Did You Know? – Why Prithviraj Kapoor Refused PM Jawaharlal Nehru’s Invitation
Did you know this about the late Prithviraj Kapoor?
When you look at Bollywood, one thing is inescapable: it is a team job with a capital "T'. It was more so when films were made with small budgets and no big financier to back them. Indeed, even big names began modestly and this meant multi-tasking by the few who were on board, for money, and for passion.
Did you know that when Prithviraj Kapoor travelled, be it for a theatre performance or a film shoot, everyone travelled 3rd class by train and had the same roti/puri-sabzi meals? His sense of teamwork was so strong that once invited by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, he refused, insisting that the entire team be invited. Nehru happily met everyone.
His son Raj Kapoor inherited those qualities. He gathered around him, multi-tasking teamsters. Everyone was on the sets, every day, whether required or not. V P Sathe, who co-wrote Awaara, was also Raj Kapoor's publicity man. The task was later taken over by another writer, Bunny Reuben.
Team dedication paid. Some fulfilled their ambitions to do bit roles to appear on the screen. Do you know Jaikishan of the Shankar-Jaikishan musical duo was the drunk boyfriend of Nadira in Shree 420? She dumps him and takes Raj Kapoor, the laundry delivery man, to the nightclub.
Do you know lyricist Shailendra figured as one of the slum dwellers in the same film, dancing in the Ramaiya Vastavaiya song sequence?
And, by the way, do you know that the song title only means asking one Ramaiya to hurry up? It is a Telugu expression. The R.K. team was at Khapoli near Bombay, on the way to Poona. Ramaiya was the bearer in the local dhaba! Shankar, who was from Hyderabad and knew Telugu, would place orders and urge him to hurry up, saying Ramaiya, vasta vaiya. Shailendra liked its lilt and rhythm and turned it into a memorable song.
And do you know that playback singer Mukesh crooned his own song, "Chhotisi Yeh Zindagani.. " in the film Aah? He plays the tonga rider taking Raj Kapoor's character, terminally, sick to his beloved.
Talking of teamwork, do you know that was how Bimal Roy moved from Calcutta to Bombay? Although a big name in Calcutta, on arrival in Bombay, Roy and his team began living in a single room. His team had all "Assistant Directors" who excelled in different disciplines of filmmaking. So, Roy had Hrishikesh Mukherjee also the film editor, Nabendu Ghosh also the writer, and Asit Sen also doing comic roles. Even as they worked for Bimal Rpy, each one blossomed to lead in their respective fields.
Mukherjee became a renowned director-editor. So did Basu Bhattacharya, who later married Roy's eldest daughter Rinki. Ghosh wrote practically all the films of Roy. Asit Sen, the rotund man with a nasal wang while delivering his dialogue was in films made, later Shakti Samanta and many others.
