Trilok Kapoor the forgotten ‘hero’ of Kapoor Khandaan

Unquestionably, Kapoor family is the first family of the Hindi Cinema. While there are other film families who are minting in money with name fame and success, but, none of them had the abidance and impingement
the Kapoors have had on Hindi Cinema for over eight decades now.

Even as most members of the Kapoor family are quite well off and well known, there has been one who hasn’t earned the kind of recognition than the other Kapoors.

He is none other thanTrilok Kapoor younger brother of veteran actor Prithviraj Kapoor.

Infact, it was Prithviraj Kapoor who had control of the Kapoor family’s entry into Bollywood.

Trilok embarked into the acting arena in Lahore in early 1920s and then shifted base to Bombay (.Mumbai) in 1928. He was mastered by Prithviraj Kapoor.

The 21-year-old Trilok made his debut as a lead in Char Darvesh, before co-starring with his brother in Seeta the same year. This was his first hit.

In the 1930s and 40s, he was among the biggest names in Hindi cinema and was one of the highest paid stars, alongside KL Saigal, Ashok Kumar, Karan Dewan, and Prithviraj himself.

In 1947, he established himself as arguably the top hero in the industry with the smash hit Mirza Sahiban opposite Noor Jehan.

Even as his run in the 1930s and 40s was enough to brand him a star, Trilok Kapoor was to see another successful phase of his career in the 50s. But that was the one that depleted his stardom despite success. After 1948, Trilok Kapoor transitioned to mythological films, appearing as Lord Shiva in a number of films. He was part of hits like Ramayan, Har Har Mahadev, Waman Avatar, and Shiv Parvati. All of these were low budget films that succeeded at the box office. This meant that over the course of his career, Trilok Kapoor starred in over 30 hits. This number is higher than Raj Kapoor (17) and Ranbir Kapoor (11). But given that many of these films were small in scale, Trilok Kapoor did not attain that stardom that his nephew and other members of the family did.

After the 1960s, Trilok Kapoor switched to character roles and cameos. He played small roles in hits like Jai Santoshi Maa, Main Tulsi Tere Aangan Ki, Dostana, and Ganga Jamunaa Saraswati. He even appeared in RK Films’ Ram Teri Ganga Maili in a small role. Trilok Kapoor died in Mumbai in 1988 at the age of 76. His last film – Akanksha – was released posthumously and was directed by his son Vijay Kapoor.

News Edit K.V.Raman