Raaj Kumar at 100: Remembering the legendary Hindi film actor

In May, 1994,  at a villa in Andheri West, Mumbai, film director Chetan Anand was shooting the muhurat shot (first official take) of a film starring actors Mithun Chakraborty and Neena Gupta. Among those present was poet Kaifi Azmi. To the pleasure of everyone, actor Raaj Kumar made a regal entry and was the first to greet Azmi with due respect. Freelance photographer Pradip Bandekar pointed out that Mithun did not have the courtesy to look at the legendary poet. .

It is said Raaj Kumar was not happy with the story or the cast of the film Anand was directing. After the muhurat he personally told Anand not to go ahead with the film, as the cast was not to his liking.  Due to differences with the producer, Anand abandoned the project.  Anand’s relation with Raaj Kumar was one of cordiality before he became a film star.   When he was a police inspector before his film career, Raaj Kumar was convicted for murder. Anand appointed a lawyer to save him. Raaj Kumar  never forgot the help he received from Chetan Anand.

Dilip Kumar and Raaj Kumar in the film Saudagar (1991)
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

The Raaj Kumar centenary is a good time to assess his acting abilities. He was certainly not classic like Ashok Kumar or Balraj Sahni, neither was he versatile like Dilip Kumar or poetically nuanced like actor and director Guru Dutt. He initially flopped as a typical romantic hero in films like Panchayat (1958) .  However Mother India (1957), Ujala (1959), Dil Ek Mandir (1963), Kaajal (1965) and, later, Pakeezah (1972) had good dialogues and when handled by a sensitive director Raaj Kumar worked his charms on the silver screen . He overshadowed almost every actor he confronted histrionically in films with his majestic screen personality, unique rhetoric oriented dialogue delivery and emotional intensity.

After pairing with actor Nargis in an impressive cameo in Mother India, Raaj Kumar had great chemistry with actors like Meena Kumari, Mala Sinha, Nutan and Sadhana.  The veteran actor Mala once said, “I paired opposite Raaj Kumar in memorable films like Phool Bane Angare and Mere Huzoor. His performance was original and when he emoted he could do so sans glycerin.” ”

Actor and Member of the Lok Sabha, Hema Malini remembers, “Raaj sahab was strongly against larger-than-life characters and felt that most films lacked logic. During the shooting of Sharara, he learnt to waltz and stepped up brilliantly with me during the song, ‘Shabnam, Sharara’.”

Raaj Kumar was equally comfortable performing a western dance number with actor Helen for the song, ‘Chodo Dil Ka Lena Dena’ in Maryada (1971). The ‘Ah Ha Ha’ antara in the song, rendered brilliantly by singer Mohammed Rafi, was Raaj’s Kumar’s choice. The superstar of the 1970s, Rajesh Khanna, agreed to perform as second lead to Raaj Kumar in Maryada as he truly respected the legend.

Raaj Kumar in Jawab (1995)
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

Raaj Kumar’s most memorable performance was Godaan (1963) in which he shot an impressive death scene in one take. But he confessed that in Heer Ranjha (1970) Priya Rajvansh the female protagonist scored over him with her acting.

An avid reader of Tagore, Omar Khayyam and PB Shelly, Raaj Kumar used to recite their works often. . He openly felt comedies in Hindi were generally tragedies with the exceptions of Professor (1962) and Padosan (1981) . 

With flashes of brilliance in Bulundi (1981), Police Public (1990) and Saudagar (1991), his later films of the 1980s and 1990s were largely forgettable. Directors only concentrated on his style, and he was forced to play to the gallery.  The earlier sharpness of Waqt (1965), Hamraaz (1967) and Pakeezah (1972) was missing from his later films. He understood this, but could do little to change the system.

 Director and film producer BR Chopra felt Raaj Kumar was ideally suited for European and Hollywood films. Raaj’s Kumar’s wife, the late Gayatri, a Jew by faith, stated that her husband was a complex person but took full care of his family without any inhibitions.

. Raaj Kumar had very good rapport with actors Rajendra Kumar, Shammi Kapoor and Sunil Dutt.   Raaj Kumar will be remembered as the true ‘raj’ of Indian cinema who has few equals.