Kapoor is considered to be the best brand name in Bollywood as they have been serving this industry for generations from Prithviraj Kapoor to Raj Kapoor to Shammi, Shashi, Randhir, Rishi, Rajiv to Karishma and Kareena Kapoor. If the history is unfolded, there comes Dewan Basheswarnath Kapoor (Prithviraj’s father), a retired Sub Inspector of Police in Peshawar (now in Pakistan), who also did a cameo role in his grandson Raj Kapoor’s film, Awara and thus the Kapoors have to date five generations involved in Indian film industry. Of the Kapoor’s family, the first to join films was Prithviraj Kapoor who had been so much passionate about acting since childhood. He always wanted to be an actor but never uttered a word about this reality in front of his family members, as no one was in this business in entire family. But finally he broke the ice and entered the film world and vanquished the flags of his skills in this art.

Baburao Patel, the editor and publisher of the top cinema magazine, Film India (the renowned magazine of 30s, 40s and 50s) made an observation about Prithviraj Kapoor saying, “ There is no place in the films for uncouth brawny Pathans who think they can make it as actors.” In his reply to Film India, Prithviraj said, “Baburao, do not provoke this Pathan. If there is no place for me in the Indian films I shall swim across the seven seas to Hollywood and make it there as an actor.” Prithviraj did not need to go to Hollywood. That is history.

Prithviraj Kapoor was born in a middle class landlord family in Samundari, a district of the industrial township of Lyallpur (later renamed Faisalabad), Punjab, now in Pakistan. His father was a Sub Inspector of Police in Peshawar. Prithviraj completed his schooling at Lyallpur and Lahore and then he got admission in Edward College, Peshawar. He got married at a very young age of 18 years. He did graduation from Edward College and then joined a one-year programme of Law. And at last there came a time when Prithviraj gathered courage to pursue his career in acting. He finally decided to walk on the toughest pavements of acting. He took a loan from his aunt and left Peshawar. The days were cold. And Prithviraj continued his travel for Bombay (now Mumbai) in the winter of 1928. Prithviraj’s wife Rama Prithviraj Kapoor was born on 25 December 1908. Soon she lost her parents in the early days of her life. This delicate, petite and beautiful lady got married with Prithviraj Kapoor at the age of 15 years. Rama joined Prithviraj in Bombay in the year 1930. Both of them kept changing the places, as Prithviraj had to go at different locations for his career’s strength. Soon Prithviraj set up a drama company, Prithviraj Theaters. There used to be at least 80 members in this company traveling together like a huge family in a third class compartment of train with loads and loads of stage equipment to do plays in every corner of the country. This drama company was Prithviraj’s first love and meant every thing for him. Soon the company recruited new passionate actors and the figure touched to almost 125 members.

Rama Kapoor was a woman of intense strength and full of energy. She toured with her husband and his drama company where they went.

In 1960, a big tragedy came Prithviraj’s way when he lost his voice. After an operation his voice returned but there was not that particular thunder in it, which used to be earlier. Among his film roles, the character of the father of Prince Saleem in Moughl-e-Azam is still as active as it used to be in that era. The two (Prithviraj and his wife) were suffering from cancer. Prithviraj said goodbye to the world on 29 May 1972 whereas exactly 16 days from the demise of her husband, Rama Kapoor passed away on 14 June 1972. They left behind them Raj Kapoor, Shammi Kapoor, Shashi Kapoor and a daughter.

Raj Kapoor, a legendary name in the Indian film industry, was the eldest son of Prithviraj and Rama Kapoor. He was born on 14 December 1924 in Peshawar. As Prithviraj Kapoor was on the move, his (Raj’s) basic education took place at different locations i.e. he studied in Peshawar, then did part of his schooling in Calcutta and eventually failed to get a form to appear for the Matric examination in Bombay’s Antonia D’ Souza High School. In actual, Raj Kapoor did not like education instead he had his heart in creative fields called acting and filmmaking. So he ended up his academic career in school. When father Prithviraj asked the reason, Raj simply replied saying, “ Sir, if I graduate what happens? I you want to become a lawyer you go to a law college. If you want to be a doctor, you go to a medical college. And if you want to be a filmmaker, where do you go?” Prithviraj had no answer for this remarkable and creative question and thus Raj started sailing across the waves of acting and filmmaking. Raj devoted and immersed himself fully to learn the difficult genres of filmmaking in all departments as an assistant. In 1944, he joined Prithviraj’s Theaters and was assigned the duty to handle all that happened backstage right from the lighting of the sets and sound effects and music to art direction. Then he also acted in plays organized by Prithviraj Theaters. As a hero, Raj Kapoor’s first film was Neel Kamal. Among his films as a hero were Jail Yatra, Amer Prem, Chittor Vijay, Shri 420, Awara and more others. RK Films, his own production company, came into being in 1947 with his first directorial venture, Aag. Thus there started a long journey of filmmaking. And Raj made Barsat, Awara and many other films of good repute. His most noticeable films as a filmmaker are: Sangam, Mera Naam Joker, Raam Teri Ganga Maile, Laila Majnu, Thokar, Miss Coca Cola and many others. 

Shammi got married in 1955 to a famous film heroine, Geeta Bali. In 1965, his wife expired. Geeta gave birth to two children named Aditya Raj (son) and Kanchan (daughter). In 1969, he again married Neila Devi. Among his famous films are: Tesri Manzil, Tum Sa Nahin Dekha, Baramchari and Pagla Kahin Ka. He acted in a number of films and gave appearances on T.V plays too.

Shashi Kapoor, the third son of Prithviraj Kapoor, was born on 18 March 1938 in Calcutta. Shashi emerged on silver screen as a talented actor. He gave numerous hits being a romantic face hero. He got married to a German lady who gave him a son and a daughter. In the film, Junoon, both the husband and wife worked together. And the film broke records. The other hits Shashi gave are Kala Pathar, Churangi Lane 36 and Deewar. Shashi worked in a number of other films too.

Among Raj Kapoor’s children, Randhir Kapoor was the first one to join the film industry. Randhir acted in many films as a hero. The most noticeable are Harjhai and Mama Bhanjha. Then he stepped in the production line and now he satisfactorily continues this genre of art smoothly. Randhir got married to a leading actress of the film industry, Babita. Randhir and Babita gave birth to daughters, Karishma and Kareena. Both are rated as the glamorous and gorgeous gals of silver screen today.

The next one to join the family business was Rishi Kapoor. Raj Kapoor introduced his son, Rishi Kapoor, in his renowned movie, Mera Naam Joker. Rishi played the role of young Raj Kapoor in the movie. As a hero, his first film was Boby under the production of his father. After the stupendous success of Boby, Rishi gave hits like Raffoo Chakkar, Khel Khel Mein, Laila Majnu and Hum Kisi Se Kum Nahin. Sargam and Karz were his other magnificent hits, which made him a household name in India. The films for which Rishi is still remembered except the above ones are Coolie, Naseeb, Prem Rog, Amar Akbar Anthony and Chandni. Rishi has worked with all leading actresses of Bollywood right from Dimple Kapadia to Sri Devi, Madhuri Dixit to Urmila Mantodkar to Tabu. Rishi Kapoor married to a renowned actress, Neetu Singh who has also worked with him in a number of films before marriage. Rishi and Neetu have two children. Presently Rishi enjoys his career as director and an actor. His directorial debut was Aa Ab Lot Chalien featuring chocolate hero Akshay Khanna and gorgeous Aishwariya Rai.

The third one of Raj Kapoor’s sons to come to Bollywood was Rajiv Kapoor who made his debut as an actor but soon failed and adopted filmmaking, which was a dream of his childhood days. He acted in Raam Teri Ganga Meli, Asman, Lava and Zabardast. As a filmmaker, he made Prem Granth featuring brother Rishi Kapoor and Madhuri Dixit. Besides, he made some other box office hits too. Some years back, he tied the knot with a Delhi-based girl.

It’s been a tradition of Kapoors that no woman of the family can enter the entertainment industry. But Karishma Kapoor (the elder daughter of Randhir and Babita Kapoor) broke the ice and opened the paths for the women of her family, which also encouraged Kareena Kapoor (the second daughter of Randhir and Babita Kapoor) to join film world later. After finishing school, Karishma decided to do the jobs of Bollywood.

Born to one of the most illustrious family of Bollywood one thought Karishma Kapoor had a silver spoon to her privilege and all doors would open to her automatically. But it did not happen at all. Hard work, patience, skills and love made her what she is today. Gorgeous and sexiest Karishma’s career started with a hero of small repute Harish in Prem Qaidi. The film went well at the box office. Initially she did not have grip over acting, dialogue delivery and dance. But later she developed and improved on these genres. And now all and sundry know she is the star of high calibre. In the early days of her career, Karishma was awarded vulgar dance numbers exposing her body parts. But she did not care it at all because she was focused and ambitious and wanted to prove to the world about her capabilities, so she waited with patience. Her perseverance paid off. Toady Karishma is an actress of reckoning and a star in her own right. Every bit of this achievement goes to her hard work and determination. Now she relaxes when she looks back at her past, which include many hits, some of them are Raja Babu, Hero No1, Raja Hindustani, Dil To Pagal Hai, Chal Meray Bhai, Biwi No.1 and Rishtey respectively. The film Raja Hindustani fetched her the best actress award, apart from being the biggest hit of the year. In Yash Chopra’s Dil To Pagal Hai, she bagged the best supporting actress award of the year. Recently she got engaged with Abhishek Bachchan as the two have been going through since long and finally decided to tie the knot. Both families are happy with this new relationship as Amitabh Bachchan’s daughter, Shweta is already a Bahu (daughter in law) of Kapoor family.

Following her star sister Karishma Kapoor’s footsteps, Kareena decided to try her hand at acting and proved the fact that she belongs to Kapoor family. After schooling, Kareena joined Mithibhai College to do commerce in Mumbai. In between eleventh and twelfth, she went to Harvard University in USA to do short courses in microcomputers and information technology. Then she joined a drama school and did a course of short duration over there. Upon completion of the courses, she made her way back to home and finished her twelfth. Then Kareena went to her dream island, Bollywood. Kareena’s first release was Refugee, which also launched the heir of Amitabh Bachchan, Abhishek. The film proved well at the box office and broke previous records. Refugee bagged many awards, making her (Kareena) the star of tomorrow. Now the road towards success was smooth for Kareena, though the Kapoor name was there but she actually made her way with her remarkable skills of acting. Today she has many hits to her credit i.e. Mujhe Kuch Kehna Hai, Ajnabi, Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham and Yadeen. Lovely Kareena is now the center of attra- ction of every filmmaker of Bollywood from JP Dutta to Subash Ghai, Karan Johar to Abbas-Mustan.

Kapoors have a big role in maintaining this entertainment industry called Bollywood. They have been involved in it for years and years. Their share in constructing the cinema in a right and positive manner is higher than anybody else. They deserve a salute for their sincere contribution to Indian cinema for which India is known internationally.