natural actor of Indian Cinema had a very powerful role and Nargis who was the leading lady of Raj in several films only appeared in the last scene .

The film however turned out to be a disaster at the box Office, even though the leading critics of the time acclaimed it . The failure of the film broke the heart of the showman, but the show had to go on for him .

He had wanted to make an autobiographical film about himself and no one knew it better than his "conscience" ( as he called his favourite writer, K A Abbas ) .

Abbas wrote the script as he could not say no to Raj who he knew as a friend and as one of the greatest directors of Hindi Cinema .

Raj made ,"Mera Naam Joker" in three parts with a running time of three and a half hours with himself as the "Joker" and Simi Garewaal, Padmini who was the leading lady of "Jis Desh Mein Ganga Behti Hai" and a leading Russian actress with actors like Rajendra Kumar , Manoj Kumar , Dharmendra and Dara Singh in guest appearances.

He had his favourites Shankar - Jaikishan , Shailendra and Hasrat Jaipuri to take charge of the music and Radhu Karmakar , his usual cinematographer. Incidentally , the film also marked the debut of Rishi Kapoor as a child artist .

There were great expectations all over all through the making of the film and the expectations reached dizzy heights towards the date of the release . It was released at hundreds of theatres all over the world where Hindi films were known .

The film flopped miserably after the very first show . And it failed to make a mark among the same people who worshipped Raj Kapoor as a filmmaker and the master maker was not the same man he was till Abbas wrote the script of "Bobby " on his request and the success of the film brought the Showman back to life and he didn't look back till he won the Dadasaheb Phalke Award , collapsed while accepting the award from the then President Mr R Venkatraman, was rushed to the Escorts Hospital in Delhi where he died after a few days .

But the scars of "Jagte Raho" and " Mera Naam Joker" remained with him till the very end.

And when he spoke about those films , he said, " they are my favourite children who I cannot disown just because they flopped .

I am like their mother and mother cannot dislike her children just because they are not as good as her other children.

These two films may have had their weak points, but they are still my own children who will always be my most loved children ".

AISI BAAT SIRF WOH KAR SAKTE HAI JINME EK FILM BANAANE KA JUNOON AUR DEEWANAPAN HOTA HAI. AUR KYA RAJ KAPOOR HINDI AUR BHARTIYA CINEMA KA SABSE BADA DEEWANA NAHI THE ?

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