Yesterday, December 14, was the 100th birth anniversary of the legendary Raj Kapoor. His contribution is immense and hence, the Kapoor family has gone all out to celebrate his centenary. He essayed various characters but he was immensely loved and is most remembered for his ‘Hindustani Chaplin’ avatar. Charlie Chaplin’s most famous character was the Tramp, a man with a heart of gold who has no home or job and who also has a fine sense of humour to tickle the funny bone of the audience and the characters around him. Raj Kapoor’s characters in films like Awara (1951) and Shree 420 (1955) were on the same lines. In fact, as per an article in The Times Of India dated December 14, Raj Kapoor was termed as ‘The Tramp Of Bombay’ in Greece where his films drew house full crowds.
The INSIDE story of how ‘The Tramp Of Bombay’ Raj Kapoor brought the OG Tramp Charlie Chaplin to tears with a silent performance
Meanwhile, another article in The Times Of India on December 14 threw light on the unknown episode when Raj Kapoor met the OG Tramp Charlie Chaplin. This meeting happened in 1953 when the first Indian delegation, comprising Raj Kapoor, Dev Anand, Chetan Anand, Nargis, Balraj Sahni, K A Abbas and Bimal Roy visited Venice, Italy. This is when Charlie Chaplin invited the delegation members to his residence in Montreux, Switzerland, located nearly 650 kms away from Venice.
Nevertheless, the delegation undertook the journey to meet Chaplin. As per the Times of India story, Raj Kapoor spoke the most in this meeting. He asked Chaplin how ‘serio-comedy’, that is, comedy with serious elements, can be performed effortlessly. After going silent for a minute, Charlie Chaplin asked Raj Kapoor to emote silently. Raj Kapoor obliged and did as instructed for three minutes. The article said that Chaplin was moved to tears by Raj Kapoor’s act and advised him to follow his own instincts.
That’s not all. Raj Kapoor was overwhelmed by this meeting. He had tears of joy in his eyes when it was time to bid adieu. Nargis, who witnessed this scene, laughed her heart out and lovingly told Raj Kapoor to control his emotions.
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