By Jagmohan Singh Barhok
On His 97th Birth Anniversary
Raj Kumar, one of the finest actors of Hindi films needs no introduction. He carved a nice niche for himself in Mehboob Khan’s “Mother India”, an Oscar-nominated movie featuring Nargis, Sunil Dutt and Rajendra Kumar in the lead. A sub-inspector in the Mumbai police in late 1940s,the actor went on to work in films like Paigaam, Ujala,Shararat, Dil Apna Aur Preet Parai, Dil Ek Mandir,Waqt, Humraaz, Neelkamal, Maryada and Heer-Ranjha which eventually shaped his film career.
In “Paigaam” he outclassed Dilip Kumar in a particular scene;both never worked again for years until Subhash Ghai ventured to bring them together in “Saudagar”.The remarkable feature of his acting was his distinct style of dialogue delivery which made the audiences clap intermittently in his films.
It is surprising that the actor who was known as a sarcastic or rough tough kind was asked to portray romantic roles in films like “Neel Kamal”, “Heer Ranjha” & “Pakeezah” by some of the well known directors like Ram Maheshwari,Chetan Anand & Kamal Amrohi.It was interesting to see Kumar singing
दोनों जहां की
भेंट चढ़ा दी मैंने चाह में तेरी
अपने बदन की
खाक मिला दी मैंने राह में तेरी
अब तो चली आ इस पार
आजा मैं तो मिटा हूँ तेरी चाह में
तुझको पुकारे मेरा प्यार. Neel Kamal
अपना पता मिले न खबर यार की मिले
दुश्मन को भी ना ऐसी सज़ा प्यार की मिले
उनको खुदा मिले है खुदा की जिन्हें तलाश
मुझको बस इक झलक मेरे दिलदार की मिले
ये दुनियां . Heer Ranjha
Raj Kumar began his career with 1952 film “Rangili” & got recognition with Sohrab Modi’s ‘Nausherwan-E-Adil’ (1957) also featuring Mala Sinha & Naseem Banu.
Kumar appeared in few detective films towards the end of his like “Marte Dam Tak”, “Police Public” & “Police Aur Mujrim”. Sridhar’s “Dil Ek Mandir” won him a Filmfare Award in the Best supporting role category. The actor, though well versed in various sinews of film acting, was known for his arrogance and belief that he was the superlative. His funeral was attended by a very few, as he himself had earlier predicted.
