# Rajit Kapur

Rajit Kapur (born 22 May 1963) is an Indian film and theatre actor and director. He is known for his portrayal of Mahatma Gandhi in the 1996 film, The Making of the Mahatma for which he won the National Film Award for Best Actor. Other notable roles are as the protagonist Unni in the Malayalam film Agnisakshi, and the fictional detective Byomkesh Bakshi in the eponymous television series, directed by Basu Chatterjee and broadcast on Doordarshan. His debut film was Suraj Ka Satvan Ghoda (1992), directed by Shyam Benegal.

## Life

Rajit Kapur was born in Amritsar, India on 22 May 1963 in a Punjabi family. He received his Bachelor of Commerce degree from Sydenham College. Kapur is unmarried and has no children.

## Career

When Rajit Kapur was 12 years old, he acted in a children's TV drama on Doordarshan. After 10 years, while working as a stage manager, he acted in the TV series Ghar Jamai, which was his first acting role in a TV series. The 1992 film titled Suraj Ka Satvan Ghoda directed by Shyam Benegal was his debut film. Kapur played the role of the famous Bengali detective Byomkesh Bakshi in the eponymously named TV series, Byomkesh Bakshi (1993). Byomkesh Bakshi is a fictitious character created by the popular Bengali writer Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay. Basu Chatterjee directed a TV show based on the stories of Bandyopadhyay, and Rajit Kapur played the lead role. The show was very popular and Rajit Kapur achieved his first media recognition through this show. Kapur is also a very prominent theatre actor and director in India. He acted in Malayalam film Agnisakshi in 1999 which won numerous acclodes including National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Malayalam, and he was awarded Kerala State Film Award for Best Actor.
He has also acted in several commercially successful movies like Kick, Uri: The Surgical Strike and Raazi. His latest work is The Threshold. Kapur starred in Deepti Naval's film titled Do Paise Ki Dhoop, Chaar Aane Ki Baarish which was supposed to release in 2012 in India but was released on Netflix in 2019. In 2022, Kapur acted in his first Punjabi language film Birha – The Journey Back Home. The short won the ‘Best film award’ at Amsterdam International Film Festival, Hollywood Shorts FEST, Los Angeles Film Awards (LAFA), New York Indian Film Festival, Calcutta International Cult Film Festival and at the Gangtok International Film Festival. 2023 saw the release of Mission Majnu and Mujib: The Making of a Nation and in both films he played the role of Pakistan's Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.

## Filmography

| Year | Title | Role | Director | Notes |
| 1992 | Suraj Ka Satvan Ghoda | Manik Mulla | Shyam Benegal | |
| 1994 | Mammo | Riyaz (Adult) | Shyam Benegal | First film in "Shyam Benegal's Muslim Trilogy" |
| 1994 | Charachar | Lakhinder | Buddhadeb Dasgupta | |
| 1995 | Limited Manuski | Sadanand Borse | Jayoo Patwardhan Nachiket Patwardhan | Marathi film |
| 1996 | The Making of the Mahatma | Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi | Shyam Benegal | Won National Film Award for Best Actor |
| 1996 | Sardari Begum | Sadiq Moosvi | Shyam Benegal | Second film in "Shyam Benegal's Muslim Trilogy" |
| 1998 | Train to Pakistan | Iqbal | Pamela Rooks | |
| 1998 | Ghulam | Jai | Vikram Bhatt | |
| 1999 | Samar | | Shyam Benegal | |
| 1999 | Agnisakshi | Unni | Shyamaprasad | Malayalam film, Kerala State Film Award for Best Actor |
| 2000 | Hari-Bhari | Khurshid | Shyam Benegal | |
| 2001 | Dattak | Sunil | Gul Bahar Singh | |
| 2001 | Censor | | Dev Anand | |
| 2001 | Zubeidaa | Riyaz Masud | Shyam Benegal | Third film in "Shyam Benegal's Muslim Trilogy" |
| 2002 | Octave | Dr. Gujaral | Shaji N. Karun | |
| 2002 | Nishad | Dr. Gopi Gujaral | Shaji N. Karun | |
| 2002 | Zindagi Khoobsoorat Hai | Prakash | Manoj Punj | |
| 2002 | Abaidha | | Gul Bahar Singh | Bengali film |
| 2003 | Ek Alag Mausam | George | K.P. Sasi | |
| 2004 | Rok Sako To Rok Lo | Sweety's husband | Arindam Chaudhuri | |
| 2005 | Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose: The Forgotten Hero | Abid Hasan | Shyam Benegal | |
| 2005 | Maine Gandhi Ko Nahin Mara | Ronu Chaudhary | Jahnu Barua | |
| 2006 | Deadline: Sirf 24 Ghante | Dr. Viren Goenka | Tanveer Khan | |
| 2007 | Dahek - A Restless Mind | Ajay Mathur | Aroop Adhikari | |
| 2008 | Welcome to Sajjanpur | Collector | Shyam Benegal | |
| 2009 | Do Paise Ki Dhoop, Chaar Aane Ki Baarish | Debu | Deepti Naval | Premiered at 2009 Cannes Film Festival Direct-to-video |
| 2009 | Gulmohar | Deven | Gajendra Ahire | |
| 2009 | Yeh Mera India | Arun Talreja | N. Chandra | |
| 2009 | Blue Oranges | Nilesh | Rajesh Ganguly | |
| 2009 | Morning Walk | Indra | Arup Dutta | |
| 2009 | Marega Salaa | Rahul Awasthi | Devang Dholakia | |
| 2010 | Guzaarish | Public Prosecutor, Vipin Patel | Sanjay Leela Bhansali | |
| 2010 | Well Done Abba | Inspector Rishab Reddy | Shyam Benegal | |
| 2011 | Shaitan | Amy's Father | Bejoy Nambiar | |
| 2011 | Dam 999 | Shankaran | Sohan roy | UAE–Indian co-production film |
| 2011 | Monica | Raj Jaitley | Sushen Bhatnagar | |
| 2013 | Singh Saab the Great | Iqbal | Anil Sharma | |
| 2013 | Mishawr Rawhoshyo | Al Mamun | Srijit Mukherji | Bengali film |
| 2014 | Dishkiyaoon | Viki's Dad | Sanamjit Singhalwar | |
| 2014 | Kick | Dr. Jayant Verma | Sajid Nadiadwala | |
| 2015 | Uvaa | Principal | Jasbir Bhaati | |
| 2015 | Roy | Detective Wadia | Vikramjit Singh | |
| 2016 | Anna: Kisan Baburao Hazare | | Shashank Udapurkara | |
| 2016 | Baar Baar Dekho | Panditji | Nitya Mehra | Special appearance |
| 2016 | Ki & Ka | Mr. Kumar Bansal | R. Balki | |
| 2017 | A Gentleman | Kavya's father | Raj Nidimoru and Krishna D.K. | |
| 2017 | The Wishing Tree | Fatima's Father | Manika Sharma | |
| 2017 | Begum Jaan | Ilias Khan | Srijit Mukherji | |
| 2018 | Raazi | Hidayat Khan | Meghna Gulzar | |
| 2018 | Phir Se... | Krish | Kunal KohliAjay Bhuyan | |
| 2018 | Mehram | Ikhlaque Siddiqui | Zain Anwar | Short film released on ZEE5 |
| 2019 | Bypass Road | Pratap | Naman Nitin Mukesh | |
| 2019 | 22 Yards | | Mitali Ghoshal | |
| 2019 | Uri: The Surgical Strike | Prime Minister of India | Aditya Dhar | |
| 2019 | Do Paise Ki Dhoop, Chaar Aane Ki Baarish | Debu | Deepti Naval | |
| 2020 | Fitrat | | Taher Ali Baig | Short film |
| 2021 | Nail Polish | Judge Kishore Bhushan | Bugs Bhargava Krishna | A legal thriller, a ZEE5 originals film |
| 2022 | Life's Good | | Anant Mahadevan | |
| 2022 | Rocketry: The Nambi Effect | Vikram Sarabhai | Madhavan | A biographical drama film. |
| 2022 | Code Name: Tiranga | Kabir Ali | Ribhu Dasgupta | |
| 2022 | Birha – The Journey Back Home | | Puneet Prakash | Punjabi short film released in Jio Cinema |
| 2023 | Mission Majnu | Zulfikar Ali Bhutto | Shantanu Bagchi | |
| 2023 | Mujib: The Making of a Nation | Zulfikar Ali Bhutto | Shyam Benegal | |
| 2024 | Chhatrapati Sambhaji | Aurangzeb | Rakesh Subesingh Dulgaj | |
| 2024 | Paani | | | Marathi film |

## Plays

* Love Letters
* Class of '84
* Larins Sahib
* Are There Tigers in the Congo?
* Mr. Behram
* Six Degrees of Separation
* Pune Highway
* Me Kash and Cruise
* Flowers
* A Walk In The Woods
* One on One Part 2
* The Siddhus of Upper Juhu
* Mahua (as director)

## Television series

| Year(s) | Title | Credited as | Credited as | Credited as | Notes |
| Year(s) | Title | Actor | Director | Role | Notes |
| 1986 | Ghar Jamai | Yes | | | |
| 1991 | Kshitij Ye Nahi | Yes | | | |
| 1993 | Byomkesh Bakshi | Yes | | Byomkesh Bakshi | Season 1 |
| 1995-96 | Yugantar | Yes | | | |
| 1997-98 | Junoon | Yes | | | |
| 1997 | Byomkesh Bakshi | Yes | | Byomkesh Bakshi | Season 2 |
| 1999 | Star Bestsellers | Yes | Yes | | Episode entitled "Tripti". Also, writer and producer. |
| 1999 | Star Bestsellers | Yes | | | Episode 12 – "Prayas" |
| 1999 | Star Bestsellers | Yes | Yes | | Episode 8 – "Shuruaat". Also, producer. |
| 2001 | Rishtey – The Love Stories | Yes | | Shastri | Episode 158 – "Poorab Aur Pashchim" |
| 2014 | Samvidhaan | Yes | | Alladi Krishnaswamy Iyer | |
| 2015 | Bang Baaja Baaraat | Yes | | | Web series |
| 2019 | Bard of Blood | Yes | | Sadiq Shaikh | Netflix series |
| 2019 | TVF Tripling | Yes | | Satyanweshi | Season 2 of the web series |
| 2022 | Rocket Boys | Yes | | Jawaharlal Nehru | SonyLIV |
| 2024-present | Sardar: The Game Changer | Yes | | Vallabhbhai Patel | DD National |

## Awards

* 1996: National Film Award for Best Actor - The Making of the Mahatma
* 1998: Kerala State Film Award for Best Actor - Agnisakshi
* 2010: Imagine India Film Festival, Spain, Award for Best Actor - Do Paise Ki Dhoop, Chaar Aane Ki Baarish