Shah Rukh Khan starrer Fauji director Colonel Raj Kapoor passes away at 87

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The director who introduced Shah Rukh Khan with the television show "Fauji", Colonel Raj Kapoor passed away at a hospital here, a family member said. He was 87. He passed away on Wednesday night due to age-related issues, Ritambhara, one of his daughters, told IANS. "My father died at 10.10 p.m. yesterday. He was in a hospital for sometime, but his death was very sudden. He was otherwise in good health... He went quite peacefully," Ritambhara, one of his three daughters, said over phone.

A Facebook post from Kapoor's family read: "This is to inform you that our beloved dad, Raj Kumar Kapoor, has left his earthly body to go on a brand new adventure." Kapoor was cremated here on Thursday. He retired from the army after he became a disciple of Osho and moved to Mumbai to work in films. He produced many serials and acted in full-length and ad films. Just a few years ago, he published a novel "When Shiva Smiles".

In Samar Khan's book titled "SRK - 25 Years of a Life", Kapoor had penned an essay. He had shared his thoughts on being known as "the man who made 'Fauji' and therefore, by default, made Shah Rukh Khan".

"I've been an actor, I've fought three wars, but all that anybody seems to remember is that I launched Shah Rukh 20 years ago. It amuses me to think that I'm given credit for something I played no part in. Shah Rukh's parents made him, I didn't. I didn't make a superstar; I simply chose the right man for a job I had. What happened before or after that in his life has nothing to do with me," he wrote.

Talking about what made SRK a brilliant artist, Raj Kapoor had written, "One of the things that I realised early on about Shah Rukh was that he doesn't do things by half measures. When he came into films, he didn't come with a back-up plan. It wasn't like, "If this doesn't work out, I'll go back and do that." It was films or nothing. I guess when you have that kind of urgency in you, you give more. He is very involved in what he does.."

Here is an episode from Shah Rukh Khan's Fauji to give you a bit of nostalgia-

(With IANS inputs)