Shashi Kapoor was an Indian actor and film producer who is best known for his works in Hindi films. A recipient of several accolades, including four National Film Awards and two Filmfare Awards, he also featured in a number of English-language international films, particularly films produced by Merchant Ivory. The Government of India honoured him with the Padma Bhushan in 2011, and the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, in 2014, for his contribution to Indian cinema.
Prithviraj Kapoor was an Indian actor who is also considered to be one of the founding figures of Hindi cinema. He was associated with IPTA as one of its founding members and established the Prithvi Theatres in 1944 as a travelling theatre company based in Bombay.
Shakespeare Wallah is a 1965 Merchant Ivory Productions film. The story and screenplay are by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, about a travelling family theatre troupe of English actors in India, who perform Shakespeare plays in towns across India, amidst a dwindling demand for their work and the rise of Bollywood. Madhur Jaffrey won the Silver Bear for Best Actress at the 15th Berlin International Film Festival for her performance. The music was composed by Satyajit Ray.
Jennifer Kendal was an English actress and the founder of the Prithvi Theatre. She was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role for the film 36 Chowringhee Lane (1981). Her other film appearances included Bombay Talkie (1970), Junoon (1978), Heat and Dust (1983), and Ghare Baire (1984).
Prithvi Theatre is one of Mumbai's best known theatres. It was built by Shashi Kapoor and his wife Jennifer Kapoor in memory of Prithviraj Kapoor, Shashi's father, who had dreamt of having a "home" for his repertory theatre company, Prithvi Theatres, belongs to the Kapoor family, one of the most influential actor and director families in Bollywood. Prithviraj Kapoor founded 'Prithvi Theatres', a travelling theatre company in 1944. The company ran for sixteen years. Ved Segan was the architect who designed and built the Theatre with the supervision of Jennifer Kapoor. Jennifer, (Trustee) supervised the building and running of the theatre until her death in 1984. In 1978 Prithvi Theatre opened in Juhu, Mumbai. Shashi Kapoor was the Managing Trustee, the daily affairs are looked after by Kunal Kapoor (Trustee) with a small but efficient team. Prithvi Theatre has shows every day of the year, hosts an annual Summertime programme of workshops and plays for children, the Memorial Concert on 28 February, an annual Theatre Festival in November, and many partnership programmes promoting language, poetry, international cinema & documentaries, performing arts – which are free to the public.
Valmik Thapar is an Indian naturalist, conservationist and writer. He is the author of 14 books and several articles, and has produced a range of programmes for television. Today he is one of India's most respected wildlife experts and conservationists, having produced and narrated documentaries on India's natural habitat for such media as the BBC, Animal Planet, Discovery and National Geographic.
Karan Kapoor is an Indian photographer, actor and model. He is the son of actors Shashi Kapoor and Jennifer Kendal. His paternal grandfather was Prithviraj Kapoor and his paternal uncles are Raj Kapoor and Shammi Kapoor. His elder brother Kunal Kapoor and younger sister Sanjana Kapoor have also acted in some films. His maternal grandparents, Geoffrey Kendal and Laura Kendal, were actors who toured India and Asia with their theatre group, Shakespearana, performing Shakespeare and Shaw. The Merchant Ivory film, Shakespeare Wallah, was loosely based on the family, which starred his father and his maternal aunt, actress Felicity Kendal.
The Kapoor family is a prominent Indian show business family with at least 4 generations of the family over 95 years being active in the Hindi film industry. Numerous members of the family, both biological and those who have married into the family, have had prolific careers as actors, film directors and producers. "The Pioneer" founder of the dynasty was "The Patriarch", Prithviraj Kapoor, who was the first member of family to begin acting in movies with his 1929 debut film Be Dhari Talwar. He was a pioneer of Indian theatre and the founding member of Indian People's Theatre Association (IPTA). His son Raj Kapoor was the most influential actor and director in Hindi cinema. The genesis generation or the earliest linear generation of the Kapoor family tree to ever act in the films was Prithviraj Kapoor's father, Basheshwarnath Kapoor, who debuted as actor in 1951 film Awaara, which was produced, directed and starred in lead role by his grandson Raj Kapoor.
Randhir Raj Kapoor is a retired Indian actor, film producer and director who worked in Hindi cinema. He was an established actor of the 1970s and received two Filmfare Award nominations and was one of the popular actors of the 1970s. However, his career declined in the early 1980s, following which he rarely appeared in films.
Sohrab Merwanji Modi was an Indian stage and film actor, director and producer. His films include Khoon Ka Khoon (1935), a version of Shakespeare's Hamlet, Sikandar, Pukar, Prithvi Vallabh, Jhansi ki Rani, Mirza Ghalib, Jailor and Nausherwan-E-Adil (1957). His films always carried a message of strong commitment to social and national issues.
Geoffrey Kendal was an English actor and theatre director who delivered Shakespeare performances throughout India in the 1940s and 1950s.
Kunal Kapoor is an Indian actor, film producer, director and advertisement maker. Elder son of actors Shashi Kapoor and Jennifer Kendal, he made his debut with the 1972 English-language film Siddhartha, later acted in Shyam Benegal's Junoon and in his first mainstream Bollywood film, Ahista Ahista, opposite Padmini Kolhapure as well as Vijeta. He also acted in the art films Utsav (1984) and Trikal (1985).
Feroz Abbas Khan is an Indian theatre and film director, playwright and screenwriter, who is most known for directing plays like Mughal-e-Azam, Saalgirah, Tumhari Amrita (1992), Salesman Ramlal and Gandhi Viruddh Gandhi.
Amit Bose was an Indian filmmaker, film director and editor, who directed all-time classics like Abhilasha (1968) and, as an Editor, worked on movies like Madhumati (1958), Sujata (1959), Parakh (1960), Usne Kaha Tha (1960), Kabuliwala (1961), Prem Patra (1962), Bandini (1963) and Shakespeare Wallah (1965). He worked as Chief Film Editor for Bimal Roy and with several other directors including Sanjay Khan.
Romesh Thapar (1922–1987) was an Indian journalist and political commentator. Affiliated with the Communist Party of India (Marxist), Thapar was the founder-editor of the monthly journal Seminar, published from New Delhi, India.
Prahlad Kakar is an Indian ad film director, best known for his work on the famous Pepsi TV commercial with Amitabh Bachchan and Sachin Tendulkar. He is the founder and main director of Genesis Film Productions, established in 1977.
Dinesh Thakur was an Indian theatre director, actor in theatre, television and Hindi film, where most notably he appeared as one of the leads in Rajnigandha 1974 and directed by Basu Chatterjee, which won both Filmfare Best Movie Award and the Filmfare Critics Award for Best Movie. Dinesh Thakur was born in 1947 in Jaipur, Rajasthan, India. He was the founder-director of ANK productions, a Mumbai-based theatre company, established in 1976.
Aditya Bhattacharya is an Indian film director and screenwriter, most known for his feature film, Raakh (1989), starring Aamir Khan and Pankaj Kapur, which garnered three National Film Awards.
Kundali Bhagya is an Indian Hindi-language romantic drama television series created by Ekta Kapoor under her production company Balaji Telefilms. A spin-off series of Kumkum Bhagya, it premiered on 12 July 2017 on Zee TV.
Zahan Prithviraj Kapoor is an Indian actor who primarily works in Hindi films and theater plays. A member of the Kapoor family, he is son of actor Kunal Kapoor and Sheena Sippy.
