REVEALED: Raj Kapoor’s Sangam was a PAN-GLOBAL blockbuster, collecting Rs. 12 cr; helped the Hindujas bag arms contracts from Iran’s royal family

Yesterday, December 14, was the 100th birth anniversary of the legendary Raj Kapoor. His contribution is immense and hence, the Kapoor family has gone all out to celebrate his centenary. An article in The Times of India focused on the global achievements of Raj Kapoor. The impact of his films in Russia and China is known but this article also reported about not-so-known instances of how his films travelled to many more territories.

The article revealed that in Iran, Raj Kapoor broke box office records with Sangam (1964). In the Asian country, the film ran for over a year. Even in South America, it had a long run. Radhu Karmakar, Raj Kapoor’s regular cinematographer, wrote in his autobiography ‘The Painter of Lights’ that Sangam was made approximately on a budget of Rs 1 crore and it ended up earning over Rs 12 crores, including Rs 5 crores in overseas territories.

The Hindujas also had a big reason to thank Raj Kapoor. They distributed Sangam and were trying to get huge business contracts, but in vain. But since they were the distributors, they were invited to a dinner reception hosted in Tehran by Iran’s ruling family, held to celebrate the film’s 50-week run. The meeting with the royal family helped them bag large arms contracts.

Meanwhile, Raj Kapoor’s films and performances also charmed China. As per an article in The Times of India of 1994, the Chinese Premier Li Peng spoke fondly about Awara (1951) and its title song when he met India’s human resources minister Arjun Singh in Beijing. The December 14 Times of India article further talked about the impact of his films in countries like Turkey, Iran, Greece and even Bulgaria.

Raj Kapoor was termed ‘The Tramp Of Bombay’ in Greece where his films drew house-full crowds, especially the ones starring him and Nargis. In Turkey, Awara was seen by 1,00,000 people in its release week. A newspaper article of 1956 said, “The film was attended by 100,000 spectators during its first week and another 100,000 were unable to watch the film since it had sold out.” Turkey-based academic and critic Ahmet Gurata revealed in the TOI article that Awara’s title song was a top-selling record and even featured in official functions. “Several Turkish singers circulated it as a Turkish record in music markets.”

Also Read: The INSIDE story of how ‘The Tramp Of Bombay’ Raj Kapoor brought the OG Tramp Charlie Chaplin to tears with a silent performance