Prithviraj Kapoor

Prithviraj Kapoor Biography

Prithviraj Kapoor is the celebrity to whom Bollywood and Bollywood lovers owe a lot. He was also the patriarch of the Kapoor family of Hindi films and now the four generation is contributing a lot to Bollywood – including Karishma, Kareena and Ranbeer Kapoor. He started his career in the silent era of Indian cinema and has provided the basement of Bollywood industry, no doubt. He was one among the founders of Prithvi Theatres and has been associated with IPTA. Though he has done many movies as leading hero, it’s for the role of Akbar in the classic opera ‘Mughal E Azaam’ for which he is remembered most. He did the role of a stubborn father and rude emperor in the movie, the movie that’s still counted one among the classics. For his amazing contributions to Bollywood cinema, Indian government has honoured him with Padma Bhushan in 1969. He was hiven Dada Saheb Phalke award in the year 1971 too.

His empire branched like a big banyan tree and all his sons, grandsons and grand-grand kids have proved their talents and versatility in Bollywood. As he keeps traditional values, lady members were allowed to enter film industry, which was subsequently broken by Karishma kapoor and Kareena Kapoor during 90’s and year 2000’s. His three sons – Raj kapoor, Shammi Kapoor and Shashi Kapoor have given the best contributions to industry from 1950’s to 1980’s. Later the third generation in the form of Rishi Kapoor, Rajiv Kapoor and Randheer Kapoor and Fourth generation has ruled the Bollywood till now!

Born in 1901 in Punjabi, Pritviraj was proficient in 6 languages.  He completed his studies from Khalsa College, Lahore and he did his higher studies at Edwardes College, Lahore. He joined for lawyer. But during his college studies, he became interested in drama and acting. Professor Jai Dayal played a significant role in polishing his acting skills, used him for many dramas too.

After completing his studies, his family moved to Mumbai which gave him direct path to enter film field. He did many silent movies and did a supporting role in India’s first talking movie ‘Alam Ara’. Later his role as Alexander the great in the movie was well appreciated and he has done similar movies like Mughal-E-Azam. He started travelling theatre ‘Pritvi’, but later fully concentrated on Bombay talkies, that proved successful too!

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Updated: May 28, 2018