Raj Kapoor

If I am not mistaken, Raj Kapoor's debut on the silver screen was in the year 1944 when he appeared for a few minutes in the role of a peon in Devika Rani's last film "Hamari Baat."

He also took part in theatre roles produced by his illustrious father Prithviraj Kapoor under the banner of Prithvi theatres which produced some interesting plays including "Shakuntala."

You have rightly mentioned that Raj Kapoor's favourite musical directors were Shankar-Jaikishan, his lyricist Hasrat Jaipuri and as a singer Lata Mangeshkar, but you perhaps inadvertently failed to mention he always chose the resonate Mukesh as his ideal male singer. Also in his maiden film "Aag" , Shamsad Begum sang still the songs for Nargis. Lata at that stage was a struggling background singer until as you have correctly stated her songs in Andaaz, Barsaat and Mahal catapulted her to the pedestal.