Jeetendra
Jeetendra in 2012
Born	Ravi Kapoor (1942-04-07) 7 April 1942 (age 82) Amritsar, Punjab, British India
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1959–2022
Spouse	Shobha Kapoor ​ (m. 1974)​
Children	Ekta Kapoor Tusshar Kapoor
Relatives	Abhishek Kapoor (nephew)

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^[1] 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 1959 movie Navrang after which his career never turned back.^[2]

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 at the box office.

He established himself with Ravikant Nagaich's spy thriller Farz in 1967. A remake of Telugu film Gudachari 116 (1966), it emerged a superhit and made Jeetendra a star.^[3]

Its music composed by Laxmikant–Pyarelal was also highly successful with many chartbuster songs 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.^[4]

In 1968, he had three releases - Suhaag Raat, Aulad and Mere Huzoor. Both Suhaag Raat and Aulad failed to leave a mark, but Mere Huzoor did average business.^[5]

In 1969, he had a hat-trick of hits with Jeene Ki Raah, Jigri Dost and Waris.^[6]

With the rise of Superstar Rajesh Khanna in early 70s, many emerging stars went through a decline in their career. Although Jeetendra too suffered from it, he never completely went out of the race.

Jeetendra began the new decade with Chander Vohra's Khilona which also starred Sanjeev Kumar and Mumtaz in the lead. It proved to be a superhit at the box office with both Kumar and Jeetendra receiving praise for their performance.^[7]

He delivered another hit with T. R. Ramanna's Humjoli which was a remake of blockbuster Tamil film Panakkara Kudumbam (1964).^[8]

Apart from these two films, all his other releases of 1970 like Maa Aur Mamta, Himmat and Jawab proved to be critical and commercial failures.

He suffered a major bad phase from 1971-1973 as almost all his films during this period failed or did minimal business at the box office, with Nasir Hussain's crime thriller Caravan (1971) being the only exception.^[9]

It was a superhit^[10] domestically and an all time blockbuster in overseas market, especially China were it is counted along with the all time greats - Awaara (1951) and Noorie (1979).^[11][12]

Caravan also had a highly popular soundtrack which was composed by the then top music director R. D. Burman. It proved to be a cherry on the cake as most of the songs - "Chadti Jawani Meri Chaal Mastani", "Kitna Pyaar Wada Hai" and "Piya Tu Ab To Aja" emerged instant hits and played a major role in the mega success of film.^[13][14]

In 1974, Jeetendra delivered a blockbuster with Bidaai.^[15] The film ended his dry run at the box office and emerged as one of the top 5 highest-grossing films of that year.

After a decent success with Gulzar's light-hearted drama Khushboo in 1975, he delivered two more blockbusters in 1976 with Nagin and Udhar Ka Sindur both opposite Reena Roy.^[15]

Nagin and Udhar Ka Sindur were among the highest grossing films of 1976.

1977 proved to be a massive one for Jeetendra as he had a historic blockbuster in Dharam Veer and a superhit in Apnapan.^[16][17]

The success streak continued in 1978 with a hit in Karmayogi and a blockbuster in Swarg Narak.^[15]

This was followed by another blockbuster in 1979 with Rajkumar Kohli's horror thriller Jaani Dushman which was also one of the most profitable films of the year along with Noorie, Dada and Sargam.^[15]

With continuous flow of hits from 1974-1979, Jeetendra not only made a successful career comeback, but also became a huge star who was going to struck gold in the next decade.^[18][19]

Jeetendra reached his peak in early 80s and ruled most of the decade along with Amitabh Bachchan.^[20][21]

His first release of 1980 was J. Om Prakash's Aasha which proved to be a major critical and commercial success, eventually emerging a blockbuster as well as his biggest solo hit till date.^[22] One of its song - "Sheesha Ho Ya Dil Ho", a solo by Mangeshkar remains popular till date.

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.^[23]

Despite doing average business at the time of release, it attained cult status in later years and received praise for it's well-choreographed action sequences and performances of the cast.^[24]

After having another average grosser in Takkar, Jeetendra concluded the year by delivering three back to back hits with Jyoti Bane Jwala, Judaai and Maang Bharo Sajana.^[25]

In 1981, Jeetendra delivered a blockbuster in Meri Aawaz Suno, a superhit in Ek Hi Bhool and a hit in Jyoti.^[26][27]

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.^[28]

The disastrous response to Deedar-E-Yaar didn't affected his other releases and he went on to deliver a superhit in Farz Aur Kanoon, a hit in Jeeo Aur Jeene Do and two moderate successes in Dharam Kanta and Samraat.^[29]

1983 proved to be the best year of his career as he delivered many highly successful films and made a hit pair with the then newcomer Sridevi.^[30]

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 huge blockbuster with its songs including "Nainon Mein Sapna" and "Taki O Taki" becoming a rage.^[15][31]

Himmatwala made Sridevi a big star and she went on to deliver many successful films with Jeetendra.^[32]

His other notable releases of 1983 were - Arpan, Jaanidost, Mawaali and Justice Chaudhury.

Both Mawaali and Justice Chaudhary received great response from audience and proved to be superhits.^[33]

Arpan and Jaanidost also did well and went on to become hits.

1984 was completely Jeetendra's year as he delivered another blockbuster in Tohfa opposite Jaya Prada and Sridevi.^[15]

This was followed by a superhit in Maqsad which again had Jaya Prada and Sridevi in the lead with Rajesh Khanna also joining them.^[34]

Before the end of the year, he delivered another hit in Qaidi.

Tohfa and Maqsad were the highest and second highest grossing films of 1984.

By the beginning of mid-80s, the new stars such as - Mithun Chakraborty, Sanjay Dutt, Sunny Deol, Jackie Shroff, Anil Kapoor started dominating the box office and as a result, the stardom of older stars began to fade.

This affected Jeetendra too with a decline in number of hits as compared to early 80s, but he continued to deliver one major hit every year from 1985-1990.

In 1985, he had two hits with Hoshiyar and Sanjog.

He delivered a blockbuster in K. Bapayya's family drama Swarag Se Sunder which also had Mithun Chakraborty, Jaya Prada and Padmini Kolhapure in the lead.^[15]

That year he also co-starred alongside Dilip Kumar in K. Raghavendra Rao's actioner Dharm Adhikari. It did average business at the box office.^[35]

After Dharm Adhikari, he reunited with K. Bapayya and Sridevi for Ghar Sansar.^[36]

Ghar Sansar received positive reviews from critics and went on to become a hit at the box office.

This was followed by another hit in Dosti Dushmani and an average^[37] grosser in Sadaa Suhagan.

In 1987, he starred in Rakesh Roshan's directional debut Khudgarz. The film proved to be a huge commercial success and established Roshan's career as a director.^[38]

Apart from Khudgarz, he also found success with Jaan Hatheli Pe and Insaaf Ki Pukar both co-starring Dharmendra.

In 1988, he got success in Kawal Sharma's multi-starrer film Mar Mitenge.

In 1990, he delivered a superhit^[39] in Raj N. Sippy's action drama Thanedaar which also starred Jaya Prada, Sanjay Dutt and Madhuri Dixit in the lead.

The song "Tamma Tamma Loge" from the film was a instant chartbuster. ^[40]

Thanedaar also proved to be the last hit for Jeetendra as a lead.

From 1991-2001, he acted in many films both as a lead and character artist, but none of them attained success, with Rang (1993) and Judge Mujrim being the exceptions.^[41][42]

His final major film appearance was Anurag Basu's slasher thriller Kucch To Hai (2003) in which he played father to his real life son Tusshar Kapoor.^[43]

The film received unfavorable response from critics and flopped at the box office.^[44][45]

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.^[46] In her authorized biography, Hema Malini claimed that they almost got married, but she backed out.^[47]

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.^[48] 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.^[49]

• 1998 – Guest of Honour Award at the 18th Ujala Cinema Express Awards^[50]
• 2002 – Lifetime Achievement Award at the Zee Gold Bollywood Movie Awards in New York.^[51]
• 2003 – Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award
• 2004 – "Legend of Indian Cinema" Award at Atlantic City (United States).^[52]
• 2005 – Screen Lifetime Achievement Award
• 2008 – Sansui Television Lifetime Achievement Award^[53]
• 2012 – Zee Cine Award for Lifetime Achievement
• 2012 – Lions Gold Awards: Most Evergreen Romantic Hero^[54]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Jeetendra.

• Jeetendra at IMDb