Today is legendary actor-filmmaker and patriarch of the first family in Hindi cinema Prithviraj Kapoor’s 47^th death anniversary. His grandson and veteran actor Rishi Kapoor took to social media to pay a tribute to him. Rishi is the son of the Prithviraj’s eldest son Raj Kapoor who was also a noted director-producer and actor. Rishi shared a throwback picture of his grandfather on Twitter and even proceeded to correct the date of his demise mentioned on the popular Wikipedia website.

Rishi shared the picture of his grandfather and wrote, “Prithvinath Kapoor. Born - 3rd November 1906, Samundri, Lyallpur District, Punjab, British India. Died - 29th May 1971, Mumbai, India as Prithviraj Kapoor (Changed name). Remembering you! Wikipedia has got the year of death wrong.” Prithviraj was a pioneer of Indian theatre and started his acting career in the silent era of Hindi cinema. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 1969 and the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 1971 for his contributions to Indian cinema.

https://twitter.com/chintskap/status/1001338213942943744

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Prithivraj was the patriarch of the Kapoor family of Hindi cinema. He was the father of veteran actors Raj Kapoor, Shammi Kapoor and Shashi Kapoor. He founded the Prithvi Theatres, a travelling theatre company in 1944, based in Mumbai which played a major role in inspiring young people to participate in the Indian Independence Movement and the Quit India Movement. However, by late 1950s the travelling theatre was no longer viable and later on, under his son Shashi Kapoor and his wife Jennifer Kendal, Prithvi Thetre merged with the Indian Shakespeare theatre company, ‘Shakespeareana’. Prithviraj settled in a cottage called Prithvi Jhonpra after retirement near the Juhu Beach. The property which was on lease was later bought by Shashi Kapoor and converted into what is now called Prithvi Theatres.

Prithviraj starred in such iconic roles as Shahenshah Akbar in Mughal-e-Azam, Rustom Sohrab, Alam Ara, Milap, Awaara, Dahej, Anand Math, Heer Ranjha, Kal Aaj Aur Kal etc.