Prithviraj Kapoor was associated with IPTA as one of its founding members and established the Prithvi Theatres in 1944 as a travelling theatre company based in Bombay.
25 Facts About Prithviraj Kapoor
2.
Prithviraj Kapoor was the patriarch of the Kapoor family of Hindi films, four generations of which, beginning with him, have played active roles in the Hindi film industry, with the youngest generation still active in Bollywood.
3.
Prithviraj Kapoor was born as Prithvinath Kapoor on 3 November 1906 in Samundri, Punjab, British India, into a Punjabi Hindu Dhai Ghar Khatri family of the Kapoor gotra.
4.
Prithviraj Kapoor's father, Dewan Basheshwarnath Kapoor, was a police officer in the Indian Imperial Police, posted in the city of Peshawar.
5.
Prithviraj Kapoor's grandfather, Dewan Keshavmal Kapoor, was a Tehsildar in Samundri near Lyallpur.
6.
Prithviraj Kapoor studied initially at Lyallpur Khalsa College then in Lyallpur, and later at Edwardes College in Peshawar, where he received his Bachelor of Arts.
7.
Prithviraj Kapoor went on to study law for a year before deciding to go into acting.
8.
Prithviraj Kapoor began his acting career in the theatres of Lyallpur and Peshawar.
9.
Prithviraj Kapoor went on to earn a lead role in his third film, titled Cinema Girl, which released in 1929.
10.
Prithviraj Kapoor joined the Grant Anderson Theater Company, an English theatrical company that remained in Bombay for a year.
11.
Prithviraj Kapoor developed a reputation as a very fine and versatile actor on both stage and screen.
12.
Prithviraj Kapoor's eldest son, Raj Kapoor, by 1946, had struck out on his own; the films he produced had been successful and this was an enabling factor.
13.
Prithviraj Kapoor invested in Prithvi Theatres, which staged memorable productions across India.
14.
Prithviraj Kapoor starred as the lead actor in every single show.
15.
Prithviraj Kapoor appeared with his son Raj in the 1951 film Awara as a stern judge who had thrown his own wife out of his house.
16.
Prithviraj Kapoor starred in the legendary religious Punjabi film Nanak Nam Jahaz Hai, a film so revered in Punjab that there were lines many kilometres long to purchase tickets.
17.
Prithviraj Kapoor starred in the Punjabi films Nanak Dukhiya Sub Sansar and Mele Mittran De.
18.
Prithviraj Kapoor acted in the Kannada movie Sakshatkara, directed by Kannada director Puttanna Kanagal.
19.
Prithviraj Kapoor remained Nominated Rajya Sabha Member for eight years.
20.
Prithviraj Kapoor was posthumously awarded the Dadasaheb Phalke Award for the year 1971.
21.
Prithviraj Kapoor was the third recipient of that award, the highest accolade in Indian cinema.
22.
Prithviraj Kapoor was aged 17 when he was married to the 15-year-old Ramsarni Mehra, a lady of his own community and similar background, in a match arranged by their parents in the usual Indian way.
23.
Prithviraj Kapoor died on 29 May 1972 and Ramsarni passed away on 14 June 1972.
24.
Prithviraj Kapoor family sold part of 125 acres Rajbaugh to MIT World Peace University which built and houses the memorial for the Prithviraj Kapoor family on its campus.
25.
Raj Prithviraj Kapoor shot many of his films at this farm, including Satyam Shivam Sundaram, Mera Naam Joker, Bobby, and Prem Rog among others.