- Surinder Kapoor moved to Mumbai in 1950 from Peshawar after partition
- Surinder started as assistant director on Mughal-E-Azam through Prithviraj Kapoor
- Surinder's first produced film in 1963, Jab Se Tumhe Dekha, was a commercial failure
Surinder Kapoor, the father of producer Boney Kapoor and actor Anil Kapoor, arrived in Mumbai in 1950. Born in Peshawar, Surinder, like millions of others, was forced to leave his hometown and move to a completely new place post-partition.
And while his sons achieved monumental success in the film industry, Surinder's journey wasn't a happy one. His family had to live in a one-room chawl with mounting debt.
Surinder reached out to cousin Prithviraj Kapoor, one of the icons of Indian cinema, for work. “I came to Mumbai in 1950. I was 27 years old then. I am from Peshawar. When I came to Mumbai, I didn't think I would join films. But Prithviraj was very nice. As soon as I came to Mumbai by Frontier Mail, he took me to K Asif and got me a job as an assistant director on the sets of Mughal-E-Azam,” Surinder Kapoor shared during a 2009 interview with Rediff.
Before finding their own home, Surinder Kapoor and his wife lived in Raj Kapoor's outhouse, a small room above the garage that was usually occupied by the driver's family. Later, they moved to Tilak Nagar, where the family lived in a one-room chawl sharing a common toilet.
During his days of struggle, Surinder was encouraged by Geeta Bali to produce films, and she helped him secure his first film, Jab Se Tumhe Dekha, in 1963, but the film flopped.
“I could not give a single hit in my entire career, but still, financiers and distributors put their money in my projects,” he shared previously. During a 2003 interview with The Times of India, Surinder's son Boney Kapoor admitted that his father's struggle left a deep impression on him, and initially he did not want to enter the film business.
“I didn't want to become a filmmaker. Although my father had pinned his hopes on Ek Shriman Ek Shrimati, the film did average business. Then, when the high-budget Rajesh Khanna-starrer Shahzaada bombed at the box office, my father was tense for days. Around then, I decided to myself that I would have nothing to do with filmmaking,” Boney shared.
The family's biggest crisis occurred in the mid-1970s when Surinder developed heart problems while one of his productions was underway. “My father was in debt, we were in debt, we were in a shit hole. In those days my father had a debt of Rs 22 lakh. The mission with Hum Paanch was to get debt-free, but that Rs 22 lakh debt had become Rs 36 lakh,” Boney told News18.
Ironically, the son who once decided never to become a producer saved the family's production house with his debut film, Hum Paanch. The success of Hum Paanch allowed Boney to free his father from years of debt.
As Boney's career as a producer took off, his brother Anil Kapoor focused on taking up various on-set jobs before becoming a full-time actor with his breakthrough role in Woh Saat Din.
The sibling duo then went on to rule Hindi cinema, with Boney producing multiple ventures, including Mr India, Judaai, Loafer and Hamara Dil Aapke Paas Hai, in which Anil played the lead role.