Raj Kapoor was ‘automatic rifle’ to Dilip Kumar’s ‘old gun’, boys from Peshawar who made Bollywood; rivals who ‘hated to see each other fail’

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Raj Kapoor and Dilip Kumar started their career in the movies in the 1940s. (Photo: Express Archives)

Dilip Kumar ‘envied’ Raj Kapoor’s ‘natural charm’ that made him popular

Much before Raj’s days as a dreamer and entrepreneur, who set up his RK Studios at 24, and Dilip became a leading man, the two actually studied at Khalsa College in Mumbai where they played football on the same team. Raj was the jock who had oodles of confidence and charm, and Dilip, unlike him, was the shy nerd who would hesitate to speak in front of women. Dilip, in his autobiography, Dilip Kumar: The Substance and the Shadow, said that he almost “envied” Raj for his “natural charm” as he was yet to “get over” his shyness. “Raj was always at ease with the girls in the college and his extrovert nature and natural charm earned him considerable popularity,” he wrote. Despite their opposing personalities, Dilip found a true friend in Raj during their college days, so much so that he felt at home at Raj’s parents’ house, where he could get rid of his shyness, at least for a while.

Raj would often try to arrange meetings with the women he was hanging out with, and take Dilip along, but Dilip would often chicken out. When they once found themselves in the company of two Parsi women, Dilip saw Raj’s charm in action. “He had the girl sitting very close to him and, after a minute, they were talking like long-lost friends. Raj had his hand around the girl’s shoulder and she was not in the least bothered,” he shared and added, “He was a natural charmer and he was anything but shy. Yet, he was not disrespectful or uncouth. He was plain mischievous.”

Raj was certain that he wanted to have a career in the movies and he had started preparing for it at an early age with his father’s theatre company. He was assisting at Bombay Talkies and had already appeared in a few roles as a child actor. So when Bombay Talkies hired Dilip Kumar as an actor, Raj was “virtually at the doorstep” to welcome Dilip into the world of movies. In a chat with Lehren Retro in 1994, Dilip shared that Raj would always ask him to join the world of movies, and so when he finally did, no one was happier than Raj, for he would have his childhood best friend to share the joys and sorrows of the movie business. A few years after Dilip’s debut as a leading man, Raj made his debut as a lead actor in Kidar Sharma’s Neel Kamal in 1947.

Nargis, Raj Kapoor and Dilip Kumar in a still from Andaz. (Photo: Express Archives)

‘Anari’ Raj Kapoor ‘hit’ Dilip Kumar on Andaz sets

Within a year, Raj started his studio, RK Films. He wanted to be a filmmaker as well as an actor, so he continued to work in films outside his banner as well. The 1940s were early days for both Raj and Dilip, as they were yet to attain their superstar status, and it was at this time, they collaborated on their only project, Andaz. Starring the two childhood best friends and Nargis, this film by Mehboob Khan would be seen as a casting coup in later years, but that is only because of the success that its cast achieved in the next decade. Since Raj and Dilip were both upcoming stars in the movies, any gossip around them would spread like wildfire in the tabloids.

Years later, Dilip Kumar, in a chat with Radio City, recalled that during a shot where Raj’s character had to hit him with a hockey stick, it grazed him ever so slightly. But before they knew it, the tabloids were carrying it, saying ‘Raj and Dilip were fighting’. “In the scene, he had to do it a little carefully, but he wasn’t an expert or anything then. I think it lightly grazed me. I wasn’t hurt, but people made a mountain out of a molehill. After the shot was over, Mehboob saab came to me ‘Arre lagi toh nahi? Arre yaar kya ho gaya yaar? Anari aadmi se scene nahi lena chahiye tha. (Did you get hurt? What happened? I shouldn’t have asked an amateur to do it’.) I said, ‘Anari aadmi kya? Mera dost hai, aur acha shot kia usne’. (What do you mean by amateur? He is my friend and he gave a good shot’.) And he did well in the film too,” Dilip said.

This incident was probably a warning sign for the two young stars who quickly realised that if they continued to work together, the industry would tear them apart. Even if they tried their best, something or the other would happen that would test their friendship, and it was perhaps because of this that they made a pact to never work with each other again. While the two never addressed why they never worked together, it seems rather strange that two of the biggest powerhouses of the same era never collaborated, even in a remote fashion. Dilip never even worked in a film by Raj’s production company.

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Years later, after Dilip was honoured with the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 1994, he was asked about his best friend in the movies and he quickly named Raj Kapoor. When asked if they ever faced any rivalry, he told Lehren Retro that they maintained a “healthy competitive feeling”. He then mentioned that many people around them tried to create some sort of conflict between them but they had a pact with each other, where they swore to never believe what anyone else might say. “Although people insinuated a lot of things, we never had a misunderstanding. If someone were to say that Raj has said something, then I would know that he wouldn’t have said it, and vice versa. And we knew that even if the other person said something, they would have just said it without meaning it,” he recalled with a smile on his face.

Raj Kapoor walked on his knees to Dilip Kumar’s wedding

Raj and Dilip might have decided to never collaborate on each other’s films, but they were the first ones to support each other in their personal endeavours. Dilip, who was known as the eternal bachelor, had decided to get married at the age of 44, in 1966, to Saira Banu. By all accounts, this was considered late in those days, especially for a star who had been in the tabloids for his romantic relationships since his early days in the movies. So when Dilip decided to get married, Raj walked to his house on his knees, as he had once jokingly promised. Dilip Kumar shared in his autobiography, “Raj Kapoor had joked once in a media interview that the day I would marry, he would walk into my house on his knees. So, when Raj arrived (for Dilip’s wedding), he was promptly reminded of his jovial declaration. He instantly went down on his knees to everybody’s surprise.”

A rare image from Dilip Kumar’s wedding; Raj Kapoor can be seen next to the groom. (Photo: Express Archives)

Dilip Kumar offered to mediate when Raj Kapoor’s wife Krishna left his house

Like most solid friendships, theirs wasn’t just based on the good times they spent together, but also on the tough times where they vowed to be there for each other, regardless of what the world thought of them. It is famously known that Raj’s marriage with Krishna Kapoor went through many turbulent patches – first with Nargis, and then later with Vyjayanthimala. In fact, in the case of Vyjayanthimala, things had gotten so bad that Krishna had put her foot down, as she left Raj’s house. It was at this point that Dilip intervened and offered to mediate. Since Krishna was living in a hotel, Dilip offered that he would go and speak to her, but Raj asked him to stay away. Scriptwriter Ali Raza told Madhu in her book, “Raj told him, “Who are you to come between me and my wife?” The two men had a love-hate relationship. He was family – in their fights, loves, struggles, everything, he was there.” Despite Raj’s instructions, Dilip kept trying, and Raj and Krishna eventually patched up.

Krishna Raj Kapoor, Dilip Kumar, Saira Bano and Raj Kapoor. (Photo: Express Archives)

Dilip Kumar was an ‘old gun’, Raj Kapoor was an ‘automatic rifle’

Raj Kapoor’s son Rishi Kapoor, in Dilip Kumar’s autobiography, shared that Raj and Dilip shared an “eternal fraternal friendship” and while they were “in competition with each other as stars,” they loved each other like “they were born to the same parents.” Rishi shared that they would often get together at Raj’s house where they would revisit their childhood. “Papa would be waiting all fresh and scrubbed and ready in his Pathan attire like an excited child,” Rishi wrote and added that Raj shared his “thoughts, emotions and secret aspirations” more with Dilip, than with anyone else in the family. Rishi shared that even when Raj was on the brink of losing it all, after the failure of Mera Naam Joker, and was launching Rishi in Bobby, by betting every last penny, it was Dilip’s opinion that he sought with all his heart. “They hated to see each other fail or fall from their respective positions as superstars,” he wrote and added that Raj would invite Dilip to watch the rushes of the films he was making, just to get his suggestions.

Raj deeply respected Dilip’s opinion and believed that even his fans belonged to a higher class. In his daughter Ritu Nanda’s book, Raj Kapoor: The One and Only Showman, Raj can be seen comparing the fans of the two. He said, “My fans are the poor, the street urchins, the lame, the blind, the underdog and the have-nots of this world. Not the mature and sophisticated young women. No, they’re all Dilip Kumar fans. They are all madly in love with him.”

Dilip, in exchange, saw Raj as a finer artiste. In fact, he once called himself an “old gun” in front of Raj’s “automatic rifle” “I am a muzzle load. An old gun in which you first load the gunpowder and then the bullet and then you fire,” he told Madhu Jain. Shashi Kapoor, Raj’s younger brother, said that their deep respect for each other, perhaps, started during those Andaz days as they were both awed by each other’s abilities as an actor. “’While Rajji slept, Dilip Sahib rehearsed. Rajji used to tell people to wake him up when the shot was ready. And then he would just steal the scene away from the other,” he told Madhu.

Dilip Kumar was in Peshawar when he heard that Raj Kapoor had slipped into a coma. (Photo: Express Archives)

Their appreciation for each other was such that Raj considered Dilip to be the best there ever was. Rishi, in the same book, shared that his father, in fact, “shouted” at him in front of the entire crew during the shoot of Prem Rog because he wanted a certain expression, and his son was unable to deliver it. “Mujhe Yusuf chahiye,” shouted Raj, as the unit watched silently.

Dilip Kumar was in Peshawar when Raj Kapoor was on his deathbed

The foundation of their friendship lay in their childhood spent in Peshawar, so it was almost poetic that when Raj lay on his deathbed in Delhi, Dilip was in Peshawar. Raj was in Delhi in his last days in 1988, as he was being honoured with the Dadasaheb Phalke Award. Dilip was visiting Pakistan at the time but as soon as he got word that Raj had slipped into a coma, he rushed to Delhi. Rishi recalled, “I remember very clearly how he walked into the room where Papa was lying unconscious and drew a chair close to the bed on which he sat holding Papa’s hand.” He remembered the emotional exchange and further recalled, “He told Papa, ‘I know you like to be in the limelight and have all the attention on you. Enough is enough. Get up and sit and listen to me. I have just come back from Peshawar and I have brought back the aroma of chapli kebabs to tempt you. You and I will go together, and we will walk through the bazaar like we used to and enjoy the kebabs and rotis’.” Dilip’s voice started choking and “tears were brimming over from his eyes” as Rishi and his older brother Randhir watched this emotional moment between two best friends. He shared, “I can never erase the memory of Yusuf uncle’s plaintive appeal and the way he left the room reluctantly, turning back at the door to take one last look at his dearest friend lying unconscious on the bed.”

Raj Kapoor passed away in 1988, and this marked the end of an era for the two young boys from Peshawar, whose dreams built the foundation of the Hindi film industry.