Actor Rishi Kapoor has confirmed that the Kapoor family has, unanimously, decided to sell off the iconic RK Studio, established by the legendary late actor Raj Kapoor some four decades ago at Chembur, Mumbai. In an interview to Mumbai Mirror, Rishi said that while there is an emotional attachment to the place, the studio “had become a huge white elephant, toting up losses.”
“We brothers are strongly bonded. But who knows about our children and grand-children? What if differences crop up in the next generation? The studio would only end up in litigation as so many industrial and textile estates have. There would be family differences and only lawyers would end up charging heavy sums of fee. Do you think my father would have liked to see his labor of love become the subject of courtroom proceedings?” Rishi said while talking about the decision to sell off RK Studio.
Last year, a fire broke out in a RK Studio building during the shoot of reality show Super Dancer 2, which destroyed invaluable RK Films memorabilia.
Reports revealed all the costumes worn by the RK leading ladies, from Nargis and Vyjayanthimala to Aishwarya Rai, costume jewellery, the clown mask of Mera Naam Joker, the guns used in Jis Desh Mein Ganga Behti Hai, publicity material, and the grand piano used ever so prominently in Awara, Sangam and Bobby, were burnt to cinders. Iconic films such as Awaara (1951), Shree 420 (1955), Mera Naam Joker (1970) and Bobby (1973) among others were shot in the studio.
Rishi further said that there is no timeline and it could take up to two days, months or years to sell off the studio.
Fond memories
Actor Kareena Kapoor Khan says she has fond memories of the studio. “we have all grown up walking around in those corridors,” she said on the sidelines of the Lakme Fashion Week.
In September last year, a major fire broke out on the sets of a dance reality show, leaving a section of the studio gutted.
R.K. Studio, the headquarters of the film production company R.K. Films, was founded and named after the Great Showman, Raj Kapoor, in 1948.
Its inaugural banner film Aag that year crashed at the box office, but the next year proved to be a good omen when its production Barsaat (1949), starring Raj Kapoor-Nargis was a superhit.
In fact, the company’s logo was designed to reflect the poster of a scene from Barsaat and after that, the studio never looked back.
It had a string of successful black-and-white releases like Awaara (1951), Boot Polish (1954), Shri 420 (1955) and Jaagte Raho (1956).
Later, the studio was the venue for several other big-ticket films like Jis Desh Me Ganga Behti Hain (1960), Mera Naam Joker (1970), Bobby (1973), the debut film for Rishi Kapoor and Dimple Kapadia, Satyam Shivam Sundaram (1978), Prem Rog (1982), Ram Teri Ganga Maili (1985), which was the founder-actor’s last film before his death in June 1988.
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