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100 Years of a Star
Remembering Raj Kapoor: Showman, star, and dreamer
Editor’s Note: Raj Kapoor’s India
His gentle cinema dreamed of a just nation: socialist in soul, diverse in fabric, and wary of wealth unmoored from ethics.
Vaishna Roy
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Raj Kapoor’s cinema was scaffolding for a nation that was trying to reimagine itself after Independence.
The showman who accidentally documented India’s soul
If one can read a country through its films, Raj Kapoor’s cinema mapped India’s drift from post-Independence optimism to wealth-obsessed conformity.
C.S. Venkiteswaran
Song of the vagabond heart
A fine musician himself, Raj Kapoor introduced lyricist Shailendra and composer duo Shankar-Jaikishan, redefining Hindi cinema and their careers.
Juhi Saklani
Awara and the Constitutional question
Raj Kapoor’s 1951 film staged a cinematic dissent from postcolonial law, demanding dignity for the urban poor within the new moral order.
Lawrence Liang
Uncommon men, common dreams
The showman gave India a bunch of heroes who laughed through hardship, sang through socialism, and smuggled self-love into class struggle.
Aditya Shrikrishna
A tale of two Indias
How Netflix’s Jubilee turned Shree 420’s genuine working-class hero into a Cold War conspiracy, missing what made Raj Kapoor a global phenomenon.
Trisha Gupta
You can’t replicate Raj Kapoor today: Nasreen Munni Kabir
The writer and documentary filmmaker explores Raj Kapoor’s cinema, his political vision, and timeless collaborations with Abbas and Shailendra.
Varrun Sukhraj
The showman and his songs
However far Hindi cinema has moved from its older idioms, Raj Kapoor’s song performances remain fresh and accessible to those who seek them out.
Jai Arjun Singh
Acting innocent
In Raj Kapoor’s later cinema, innocence is no longer organic—it is a stylised deflection, a mask worn after the fall, not before it.
Prathyush Parasuraman
The poor little rich man
Raj Kapoor’s films dressed up socialism for the big screen—but the class line was clear: the elite still got the starring roles.
M.K. Raghavendra
Raj and his Kavi Raj
Shailendra, fondly called Pushkin and Kavi Raj, wrote the theme songs for every Raj Kapoor film from Barsaat in 1949 to Mera Naam Joker in 1970.
Ashutosh Sharma
Shree 420 and the alchemy of Bombay’s capitalist dream
The 1955 classic is more than a parable of corruption; it maps how scams, gold, and real estate laid the foundations of Bombay’s post-war economy.
Ashish Rajadhyaksha
Raj Kapoor never stopped experimenting: Nasreen Munni Kabir
Kabir examines not only Raj Kapoor’s films but the radical spirit that animated them
Varrun Sukhraj
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Remembering Raj Kapoor—The Lede
The showman who accidentally documented India’s soul
If one can read a country through its films, Raj Kapoor’s cinema mapped India’s drift from post-Independence optimism to wealth-obsessed conformity.
C.S. Venkiteswaran
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Remembering Raj Kapoor
Editor’s Note: Raj Kapoor’s India
His gentle cinema dreamed of a just nation: socialist in soul, diverse in fabric, and wary of wealth unmoored from ethics.
Vaishna Roy
REMEMBERING RAJ KAPOOR
Song of the vagabond heart
Juhi Saklani
Remembering Raj Kapoor
Awara and the Constitutional question
Lawrence Liang
Remembering Raj Kapoor
Uncommon men, common dreams
Aditya Shrikrishna
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