So many untold stories swirl around the seven-decades-old R.K. studio, which Raj Kapoor’s wife and five children have resolved to put up on sale.
“Yeh jageh eent aur patthar hi toh hain (this place is but a collection of bricks and stones),” Indian cinema’s grandest showman had once said in a mellow mood. He had built the iconic studio out of scratch at Chembur, which in the 1940s was a sparsely populated suburb of Bombay, regarded as the route-way from the city to the cooler climes of Khandala-Lonavla.
Around 1949, shortly after he directed Aag (1948) and Barsaat (1949), Raj Kapoor had secured a loan from a member of the family of his wife Krishna Malhotra, whom he had married at the age of 22. His bride was 16.
The showman’s son, Rishi Kapoor recalls, “The loan was taken from one of my aunts. It must have been from one of my maternal aunts. The Kapoor family wasn’t exactly well-off then, one of my mother’s sisters must have helped him out. The loan was paid back once Awara became a success.”
The son adds that during the day, his father would act for other film production companies. During night he would attend to the construction of the studio, where the Awara (1951) song – Ghar aaya mera pardesi... – was picturised during night and the early morning hours for over a month.
Being a major fan of Raj Kapoor’s oeuvre, I was privileged over the years, to speak with the showman, especially during a visit to the central government’s Festival of India in Los Angeles, where he was the chief guest. The celebrated music conductor Zubin Mehta was one of the many admirers who had personally welcomed him to the event. At a dinner, actress Rajshree who was his co-star in Around the World (1967), and had prematurely quit the movies for marriage, had made a rare public appearance.
As the RK Studio is now on the verge of the end-frame, I can’t help returning to the copious notes which I’d jotted down in the conversations with one of the most defining filmmakers of cinema which blended entertainment, romance, and a social reformist fervour.
As it happened, there were quite a few films which he wished to make, but for myriad reasons they fell through the cracks.
One of them was a period tale which he had titled Ajanta, revolving around the legendary courtesan Amrapali who forsook love to embrace Buddhism. To be made on the heels of the resounding success of Sangam (1964), presumably it would showcase Vyjayanthimala. However, the actress and Raj Kapoor who were in the midst of a liaison, parted ways.
Moreover, Ajanta couldn’t be realised since director Lekh Tandon announced that he would be making the musical extravaganza, Amrapali, toplining none other than Vyjayanthimala opposite Sunil Dutt. Without much of an ado, RK moved on to Mera Naam Joker (1970), one of India’s lengthiest films clocking 255 minutes with two intervals.
Rated as a classic today, it was rejected at the time of its release. Trade talk had claimed that producer Gulshan Rai, to offer underhanded competition, had premiered the Dev Anand thriller Johny Mera Naam on the same day.
Some scenes for Mera Naam Joker had been filmed with Sharmila Tagore. Whether this footage was edited out for reasons of length or whether a sequel had been planned, will remain a conundrum.
Next, when video cassettes entered the market, his friend, occasional co-writer and publicist V.P. Sathe had ‘phoned to ask me if I had a copy of Frank Capra’s movies of the 1930s: Mr Smith Goes to Washington (1936) and Mr Deeds Goes to Town (1939), starring James Stewart and Gary Cooper respectively as quintessential common men sought to be corrupted by big town sharpies.
Capra’s works were ideal as a springboard for Raj Kapoor whose Awara and Shree 420 (1955) had earlier shared the theme of the wicked ways of slick townies. When I seek to corroborate whether the filmmaker was, indeed, interested in a Caprasesque subject, Rishi Kapoor remarks, “I cannot confirm that. But I do know that at one point, he had asked his writers to see Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner.”
That Oscar-winning film (1967) tackled the subject of racial prejudice, or a progressive newspaper’s editor’s hostility to a black groom chosen by his daughter. Directed by Stanley Kramer with Spencer Tracey, Sidney Poitier and Katharine Hepburn. Clearly, here’s a timeless topic which the auteur would have excelled in.
Heart bracingly, a conflict between the privileged and the working class in Bobby (1975) –introducing Dimple Kapadia with Rishi Kapoor in his first adult role -- not only restored the RK Studio to its former glory, but went a long way in repaying the debts incurred by the commercial failure of Mera Naam Joker.
Shashi Kapoor, who played the lead in Satyam Shivam Sundaram (1978), had once said excitedly, that during a ‘plane ride, his eldest brother had told him he wanted to make a film called Ghunghat ke Pat Khol. The title was derived from a song rendered by Geeta Dutt for the Kidar Nath Sharma’s Jogan (1950), starring Nargis and Dilip Kumar.
The project didn’t go beyond the title though. Raj Kapoor’s swan song Ram Teri Ganga Maili (1985), focusing on a single mother, turned out to be one his most successful films. The script of his next film Henna was in the works when he passed away in 1988, at the age of 63.
Rishi Kapoor discloses that Raj Kapoor’s first choice to helm Jagte Raho (1956) was the master Satyajit Ray. That was not to be as Ray wasn’t sure he wanted to venture into Hindi cinema at that juncture. The reins were then taken over by Shombhu and Amit Maitra. It was released in its Bengali version, Ek Din Raatre, too.
A project with writer Vijay Tendulkar was planned, as well as a film for the RK banner to be directed by Saeed Mirza and Kundan Shah. Their TV serial Nukkad (1986-’87) had impressed RK. Those were not to be, alas, either.
Indeed, the concepts and stories which must have been discussed and debated at the famed RK cottage within the compound of the studio, are a reminder of the era when content was truly king.
(The writer is a film critic, filmmaker, theatre director and weekend painter.)
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