The Making of the Mahatma fetched him National Award for the Best Actor. One of his most popular stints, is his portrayal of Byomkesh Bakshi in the television series Byomkesh Bakshi. Rajit Kapoor has been performing in Hindi films since 1992; but, has been equally active with theatre. Recently, he was pouring his heart out at Kitab Khana before a select audience during tete-a-tete on Backstage to Front-stage and Back.
Rajit Kapoor started out as a backstage artist doing all sorts of odd jobs. One day, Vijaya Mehta, one of the major influences on his career, asked him to play Nehru in one of the plays and there’s no looking back since then. He humbly maintains, “I was lucky to find good teachers while doing theatre and those teachings are coming in handy for me, while directing a play.” One of his most famous plays, Love Letters, which staged it’s first show in 1991, is still running to packed houses even after 24 years and 700 shows. ‘It has been a magical journey and myself and Shernaz Patel, still find new things in our characters. We used to be worried, when we were younger, about how to play our old characters, but now we worry about, how to convincingly play younger part’ he confessed . He thanked Remu Jhaveri (Joy Shoes, Taj) and late Hosi Vasunia for supporting this play financially.
Recalling his days , while doing Basu Chatterjee’s detective television serial Byomakesh Bakshi, he didn’t forget to mention about K K Raina, who was a big name at that time. Rajit admired him a lot, as he did not hesitate to play secondary role to him and was still supportive. In fact, Rajit Kapoor while shooting for his first feature film Suraj Ka Satva Ghoda in 1992, was nervous and K K Raina advised him to be Calm, when there were sniggers around. He has also been a favourite of Shyam Benegal , as he has worked in all of latter’s film. ‘While making of ‘The Making of the Mahatma’, Vikram Gaikwad, now an ace make up designer, did my make up and get up and when I stepped out on the set, there was a pin drop silence and everybody just gaped. He made me look Mahatma.” Rajit was all appreciation for Vikram Gaikwad.
Rajit Kapoor has been active on English stage and have done quite a few bollywood movies, some of them being, Guzarish, Zubeida, Sardari Begum, Shaitaan, Kalpvriksh, Singh Saab the Great, Kick, Roy, Phir Se, Ghulam’ and so on. He won the Best Actor award at Imagine India Film Festival, Spain for ‘Do Paise Ki Dhoop, Chaar Aane Ki Baarish’ and was adjudged as Best Actor for Agnisakshi (Malyalam) at Kerala State Film Awards. He strongly believes that theatre is a stepping stone for an Actor. Marathi theatre as per him, is way high as compared to other language theatre ,due to it’s diversifying content and talented writers.