Can an autobiography be written posthumously, that too by a third party? Ritu Nanda, daughter of Raj Kapoor, launched her book, Raj Kapoor: The One and Only Showman, in Delhi on December 14, her father's birth anniversary.
Published by Harper Collins, Nanda said that the book was part autobiography, part biography. “It is an autobiography, because, for some aspects, I have relied only on the correspondence my father had left behind. Even the bits of the book which are biographical are all based on intense research with people who knew my father.'' What Nanda graciously left unsaid was that the book was also a daughter's tribute to her beloved father.
All of Raj Kapoor's five children—Randhir, Ritu, Reema Jain, Rishi and Rajeev Kapoor—were at the event. With them were members of the family—Rishi's wife Neetu and daughter Riddhima, Nanda's daughter-in-law Shweta Bachchan Nanda and her mother Jaya Bachchan. The special invitees were representatives of countries which were once part of the USSR, and where India is still synonymous with Raj Kapoor.
In a montage shown before the event, Kapoor's international appeal came through beautifully. There was a clip of the Uzbek singer Bobomurod Hamadamov singing Awaara hoon, and a vintage performance by Russian soldiers to Mera joota hai Jaapani.
The evening began with a tribute to Shashi Kapoor, Raj's youngest brother, who passed away just days before. Rishi Kapoor rendered the tribute, reading excerpts from the book—in which Shashi recounted his relationship with his brother, who, 14 years his senior, was not just a sibling, but also part parent and part guru.
Harper Collins said that the year has been bookended for them by the Kapoors, the first book they published in 2017 was Rishi Kapoor's autobiography, which incidentally was among its bestsellers. Nanda's tribute went into a reprint event before it was launched.
There is always an interest in reading about the inhabitants of tinsel town, and this book, from the showman's own daughter, is as authentic a version as one can get. Unlike the easier route of doing coffee table books with glossy pictures, Nanda's is a book to read, not see. There are pictures, but they are small and there to illustrate the narrative.
