Jeetendra

Jeetendra (born Ravi Kapoor /rævi/ RAV-ee; 7 April 1942) is an Indian actor who is known for his work in Hindi cinema. He also serves as the chairman of the Balaji Telefilms and Balaji Motion Pictures.

Jeetendra was born in a Punjabi Khatri family as Ravi Kapoor in Amritsar, Punjab, to Amarnath and Krishna Kapoor, whose business dealt with imitation jewellery, supplied to film industry. He attended St. Sebastian's Goan High School in Mumbai, Mumbai with his friend Rajesh Khanna and then studied at Siddharth College in Mumbai. While supplying jewellery to V. Shantaram, he was cast as Sandhya's character's double in the 1964 movie Geet Gaya Patharon Ne after which his career never turned back.

1964–1969: Debut and breakthrough

Jeetendra began his career in 1964 playing the lead in V. Shantaram's Geet Gaya Patharon Ne alongside Rajshree. Despite heavy promotions and positive reviews, the film proved to be an unsuccessful venture domestically.

After a brief period of absence from films, he established himself with Ravikant Nagaich's spy thriller Farz in 1967. A remake of Telugu film Gudachari 116 (1966), it emerged a blockbuster at the box office and made Jeetendra a star. The music of Farz composed by Laxmikant–Pyarelal was also very successful and included songs that remain popular till date like – "Mast Baharon Ka Main Aashiq", "Baar Baar Din Ye Aaye – Happy Birthday To You", both solos by Mohammed Rafi and "Hum To Tere Aashiq Hain", a duet by Mukesh and Lata Mangeshkar. In 1968, he had three releases – Suhaag Raat, Aulad and Mere Huzoor. Both Suhaag Raat and Aulad failed to leave a mark and Mere Huzoor could only manage average business. This changed in 1969 as he delivered a hat-trick of hits with Jeene Ki Raah, Jigri Dost and Waris.

1970–1979: Career slump and resurgence

With the rise of Superstar Rajesh Khanna in early 70s, a number of actors went through a decline in their career. Initially, Jeetendra too saw some underperformers, but he never went out of the race and soon made a comeback.

He began the new decade with Chander Vohra's Khilona which also had Sanjeev Kumar and Mumtaz in the lead. It proved to be a superhit with Kumar, Mumtaz and Jeetendra receiving praise for their respective performances. He delivered another superhit with T. R. Ramanna's Humjoli which was a remake of blockbuster Tamil film Panakkara Kudumbam (1964). Apart from these two releases, his other films of the year didnt do well critically or commercially.

Jeetendra saw a bad phase from 1971 to 1973 as majority of his films underperformed during this period, with Nasir Hussain's crime thriller Caravan (1971) opposite Asha Parekh being the only exception. It was a superhit domestically and an all-time blockbuster in overseas markets, especially China were it is counted along with the all-time greats – Awaara (1951) and Noorie (1979). Caravan also had a chartbuster soundtrack composed by the then top music director R. D. Burman. The music proved to be a cherry on the cake as most of the songs - "Chadti Jawani Meri Chaal Mastani", "Kitna Pyara Wada Hai" and "Piya Tu Ab To Aja" emerged instant hits and played a major role in the mega success of film. During this phase, he also received praise for his portrayal of a kind-hearted tuition teacher in Gulzar's light-hearted drama Parichay. The song "Musafir Hoon Yaroon" from Parichay was listed at #25 in the Binaca Geetmala annual list 1973 and is considered to be one of the most loved filmi songs of all time.

In 1974, Jeetendra played the lead in L. V. Prasad's Bidaai co-starring Leena Chandavarkar and Durga Khote. The film proved to be a blockbuster at the box office thus ending his dry run and also emerging one of the top 5 highest-grossing films of that year. After scoring a hit with another of Gulzar's film Khushboo in 1975, the following year, he starred in the horror film Nagin opposite Reena Roy and the drama film Udhar Ka Sindur alongside Roy and Asha Parekh. Both the films did extremely well at ticket counters and were declared blockbusters by the end of their respective runs.

1977 proved to be a massive one for Jeetendra as he had a historic blockbuster in Manmohan Desai's magnum opus Dharam Veer. In United Kingdom, the film had 23 shows in 5 cities. Driven by the success of Rafi's songs, the film took a record initial of £50,000 in the UK, equivalent to ₹438,140 (US$50,001.71). In addition, the film sold 32 million tickets in the Soviet Union. The mega success of Dharam Veer was followed by a superhit in J. Om Prakash's third directional venture Apnapan. The same year, he collaborated with Gulzar for the acclaimed romantic drama Kinara opposite Hema Malini. The film is widely for its heartwarming premise and the song "Naam Gum Jayega" sung by Lata Mangeshkar and Bhupinder. In 1978, he had two major releases - Dil Aur Deewaar and Swarg Narak, both of which had Moushmi Chatterjee opposite him. While the first one emerged a hit, Swarg Narak went many steps ahead and proved to be a blockbuster. The super-successful run of Jeetendra continued in 1979 with Rajkumar Kohli's horror thriller Jaani Dushman which was also one of the blockbuster films of the year along with Noorie, Dada and Sargam. He concluded the decade with a hit in Anil Ganguly's drama Khandaan and an average grosser in T. Rama Rao's fantasy comedy Lok Parlok which was a remake of N. T. Rama Rao starrer Yamagola (1977).

With continuous flow of hits from 1974 to 1979, Jeetendra solidified his star-status.

1980–2005: Immense success and later career

Jeetendra reached his peak in the early 80s and enjoyed a strong innings throughout the decade. His first release of 1980 was J. Om Prakash's Aasha which went on to become a massive blockbuster and remains his biggest solo hit till date. One of its song – "Sheesha Ho Ya Dil Ho", a solo by Mangeshkar secured 4th position in Binaca Geetmala that year. His next release was Ravi Chopra's big-budget action thriller The Burning Train in which he starred alongside Dharmendra, Vinod Khanna, Hema Malini, Parveen Babi and Neetu Singh. The film did average business at the time of release, but received praise for its well-choreographed action sequences as well as performances of the cast and attained cult status in later years. After having another moderate success in the form of Takkar, he concluded 1980 by delivering three back-to-back hits with Jyoti Bane Jwala, Judaai and Maang Bharo Sajana. In 1981, Jeetendra starred in S. V. Rajendra Singh Babu's action crime film Meri Aawaz Suno. A remake of Kannada hit Antha, The film ran into controversies due to its bold subject, but opened to excellent audience response and proved to be a huge blockbuster at the box office. The same year, he had a superhit in Ek Hi Bhool and a moderate success in Jyoti which didnt do that well in India, but was a huge success in foreign countries. With his last few films doing extremely well at ticket counters, Jeetendra decided to produce and star in H. S. Rawail's romantic drama Deedar-E-Yaar (1982) under his home banner Tirupati Films. The film also starred Rekha, Rishi Kapoor and Tina Munim in the lead. Despite huge expectations, it proved to be a major box office flop with minimal recovery of the investment. After this unexpected debacle, Jeetendra made a solemn vow never to return into filmmaking again. The disastrous response to Deedar-E-Yaar didn't affected his other releases and he went on to deliver a blockbuster in Farz Aur Kanoon, hits in Jeeo Aur Jeene Do, Samraat and semi-hits in Dharam Kanta, Badle Ki Aag. 1983 proved to be the best year of his career as he delivered a good number of successful films and made a hit pair with Sridevi. His first release of the year Nishaan didn't do well, but his second release Himmatwala, a remake of Telugu film Ooruki Monagadu, emerged a blockbuster with its songs, including "Nainon Mein Sapna" and "Taki O Taki" becoming a rage. Himmatwala made Sridevi a big star and she went on to deliver many successful films with Jeetendra. His other notable releases of 1983 were – Arpan, Jaanidost, Mawaali and Justice Chaudhury. Both Mawaali and Justice Chaudhary performed very well at the box office and proved to be superhits while Arpan and Jaanidost also did good business and went on to become hits.

1984 too was a solid year for Jeetendra as he delivered another blockbuster and highest grossing film of the year with Tohfa opposite Jaya Prada and Sridevi. The mega success of Tohfa was followed by a hit in Maqsad which also had Rajesh Khanna, Jaya Prada, Sridevi in the lead. 1985 proved to be a less successful year as out of his eight releases, only two went on to become office successes, these were - Hoshiyar and Sanjog. The following year, Jeetendra delivered one more blockbuster in K. Bapayya's family drama Swarag Se Sunder co-starring Mithun Chakraborty, Jaya Prada and Padmini Kolhapure. He also worked with Dilip Kumar in K. Raghavendra Rao's actioner Dharm Adhikari which did average business at the box office. After Dharm Adhikari, he reunited with K. Bapayya and T. Rama Rao for Ghar Sansar and Dosti Dushmani respectively. Both Ghar Sansar and Dosti Dushmani also performed well commercially.

In 1987, he played the lead in Rakesh Roshan's directional debut Khudgarz. The film proved to be a hit and established Roshan's career as a director. Apart from Khudgarz, he also delivered commercial successes with Sindoor, Himmat Aur Mehanat and Insaaf Ki Pukar. Jeetendra remained steady in 1988 with hits in Tamacha and Mar Mitenge, but 1989 proved to be a dull year for him as almost all of his films, including multi-starrers, such as Asmaan Se Ooncha and Aag Se Khelenge failed to impress the audience.

His last major success came in 1990 with Raj N. Sippy's action drama Thanedaar which also starred Jaya Prada, Sanjay Dutt and Madhuri Dixit in the lead. Thanedaar received good response from critics as well as the audience and emerged a superhit with song "Tamma Tamma Loge", a duet by Anuradha Paudwal and Bappi Lahiri topping the musical chart that year. From 1991 to 2003, he acted in many films both as a lead as well as character artist, but none of them attained success, with few exceptions, such as Rang (1993) and Judge Mujrim (1997). Jeetendra's final Hindi film appearance was in Basit Khan's romantic drama Ho Jaata Hai Pyar (2005). It received negative response from reviewers and flopped at the box office.

Jeetendra had met his wife, Shobha, when she was only 14. She completed school, went to college, and was employed as an Air Hostess with British Airways. When Jeetendra was struggling between 1960–66 to establish himself as an actor, he was in a relationship with Shobha and she was his girlfriend until 1972. It was not until the release of Bidaai on 18 October 1974, that Jeetendra and Shobha decided to get married, which they did in a simple ceremony at Janki Kutir with only a few family members and friends present. In her authorized biography, Hema Malini claimed that they almost got married, but she backed out.

Jeetendra and Shobha have two children from their marriage. Elder of them, daughter Ekta Kapoor, runs Balaji Telefilms while their son Tusshar Kapoor is also an actor. Jeetendra made a brief appearance in one of his daughter's produced films Kucch To Hai, a thriller movie released in 2003, where he appeared alongside his son Tusshar.

During the 6th November, 2021 episode of The Kapil Sharma Show, when Jeetendra and Ekta Kapoor were the guests, he related an incident from 1976. He was supposed to go to Madras (now Chennai) by flight on Karva Chauth. His flight got delayed and he went back home so that Shobha could perform the necessary rituals like viewing the Moon and break her fast. Shobha refused to let him go back to the airport. So Jeetendra called his make-up man and told him to come back home, and that they would leave the next day. Around 10:30 or 11:00 pm, he looked outside from his flat (on a high-rise in Pali Hill, Bandra) and saw a fireball hurtling toward the airport. Later, after a couple of hours, his phone rang incessantly with people calling to find out what happened. The flight that he was supposed to have taken had crashed. Shobha's prescient insistence that he should not go turned out to be a blessing. That flight was Indian Airlines Flight 171.

• 1998 – Guest of Honour Award at the 18th Ujala Cinema Express Awards
• 2002 – Lifetime Achievement Award at the Zee Gold Bollywood Movie Awards in New York.
• 2003 – Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award
• 2004 – "Legend of Indian Cinema" Award at Atlantic City (United States).
• 2005 – Screen Lifetime Achievement Award
• 2008 – Sansui Television Lifetime Achievement Award
• 2012 – Zee Cine Award for Lifetime Achievement
• 2012 – Lions Gold Awards: Most Evergreen Romantic Hero

Jeetendra is regarded as one of the greatest actors of Indian cinema. He is noted for his acting, style and dance. Owing to his energetic dancing style in Farz, he earned the sobriquet of "Jumping Jack".

One of the most successful actors of 1970s and 1980s, Jeetendra appeared in Box Office India's "Top Actors" list seven times, (1980-1986).

In 2022, he was placed in Outlook India's "75 Best Bollywood Actors" list.