Today is the 101st birth anniversary of Prithviraj Kapoor, the founder of Bollywood's unparalleled Kapoor dynasty. His anniversary is being celebrated, like every year, with the annual Prithvi festival of plays. The latest scion from this dynasty, Ranbir, is all set to make his acting debut with Saawariya in less than a week from now.

Prithviraj Kapoor was a pioneering figure in both Hindi theatre and Hindi films of his time. Born in Samundri near the town of Lyallpur in Punjab, Prthiviraj Kapoor received his intial education at Lyallpur and then Lahore. He received his higher education at the Edward College in Peshawar. It was here that his acting talent received its first expression in the plays of Ibsen and Shakespeare. He completed his graduation, a feat that few of his descendants were destined to match. He also studied law as a graduate student for one year, but his heart was not in it. It was theatre that he craved to do. In 1928, he took a loan from an aunt and landed in Mumbai to seek his fortune. After featuring in a couple of forgettable silent films, he played a supporting role in the first talkie, Alam Ara in 1931. His performance in the film Vidyapati (1937) was very well received. But his greatest screen performance was yet to be. In 1941, he played the role of Alexander in Sohrab Modi's Sikander. Gifted with a superb physique, chiselled Greek god-like looks and a tremendous voice, Prithviraj Kapoor looked every inch the royal and was unforgettable as Alexander to Sohrab Modi's Porus. The film was truly a meeting of two titans.

Prithiviraj Kapoor kept up his love affair with theatre and performed on stage regularly. In 1944, he founded his own theatre company, Prithvi Theatres, a travelling troupe which staged its productions all over India. Prithvi Theatres survived for 16 years and staged some 2,662 shows. What is most remarkable about this is the fact that Prithviraj Kapoor played the lead actor is every single show! His three sons, Raj, Shammi and Shashi Kapoor too made their beginnings from Prithvi Theatres. Prithvi Theatres also launched many new talents such as Ramanand Sagar, Shankar-Jaikishen and Ram Ganguly. But by the 1950s, times were changing and the days of the travelling theatres was over. Cinema had taken over. Most of the actors and technicians, along with Prithviraj Kapoor's sons, started migrating to cinema. Also, it was no more feasible to take a troupe consisting of some 80 odd people across the country for months at a time. It is believed that he lost his glorious voice while directing Paisa (1954), and never fully regained it ever again. That was also one of the reasons why he closed down Prithvi Theatres. But he continued to etch some memorable roles in films like Dahej (V Shantaram, 1950) and son Raj Kapoor's Awara (1951). Aasman Mahal (1965), saw him render yet another memorable performance which won him a lot of international acclaim. Before that, there was another power-packed performance as Akbar in Mughal-e-Azam. He also worked in grandson Randhir Kapoor's directorial debut venture, Kal Aaj Aur Kal (1971), as the stern grandfather opposite Randhir and Raj Kapoor.

However, by now his health had deteriorated and he is said to have completed the dubbing from his hospital bed. Prithviraj Kapoor had always felt the need for a theatre space that would provide amateur theatre groups with professional facilities. He leased out a plot in Juhu's Janki Kutir with this in mind but was unable to realise his dream. He passed away in 1972 leaving behind his rich legacy. His youngest son Shashi Kapoor and his wife Jennifer Kendal, fulfilled the dream by building a theatre on that plot Shashi revived Prithvi Theatre. And the show goes on today, just as the the grand old patriach would have liked it to.