So he gave him his break a lead actor in 1947 with the film, Neel Kamal, where Kapoor was cast opposite a 14 year Madhubala. That he wanted to be in front of the camera, not behind it. But Sharma says he understood why the young Kapoor went to smarten himself before every shot he gave the clap for. A furious Sharma slapped Kapoor hard in front of the entire. Kapoor, more bothered about his close-up, goofed up the clap and got the actor’s beard stuck between the two jaws of the clapboard. The unit had travelled far out to Ghodbundar to take a single shot at a precise time at sunset. For this Kapoor would meticulously comb his hair to look good in the shot and would bend over closer over the clapper board to get a good ‘close-up’. So he got him to take his close-up before every shot and then give Kapoor the photograph. According to Kapoor’s daughter, Ritu Nanda’s book, Raj Kapoor Speaks, Kapoor recalled that he had a good vibe with the cameraman, who was working on Sharma’s film at the time. Here, as part of his training, he was made to sweep floors and be the clapper boy. He also assisted director Kidar Sharma, who was a good friend of his father. He then worked in his father’s Prithvi Theatres and side by side in films, did the role of Narad in Valmiki (1946), where his father played the title role. Born on Decemin Peshawar, he was crazy about acting right from childhood, even staging plays at home and working as a child actor in Inquilab (1935)! He then started work as general factotum for Bombay Talkies, even doing a bit role in the Devika Rani starrer, Hamari Baat (1943). Ranbir Raj Kapoor was the son of Prithviraj Kapoor the head of India’s greatest and largest film family. There could be endless debates about his exact contribution to the art and aesthetics of cinema, but few can deny that he was the greatest entertainer ever known to Indian films – the great showman. Raj Kapoor is many things to many people: producer, director, actor, editor, musician, story-teller, a man of many moods.