Kapoor family, Bollywood celebrities come together to celebrate Raj Kapoor’s centenary

PTI, Dec 14, 2024, 9:48 AM IST

Mumbai: Raj Kapoor’s children and grandchildren, including actors Randhir Kapoor, Kareena Kapoor and Ranbir Kapoor, joined other industry luminaries like Rekha and Sanjay Leela Bhansali to celebrate the legacy of the Hindi cinema showman at an event here on Friday.

A day before the legendary actor-filmmaker’s 100th birth anniversary, the premiere of five of his iconic films — “Awara”, “Shree 420”, “Sangam”, “Mera Naam Joker” and “Bobby” — was held at suburban multiplex as part of a three-day festival to showcase the restored classics.

Ranbir Kapoor and his wife Alia Bhatt were the first to step out on the red carpet, which was adorned with movie posters of his grandfather’s impressive filmography that has shaped Indian cinema.

Raj Kapoor’s daughter Rima Jain, daughter-in-law Babita, Kareena Kapoor and her husband Saif Ali Khan, Karisma Kapoor, Neetu Singh, Riddhima Kapoor Sahni, Kunal Kapoor, Aadar Jain, Alekha and Armaan Jain joined in for pictures for the media.

A live music band at the entrance added to the celebratory mood, belting out timeless melodies like “Jeena Yaha Marna Yaha”, “Mera Joota Hai Japani” and “Kisi Ki Muskurahaton Pe”.

PVR INOX Limited and the Film Heritage Foundation have organised the RK Film Festival, a three-day retrospective beginning Friday.

It will showcase Raj Kapoor’s 10 films including “Aag”, “Barsaat”, “Awaara”, “Desh Mein Ganga Behti Hai”, “Sangam”, “Mera Naam Joker”, “Bobby”, and “Ram Teri Ganga Maili”. These movies will be screened at select PVR INOX theatres in 40 cities.

Hindi film stalwarts such as Prem Chopra, Rahul Rawail, Rajkumar Hirani, Vishal Bhardwaj, Prakash Jha, Ashutosh Gowariker, Rakyesh Omprakash Mehra, Padmini Kolhapure, Mahesh Bhatt, Soni Razdan, Anees Bazmee, Aanand L Rai, Sriram Raghavan, Nitesh Tiwari, Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari and Vicky Kaushal were also part of the centenary celebrations.

Others spotted at the event include Farhan Akhtar, Rohan Sippy, Tiger Shroff, Rasika Duggal, Boney Kapoor, Riteish Deshmukh, Genelia D’Souza, Shweta Bachchan Nanda, Agastya Nanda, Sikander Kher, Ramesh Taurani, Vijay Varma, Sharvari Wagh, Huma Qureshi, Aditya Roy Kapur and Terence Lewis.