Golden Era of Bollywood: Remembering RAJ KUMAR on his 90th Birth Anniversary

Saturday 8 October 2016

Remembering RAJ KUMAR on his 90th Birth Anniversary

"Aapke paon dekhe, bahut haseen hai, inhe zameen par mat utariyega, maile ho jayenge."

Who is not well aware of this dialogue? Delivered by the veteran actor Raaj Kumar who reigned the Indian film industry as long as he was around. He was known for delivering dialogues prefixed with a "Jaani".

The real name was Kulbhushan Kharbanda,was born on 8th October 1926 at Baluchistan Pakistan.He was a Kashmiri Pandit,he could read and write Urdu,he had strong language skills.He was a Police Sub-Inspector in Bombay before he joined films.As per his son once he went to watch a film at Metro cinema. There veteran filmmaker Sohrab Modi saw him and offered him a film. But he declined it. He eventually did Nausherwan-E-Adil (1957) with him. Later, he went on to do films like Mother India, Dil Apna Aur Preet Parayi and Dil Ek Mandir (between 1957-1963).

His quintessential style emerged after Waqt (1965) and he came into his own with Kaajal, Humraaz and Neel Kamal in the late 60s. It was often said that he didn’t suit the romantic category. But look at him in Heer Raanjha, Lal Patthar and Pakeezah (early 70s). How much more romantic can you get? Personally, I liked him in Karmyogi, Bulandi, Police Public and Saudagar (between 1978- 1991).His first film was Rangeeli released in 1952

He married Jennifer, an Anglo-Indian, whom he met on a flight where she was the airhostess. She later changed her name to Gayatri per Hindu customs. They had three children, sons Puru Raajkumar (a Bollywood actor), Panini Raajkumar and daughter Vastavikta Raajkumar,all the three tried their luck separately in fims but couldn't get success.

From his screen debut in Rangili in 1952 to his last film God & Gun in 1995, he played memorable characters in 60-odd films.He died of throat cancer at the age of 69 on 3 July 1996