The true avatar of ‘Mother India’!
RANJAN DAS GUPTA
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Many years after his death Raj Kumar is still remembered as ruling the silver screen with his mere presence.
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Unforgettable roles Raj Kumar in “Hindustan Ki Kasam”.
He was known as much for his polished acting skills as for his high headedness and rhetoric. And in an industry notorious for exploiting simple souls, actors generally maintained a healthy distance from him. Indeed, Raj Kumar, the stylish actor, was a unique phenomenon.
New path
He was a very successful IPS officer in Mumbai and was actually Bhushan Pandit, a Kashmiri Brahmin by origin. He left his service due to a difference of opinion with the administration and joined films in the early ‘50s.
Raj Kumar made his debut as a hero in “Nawsherwani Dil”. It was a miserable flop. His consecutive films as a patent romantic hero did not do well too. Mehboob Khan was the first director to recognise his potential and cast him as Nargis’ husband in a cameo character in his landmark film “Mother India”. Clad in a dhoti, he gave a fine performance as a farmer and scored over Rajendra Kumar and Sunil Dutt. His dialogue delivery electrified the audience.
Dynamic actor
Says B.R. Chopra who later directed Raj Kumar successfully in “Humraaz”, “He was the most dynamic actor of his times. Only a strong and sensitive director could handle him. He was unbeatable in delivering dialogues and in ‘Mother India’ he looked as if he was a farmer in real life.” The late Chetan Anand who created the magnum opus “Heer Ranjha” with Raj Kumar felt, “He was moody because of his intelligence and sharp instincts. Once he was convinced about his character, he delivered magic on screen. He, of course, needed subtle control.”
In “Paigham”, Raj Kumar with his majestic screen performance easily scored over veteran Dilip Kumar. Dilip was very disturbed when the audiences raved over Raj Kumar’s performance and replaced him with Manoj Kumar in “Aadmi” in 1968. The two however came together again in Subhash Ghai’s “Saudagar” in 1991 and carried the film on their shoulders.
In the ‘60s Raj Kumar went on to prove his undeniable talent in films like “Dil Apna Aur Preet Parai”, “Ardhangini” and “Dil Ek Mandir”. Shammi Kapoor who worked with him in “Ujala” remembers, “Raj Kumar performed the character of Kalua, an anti hero with true conviction.” “Waqt”, “Humraaz”, “Mere Huzoor” and “Kajal” saw Raj Kumar achieve peaks as a parallel actor. Films were sold on his name. He, however, always felt, “‘Godan’ is the best film I ever acted in. It gave me full scope to get into the skin of a rural character and emote like a villager genuinely does. As it was based on a Munshi Premchand masterpiece, I got my scope to deliver. Another film which I really enjoyed working in was ‘Oonche Log’ where I played a police inspector. The story was really brilliant but astonishingly both the films flopped badly. People only wanted me to deliver high voltage dialogues and I was forced to adopt a particular style to cater to the audience.”
Favourites
His favourite co-star Mala Sinha remembers, “I worked with Raj Kumar in ‘Ujala’, ‘Mere Huzoor’, ‘Maryada’ and ‘Nai Roshni’. He was very cooperative, respected his heroines and maintained a thorough professional attitude while working.” His list of favourite actresses included Meena Kumari, Nutan, Mala Sinha, Sadhna and Hema Malini. He had great respect for Ashok Kumar, Motilal and Balraj Sahani.
After unforgettable performances in “Lal Patthar”, “Heer Ranjha” and “Pakeezah” in the early ‘70s, Raj Kumar was out of the film scene for a brief stint only to return with a bang in “Karmayogi”, “Kudrat” and “Bulundi”. His later films like “Marte Dum Tak”, “Jawab”, “Sharara” and “Tiranga” saw him take to monotonous theatricals and loud acting. He himself admitted, “Yes, I know none of my present films have the touch of my earlier classics like ‘Mother India’, ‘Godan’ or ‘Pakeezah’. But I have to survive as acting is my only profession. Today the standards of films have really deteriorated a lot and no director is interested in making a serious film like Mehboob Khan, B.R. Chopra or Kamal Amrohi.” He was the only actor Amitabh Bachhan never faced and always avoided.
A very private person, he passed away silently, succumbing to cancer on July 3, 1996.
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