He was inspired by Charlie Chaplin and played characters based on The Tramp in films, such as Awaara (1951), Shree 420 (1955) and Mera Naam Joker (1970).

[A][14] His films were global commercial successes in parts of Asia, the Middle East, the Caribbean, Africa, and the Soviet bloc.

[25] Some early success came with the lead role in 1947 with Kidar Sharma's romantic drama Neel Kamal opposite Begum Para and Madhubala.

[26] The film proved to be a semi-hit at the box office, but his other releases, such as Jail Yatra, Dil Ki Rani and Chittor Vijay didn't do well.

[27] In 1948, he founded his own banner R. K. Films and made his directional debut with the musical drama Aag in which he starred alongside Nargis, Premnath and Kamini Kaushal.

[35] The huge box office success of Andaz and Barsaat made Kapoor one of the leading male stars of the time along with Dilip Kumar and Dev Anand.

[40] Its soundtrack composed by Shankar–Jaikishan was the best-selling Hindi film music album of the 1950s and became popular in foreign markets as well, especially in the Soviet Union, China, Turkey and Afghanistan.

[49] Its songs, such as "Mera Joota Hai Japani", a solo by Mukesh, "Pyar Hua Iqrar Hua", a duet by Manna Dey and Lata Mangeshkar, and ""Mud Mud Ke Na Dekh", a duet by Dey and Asha Bhosle, topped the year-end annual list of Binaca Geetmala and made its soundtrack the fourth best-selling Bollywood album of the 1950s.

[52] Despite being imported at an unusually high price, it was the most successful foreign film of the year at the Soviet box office, drawing an audience of 35 million viewers.

[60] The film took 1st spot at the box office that year and was a success for Mukherjee whose last directional Musafir received lukewarm response from audience.

[63] Kapoor began the 1960s with Radhu Karmakar's Jis Desh Mein Ganga Behti Hai (which he also produced) and Manmohan Desai's Chhalia.

[65][66] On the other hand, Chhalia based on Fyodor Dostoevsky's "White Nights" was a moderate commercial success, but received positive response from critics.

[69] Kapoor lost stardom in the late-1960s as his subsequent releases, such as Teesri Kasam (1966), Diwana (1967), Around the World (1967) and Sapnon Ka Saudagar (1968) were commercially unsuccessful.

Upon release, Mera Naam Joker was heavily panned by critics and proved to be a box office bomb, eventually putting Kapoor into a financial crisis.

[77] In 1973, he decided to launch Rishi to cover-up the losses incurred due to the box office failure of Mera Naam Joker,[78] in the romantic musical Bobby, which paired him opposite debutante Dimple Kapadia.

[83] It ran into controversies and was accused of promoting "obscenity", but opened to positive reception from critics as well as audience and earned him a nomination in the Filmfare Award for Best Director category.

[92] In 1985, he directed and produced romance film Ram Teri Ganga Maili, which had his youngest son Rajiv Kapoor and the then newcomer Mandakini playing the lead roles.

[93] Despite not having any stars, Ram Teri Ganga Maili took first spot at the box office that year and proved to be an All Time Blockbuster and one of the biggest hits of the 1980s.

Few months before his death, he was working on an Indo-Pak cross-border love story Henna, which was later directed and released by Randhir in 1991 and went on to become a major box office success.

[99] Kapoor had a longtime romantic relationship with renowned actress Nargis Dutt during the 1940s and 1950s, despite being a married man, although neither ever publicly admitted to this.

Raj Kapoor shot many of his films at this farm, including Satyam Shivam Sundaram, Mera Naam Joker, Bobby, and Prem Rog.

[113][114][115] Film historians and movie buffs speak of him as the "Charlie Chaplin of Indian cinema", since he often portrayed a tramp-like figure, who, despite adversity, was still cheerful and honest.

His films Aag, Shree 420 and Jis Desh Men Ganga Behti Hai (In the country where the Ganges flows) celebrated the newly independent India, and encouraged film-goers to be patriots.

Indian author Mahasweta Devi stopped the show with her inaugural speech at the 2006 Frankfurt Book Fair when she used these lyrics to express her own heartfelt patriotism and debt to her country.

He introduced the actresses Nimmi, Dimple Kapadia, and Mandakini, as well as launching and reviving the careers of his sons Rishi, Randhir and Rajiv.

[121] The 1967 "Song about Yogis" (Russian: Песенка про йогов) by Vladimir Vysotsky mentions Raj Kapoor as one of the three best-known symbols of Indian culture in the Soviet Union, along with Shiva and yoga.

[125] From December 13 to 15, 2024, a special screening of Raj Kapoor's most famous films were held in 40 cities and 135 theaters across India for his 100th Birthday Anniversary celebration.

(Jagte Raho with Salil Chowdhury and Ab Dilli Dur Nahin with Dattaram, Shankar-Jaikishan's assistant music director, being two exceptions in this period).

Raj Kapoor acted in a movie with music by Madan Mohan only once (twice), i.e. Dhoon (1953) & Ashiana (1952), which featured duet Hum Pyaar Karenge by Hemant Kumar and Lata Mangeshkar, the only instance of Hemant Kumar giving playback to Raj Kapoor, and did only one movie with O. P. Nayyar (Do Ustad).

Also, when Mukesh died, Raj had said, Main ne apni aawaaz ko kho diya... (I have lost my voice...).