No other Indian actor has generated as much goodwill and positivity for India abroad as Raj Kapoor has.
Since Dada Saheb Phalke’s Raja Harish Chandra, the first silent film made in India in 1913 and the first film with sound, Alamara made in 1931 by Ardeshir Irani, the Indian film industry has come a long way. In terms of numbers, India is the largest producer of feature films (around 1,500 a year) in more than a dozen languages in Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Cochin, Guwahati etc. Hindi films account for roughly 35% of the total number of films produced, followed by Telugu (20%), Tamil (16%), Kannad (8%) and Malayalam (6%). Bhojpuri and Punjabi films are very popular in Bihar and Punjab, respectively.
The film industry employs, directly or indirectly, around 2 million people. According to the Consultancy firm Ormax media, Bollywood’s output in 2023 was worth US$1.3 billion.
Southern films Bahubali 3, KFG Chapter 2, Kantara, Pushpa 1 and RRR now have pan India viewership. Thanks to the RRR song, Nattu Nattu winning an Oscar, the first Indian film song to get it, Telugu cinema has shot to international limelight.
Over the years, the importance of cinema as a potent soft power has been realized and acknowledged. Indian films not only entertain the 32 million strong Indian diaspora spread over 30 countries but act as a bridge of friendship between India and different countries. Thanks to the explosion of social networks and Indian international film festivals held at different world capitals with a significant presence of the India diaspora, Indian film actors and actresses are now recognized globally and have a fan following. Shah Rukh Khan has teenager fans in Germany and is very popular in the Gulf countries. Interestingly, southern idol Rajinikanth is hugely popular in Japan. Amitabh Bachchan has acquired cult status among millions in the diaspora. Thanks to her role in the American TV serial Quantico watched in nearly 200 countries, Priyanka Chopra Jonas has become an international celebrity.
In the 1950s, when Indian films were still in black and white, and soundproof studios were a rarity, when social networks were nonexistent and the Indian diaspora wasn’t so rich and influential abroad and nor sought-after back home in India, there was a blue-eyed actor who wasn’t six feet tall, nor did he boast of six packs. He did not he dress up in designer clothes, nor did he drive a Ferrari. Still in dozens of countries, where there were no people of Indian origin, he was revered. Locals would go hysterical about him thanks to his film, Awara. They adored him. They loved him. In fact, they were crazy about him. They fell in love with India because of him. His fans became friends of India. His name was Raj Kapoor.
In the last 75 years, no other actor from Indian films in any language has generated as much goodwill and positivity for India abroad as Raj Kapoor has. Regrettably, Raj Kapoor’s contribution towards the generation of warmth and goodwill for India in many foreign lands has not been suitably recognized and rewarded. It should be. It’s never too late to make amends.
Filmi folklore (not fiction) says that Raj Kapoor landed in Moscow for Awara’s premiere (1954) without a visa. But lo and behold, the country of ironclad security let him in without a visa. Hundreds of Raj’s fans thronged the hotel where he and Nargis were staying, and lifted them in their car to the theatre where Awara was to be screened. According to another version, his fans lifted the car on their shoulders with Raj and Nargis seated inside and brought it from the theatre to their hotel. In the history of the Indian film industry, we won’t come across such a surreal scene for an Indian actor on foreign soil.
His popularity wasn’t confined only to the ordinary filmgoers; it impacted the top leadership and the intelligentsia of the time. No wonder Awara finds a mention in Nobel Prize winner Russian novelist Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s famous novel, Cancer Ward. Once at the banquet hosted by Nikolai Bulganin, the Soviet PM, in honour of the visiting Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, he and his cabinet colleagues proudly sang “Awara hoon”. How many young actors would know that the entire Awara film was watched by the Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev and the Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev separated by over 25 years? And the surprise of surprise, the film was also watched earlier by the Chinese helmsman, Mao Zedong. Awara remains the only film which has been watched by three history making leaders who impacted their countries and the world.
Raj Kapoor was popular not just in the countries that were a part of the Soviet bloc—Central Asian Republics, Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and Romania—but also in Turkey, Greece, Middle East, Latin America, China and South Asia. This happened without any publicity blitzkrieg or advertisement campaign. This was spontaneous love, affection and admiration for him in the hearts of his fans.
In his early films, he stood with the ordinary man in the street. He was very proud of India and underlined his love for his motherland; these lines of a song in Shri 420 stress this phenomenon:
Mera juta hai Japani, patloon Englishtani/Sar pe lal Russi topi, phir bhi dil hai Hindustani.
While his black and white film, Jis Desh Main Ganga Bahati Hai deals with the issue of surrender by the dacoits of Chambal and exhorts them to come back to society (Aa ab laut chalen, bahen pasare tujhako pukare desh tera), he also pays tributes to India:
Hotho pe sachai rahati hai, jaha dil me safai rahati hai/hum us desh ke vasi hain/jis desh mein Ganga bahati hai.
In one of his films, he advises the giving up of old ideas and mindsets and embracing the new dawn: Chashma utaro, phir dekho yaro/duniya nai hai, chashma purana.
A song from Diwana reflects influence of the Jain philosophy of Shyadwad and the essentiality of a of win-win diplomacy: Tumhari bhi Jai Jai, hamari bhi Jai Jai/Na tum hare, na hum hare!
His films convey a message of hope and optimism even in the darkest circumstances: Ya gardish mein hoon aasman ka tara hoon…
The night-long search for water in Jagate Raho ends in: Jago mohan payer jago, nagar nagar kaliyan jagi…/Navyug chume nain tihare…..
In the darkest night he sings: Woh subah kabhi to ayegi…/Jab dukh ke badal pighalenge, jab sukh ka sagar chhalakega.
And his timeless nasihat: Sajan re jhoot mat bolo, Khuda ke pas jana hai.
Instant digital connectivity, countless social networks, the Indian diaspora the world over facilitate international space and attention to films of Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, Aamir Khan, Salman Khan and others. But their fans and admirers don’t automatically become fans and admirers of India. However, viewers’ love and affection for Raj Kapoor and his early films transmits warmth and positive feelings for India. Not a small achievement.
For generating such goodwill for India and building bridges of friendship with half the world, Raj Kapoor deserves to be honoured with a Bharat Ratna posthumously.
Surendra Kumar is a retired ambassador of India.