Randhir Kapoor - Career

Career

Randhir Kapoor made his acting and directorial debut with Kal Aaj Aur Kal (1971) which also starred his wife, father and grandfather. The film, produced under the R.K banner, was an average success.

After his debut, he scored with 3 more consecutive hits ‘Jeet’ ,'Raampur Ka Lakshman' and Jawani Diwani(1972)Jawani Deewani was one of the biggest hits of that year and was applauded because of the music and performances. The other success, released the same year, was Raampur Ka Lakshman, with Shatrughan Sinha and Rekha, and directed by Manmohan Desai, with music by R.D. Burman. In 1975 he directed and starred alongside his father once again in Dharam Karam which was a failure at the box office.After which remake of MGR’s hit 1971 film Rickshawkaran was made in Hindi in 1973 with Randhir as the lead hero opposite new heroine Neetu Singh but the film flopped though its music was popular. In 1974 he had 2 big hits – Hamrahi and the 2 hero film Haath Ki Safai as hits but Dil Deewana failed to be a hit at the box-office, inspite of its music being better than its prequel Jawani Deewani. In 1975, his 2 solo lead hero films were hits –Lafange and Ponga Pandit but his other 2 movies were not successful – Dafa 302 and Dharam Karam.From 1976 till 1981, Randhir had solo hero hit films like - Khalifa, Aaj Ka Mahaatma, Bhanwar, Ram Bharose, Dhongee and his multi-star films like Chacha Bhatija (1977), Kasme Vaade (1978) (he earned a Filmfare nomination as Best Supporting Actor), Mama Bhanja, Heeralal Pannalal, Dhyanu Bhagat also known as Bhakti Mein Shakti, Chor Ke Ghar Chor, Biwi-O-Biwi: The Fun-Film were hits too. All of a sudden after Harjaee in 1981 became a disaster, in-spite of having many hits under his belt, film offers for him as the solo hero or in multi-star cast films got reduced. Another film which was started in 1976 titled Nikkamma got a delayed release in 1983 with title as Janejaan, which was a dud. Even the 2 hero films- Sawaal and 'Pukar (1983) – where Randhir performances were appreciated by critics – became box-office flops whereas Humse Na Jeeta Koi was average success in 1983.

Randhir played the lead hero in 34 films from 1971-1987 and had 23 of them as box-office hits. Randhir Kapoor was 3rd highest paid actor from 1971-1975 with Dharmendra and 4th from 1976-1983.

After the 1986 film Khazana he quit acting and took to producing and directing. In 1991 he completed his father's last film Henna which was in production at the time of his death. He earned a Filmfare nomination for Best Director. In 1996 he was the producer of PremGranth which was the directorial debut of his younger brother Rajiv and in 1999 he was the producer of Aa Ab Laut Chalen which was the directorial debut of his brother Rishi. As he achieved great success as an actor from 1970-1981 but after offers as an actor dried up from 1982, he turned a producer – producing Ram Teri Ganga Maili in 1985 which was a blockbuster and directed 'Henna' in 1991 which starred his younger brother, Rishi, and Pakistani actress, Zeba Bakhtiar and was again a blockbuster. The film Heena resulted in a trip to Pakistan, where he was treated royally by the then Pakistani President Nawaz Sharif, who turned out to be a fan of his dad Raj, his uncles Shammi and Shashi and also of Randhir himself.

In 1999 he returned to acting with the film Mother alongside Rekha and fellow yesteryear actors Jeetendra and Rakesh Roshan. After another break he appeared in the film Armaan (2003). On 13 May 2007 he made an appearance on the television chat show Koffee with Karan where his brothers and sister Rima as well as his sister-in-law Neetu Singh appeared. On the show, it was mentioned how Randhir had been Neetu's first leading man in the film Rikshawala (1972), and they laughed about how the film hadn't done well.

In 2010 he returned to films with a role in Housefull and Action Replayy. In 2012 he appears in the multi-starrer Housefull 2 which also marks the first film in which he appears with his brother Rishi.