Bollywood Saturday: Do You Know Raj Kapoor Took Inspiration From This Novelist For Sangam?

Bollywood Saturday: All about the inspiration behind legendary showman Raj Kapoor’s classic blockbuster Sangam.

Bollywood Saturday: Raj Kapoor is known for his unique style of storytelling as his cinematic legacy remains evergreen. In-spite of giving great actors to Indian cinema since decades the Kapoor family still cherished the magnificent persona of the showman. The late actor-director believed in progressive Hindi movies which were at par with global standards of filmmaking. At a time when Indian films were struggling with finance since India was slowly making progress towards socio-economic development. Raj Kapoor’s passion for art was driven by real life inspirations or works of great thespians. Sangam, which was one of the biggest hits of 1964 and the highest grossing movie of the decade after K Asif’s Mughal-E-Azam.

RAK KAPOOR TOOK INSPIRATION FROM A CLASSIC NOVEL FOR SANGAM

Rahul Rawail, who was a friend of Rishi Kapoor and Assistant Director in Mera Naam Joker and Bobby, has written about Sangam in his book – Raj Kapoor: The Master at Work. Rahul writes, “Sangam was a story idea taken from Hall King’s novel The Manxman. Inder Raj Anand, the prolific writer, had read that book and narrated the idea to Raj Sahab who got inspired by the plot, took up that story and changed the background and the characters to be more relatable to the audience. It was a very intriguing romantic film. The movie showcased a brilliant conflict – the misunderstanding between a husband who believed his wife had been with his friend.”

Sangam was the first Indian film to be exclusively shot abroad and was also among the most expensive film of its time with the longest runtime for an Indian film up to that time. The movie was also released in the Soviet Union in 1964. Filmmaker Dasari Narayana Rao remade the film in Telugu and Kannada languages as Swapna (1981).

For more updates on Raj Kapoor and Sangam, check out this space at India.com.

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