Remember the currently most discussed pic in India? Yes, it is the Kapoor Khandan with the P.M.! Of course, the viral video has its own hilarious moments such as the family taking a whole long week to decide how to address the Prime Minister! The lady, moreover, stylishly mispronounced the poor word. Such 'kitty party' mannerisms are but to be expected of Bollywood-ians, especially of the brood of THE 'showman' of Hindi cinema!
The occasion of the meet makes us overlook such funny bits. The occasion was the formal announcement cum celebration of the birth centenary of Raj Kapoor. In a way, it is the birth centenary of Bollywood itself because more than anyone else, it was Raj Kapoor who made the industry what it is today.
He was, for example, the director to begin the studio system in the Indian film world. He was the one who made films infused with both the national pride and, oh, yes, the 'wet dream' sequences. A Raj Kapoor heroine is always dunked in water in some form or the other, leaving, of course, very little to the male viewer's imagination!
Yet some of his films do capture the teething problems of a nascent nation. Look at films like 'Awara', 'Shri 420', and the much viewed, as per the Prime Minister's confession, 'Jagate Raho', for instance. His acting consisted of the Indianisation of the great Charlie Chaplin as in 'Anadi', and he did indianise 'The Roman Holiday' as 'Chori Chori'.
He was youthful enough to let go of the obsessive and massive failure of 'Mera naam joker' and make a 'Bobby', India's own take on the Romeo-Juliet phenomenon. The songs of his films, great poetry set to melodious music, are wonderful, and they set the trend of Bollywood as song-n-dance bonanza.
His DoP would be great, too. Remember the final scene of the dacoits surrendering in "Jis desh me ganga bahti hai"? His editors were the best in the industry then. He thus made the art of film making a dream sequence that the spectators the world over, especially in the socialist block, loved.
Ideologically, his films do critique the capitalistic forces that the emergent india had to negotiate. In that sense, his filmography is nationalist, however much it may be escapist romances. As the P.M. told his family the other day, he made films which are a kind of Indian 'soft power' in days when the concept was not even coined. Hence this tribute!
Pratima@Mukesh, his screen voice, has this gem of a song 'Jeena yahan, marna yahan/iske siwa jana kahan' which sums up the leitmotif of the life of the artist who conceptualised the RK banners! Yes, sure 'rahengi nishaniya' (my parents', especially Aai's, favourite line) because in the globalised attire (japani joota, pataloon inglistani, lal topi rusi, et al) beat a 'dil hai hindustani'!
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