NEW DELHI: India marked on Saturday the 100th birth anniversary of Raj Kapoor, remembering the legendary actor and director, whose enduring legacy continues to shape and inspire Indian cinema.

Considered one of India’s greatest and most influential actors and filmmakers, Kapoor is fondly known as the “first showman of Bollywood” and the “greatest showman of Indian cinema.”

He was born on Dec. 14, 1924, in Peshawar, now Pakistan, from where his family later moved to Mumbai.

The son of actor Prithviraj Kapoor, he debuted alongside his father at the age of 10 in “Inquilab,” a Hindi film about an earthquake in Bihar. He went on to star in more than 60 films, directing more than a dozen of them.

Nearly four decades after his death in 1988, Kapoor remains one of India’s most-loved icons. His birthday anniversary is celebrated with a retrospective of 10 of his iconic films screened in 40 cities across India this weekend.

Marking Kapoor’s birthday on Saturday morning, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid tribute to the “visionary filmmaker, actor and the eternal showman” in a series of social media posts, saying he “was not just a filmmaker but a cultural ambassador who took Indian cinema to the global stage.”

One of Kapoor’s most famous films, “Awara” (1951), was the first Indian movie to reach the global stage. Known overseas as “The Vagabond,” it became an overnight sensation in South Asia, and soon found box-office success also in East Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Eastern Europe.

“Even today Awara is a film that is etched in my mind,” fellow film star Amitabh Bachchan wrote on X in celebration of Kapoor’s birthday. “You are amazed by his fantastical imagination.”

The film blends social themes with the genres of crime, romantic comedy and musical melodrama, featuring a character based on “the Little Tramp,” a role Kapoor also explored in other films, earning him another nickname: the “Charlie Chaplin of Indian cinema.”

For many Indians, the characters in his films were ones they could relate to.

“What strikes you is how poor people are portrayed there. They are shown as someone who is trying to survive in a world dominated by rich people and industrialists and businessmen. The main character is an outsider in the world of rich people and still manages to make inroads in their lives through his character and innocence. This appeals to me,” said Ghanshyam Datt Varma, a teacher in Chittorgarh who runs a Raj Kapoor fan page on Facebook.

“I started my life as a commoner, someone at the margin of society, and through my hard work I became a schoolteacher, despite all the hurdles. I feel the character in Raj Kapoor’s films, like ‘Sangam,’ ‘Mera Naam Joker,’ and so ... He was really a showman, a film personality who portrayed people of India and their struggle so beautifully.”

The film’s theme song, “Awara Hoon,” is still celebrated globally and has been rated among the greatest Bollywood songs of all time many times.

“I grew up watching his films and singing the songs of his films,” said Rahul Prakash, a lawyer from Patna.

Kapoor is for him a “legend-like hero who taught not one but many generations the ultimate meaning of love. A visionary director who gave birth to characters that were imaginary but also realistic,” he said.

“The way he portrayed the character of a common man on the silver screen — in such a simple and natural way — is immortal.”

Kapoor’s films were commercial successes not only in South Asia but also in the Middle East, the Caribbean, Africa and in the Soviet bloc.

“Raj Kapoor was not only a Bollywood personality but an international personality. He promoted India’s soft power through his films. His films were very popular in Russia because of the theme he chose and the pomp and gaiety he showed,” Rana Siddiqui Zaman, film critic, told Arab News.

“He is also one of the first directors to give roles to Pakistani artists. In the film ‘Heena,’ the main female character is from Pakistan. There is no other filmmaker in the industry who drove international filmmakers to call the Mumbai film industry ‘Bollywood.’”

LONDON: Britain’s Prince Andrew was facing intense media scrutiny on Saturday after revelations that a close Chinese business associate of the scandal-hit younger brother of King Charles was thought by the British government to be a Chinese spy.
In a court ruling on Thursday, it was disclosed that the businessman, known only as H6, had been banned from Britain on national security grounds because the authorities suspected he was working clandestinely for Beijing to forge close contacts with prominent British figures.
Late on Friday, Andrew, the Duke of York, issued a statement to the BBC and other media in which he said he had “ceased all contact” with the individual, described in the court documents as a “close confidant,” once concerns were raised.
“The duke met the individual through official channels, with nothing of a sensitive nature ever discussed,” the statement said.
However, questions about the case have continued to dominate British front pages and news broadcasts.
The Daily Telegraph newspaper reported that the British intelligence agency MI5 was investigating Chinese money given to Andrew, while the Times said the prince had invited the businessman to the royal properties Buckingham Palace, St. James’s Palace and Windsor Castle.
The Mirror reported that King Charles had been briefed by MI5 and was “truly exasperated” by the situation. A royal source told Reuters that Buckingham Palace had been kept informed of the situation in the appropriate ways and at the appropriate junctures.
ESPIONAGE ACCUSATIONS
While British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has sought to thaw ties with China since taking office in July, London and Beijing have repeatedly traded spying accusations, with British security services warning of Chinese attempts to infiltrate political, business and academic spheres.
The Chinese embassy in London described the H6 case as another attempt to smear China and sabotage normal working relationships.
The case also shines a light on the finances of the 64-year-old prince.
Andrew, once a dashing naval officer who served in the military during the Falklands War with Argentina in the early 1980s, has now become a royal pariah over his friendship with the late US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
He was forced to step down from a roving UK trade ambassador role in 2011, before quitting all royal duties in 2019 and then being stripped of his military links and royal patronages in 2022 amid allegations of sexual misconduct which he has always denied.
British media have reported that Charles had cut off his allowance and wanted to oust the duke from his Royal Lodge home on the Windsor estate.
The court documents about H6, who had been authorized to act for Andrew to seek investors in China, referred to a 2021 document listing talking points for a call between him and the prince in which he wrote the duke was “in a desperate situation and will grab onto anything.”