When Pran charged just one rupee from Raj Kapoor for Bobby 


By Rajesh Ahuja 


He may have been one of the most dreaded villains of Hindi films but tales of Pran's magnanimity towards his friends and colleagues in the film industry form the folklore of Bollywood 


One such story pertains to the casting of Pran for the classic R K Films love story Bobby , which propelled Rishi Kapoor into an overnight star in Bollywood . 


After the huge debacle of his 'labour of love ' 'Mera Naam Joker, Raj Kapoor decided to make a teenage love story with Rishi Kapoor in the lead role to recoup the losses that he had incurred in Mera Naam Joker. 


For the film,  Raj Kapoor wanted to cast Pran as the hero's(Rishi Kapoor) father, it has been revealed in the biography of Pran, penned by Bunny Reuben. 


Since Raj Kapoor was not in a position to pay the prevailing price of Pran, the latter just charged one rupee from the former for doing the film. 


Pran charged just one rupee from Raj Kapoor for Bobby 




Writing in the biography, Bunny Reuben said, 'the late Satish Bhalla, Pran's long time friend and 'samdhi'(a member of his in laws family) recalled in an interview to this biography that Raj Kapoor wanted Pran to be the hero's father . At that time,  Pran was on the top of his profession and he used to take two and a half to three lakh for each role. In those days, that was big money. 


Pranjee was too courteous to talk about money, Satish Bhalla revealed, but it was Rajjee himself who said, 'I am afraid,  I will not be able to pay you anything right now .' 


Pran's response to Raj Kapoor left the latter perplexed. 


'Keeping an expressionless face,  Pranjee asked Rajjee in a serious tone,''do you have a one rupee coin in your pocket? 


Rajjee looked perplexed.  But before he could say anything,  Pranjee said, 'give me a one rupee coin and the deal is signed. That is my fee! I will shoot the film whenever you want. Undoubtedly,  this reaction from Pran left Raj Kapoor astounded, 'the biography says. 


'Pran had asked to neither listen to the story nor know details of his role and yet he had agreed to sign the deal. 


However,  Pran was very sure that in a Raj Kapoor film,  none of the characters would be inconsequential.  Each character and each artiste who would play that particular role would be selected with great forethought and insight. Besides,  Pran felt at that point of time that it would be graceless and in bad taste to talk either about money or the nature of his  role. So he completed the movie with that one rupee, 'Bhalla disclosed with a smile. 


The biography further reveals that Pran told Raj Kapoor that if the film was a hit, he could pay him his price and if the film did not do well,  he would not charge a single penny. 


'Reminiscing the same event,  Ramesh Khosla,  a close friend of Raj Kapoor and Pran, said in an interview to this book,'regarding this noble act of Pranjee,  Raj Sahib mentioned to me that Pranjee had told him, 'okay,  if your picture is a hit,  pay me my price.  If not, then I will not charge you a single Naya paisa.'' 


The incident is a reflection of Pran's magnanimity towards his friends and industry colleagues. 


Produced and directed by Raj Kapoor,  Bobby,  released in 1973, marked the Bollywood debut of Rishi Kapoor. 


A blockbuster,  Bobby, which starred Rishi Kapoor and Dimple Kapadia in lead roles with Pran and Prem Nath in pivotal roles, became a trendsetter,  bringing to Bollywood the genre of teenage romance. 


Also Read 


When Manoj Kumar joined the cast of Aadmi after last minute exit of Dharmendra 



Pran recommended Dev Anand to Prakash Mehra as hero  for Zanzeer 




When Rishi Kapoor turned down offer to do a guest appearance in Koi Mil Gaya 


When RD Burman sought Rishi Kapoor's help to get work in his films in 90s 




Tina Munim reflected an elfin charm on screen that was refreshingly modern for its time: Rishi Kapoor 






When Rishi Kapoor rejected a role offered by Salim Javed in Trishul 



Amrish Puri was offered villain's role in Raj Kapoor's Ram Teri Ganga Maili 



Historical web series Freedom at Midnight streaming on Sony Liv from November 15 



Rishi Kapoor had some reservations about doing Ramesh Sippy's Saagar 






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