00:00My eldest brother, Ranjit Kapoor, is the king of the world of drama.
00:15He has no one to support him in the drama world.
00:25He is a very big name.
00:27He has written many films like Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro, Mangal Pandey, Khaki, Lajja, etc.
00:40He is a very good writer and a great actor.
00:48It is a story of struggles in our lives.
00:52My grandfather was an army officer.
00:57All of them were big army officers.
01:00My grandfather was an artist.
01:04The king of Tikamgarh gave shelter to my grandfather because he was a revolutionary.
01:13He got shelter in Tikamgarh because of the atrocities of the British.
01:19My grandfather was an artist.
01:23He grew up in politics.
01:28My grandfather was an army officer and a lawyer.
01:38My father started a drama company in 1930-1935.
01:44At that time, there were only 4-5 drama companies in India.
01:49Cinema was not so popular.
01:53Drama was the only entertainment in the society.
02:00There was a lot of crowd in the streets.
02:11There was a lot of crowd for the hero and heroine of that time.
02:20Despite all this, it was said that women from good families did not go to the drama companies.
02:32Because drama and cinema were not seen well in the society.
02:41The women who went to the drama companies, they went from the house of the tabaifas.
02:48Those artists were also seen as tabaifas in the society.
02:53They were neglected.
02:55The so-called elite class of the society,
03:10the middle class,
03:14they were ashamed to be in contact with those women.
03:31I have also experienced that tragedy.
03:35My mother has also experienced it.
03:37My father had a drama company.
03:40The girls from my school did not come to play with me.
03:46Because their family members used to stop them from coming to our house.
03:55Because their mother and father used to say that they are not good women.
04:03Do not go to their house.
04:05I have experienced this in my childhood.
04:12Fortunately, my parents were very educated.
04:20They were interested in literature and art.
04:26Even though we used to get social harassment,
04:31but no matter how hungry they were,
04:36they used to get good books for us.
04:40Literature books.
04:42In our house, I have said this before,
04:45even though we did not have food,
04:47we were hungry,
04:48but we used to get books of children like Champak, Nandan, Chandamama, Parag.
04:56When we were young, I do not know how my parents used to get books for us.
05:06Even though we did not have money to buy food,
05:09we used to get books of children from the library.
05:16When we grew up and reached Delhi,
05:19we came to know that this was world literature.
05:21Robinson Crusoe, Robin Hood, Himbala, Saath Boney, Red Rose, Kala Gulab,
05:31so many books like Coral Island, Moong Ekadweep.
05:39They introduced us to world literature.
05:43When we grew up, my mother introduced us to Shara Chandra, Vankim Chandra, Prem Chandra.
05:56My father was well versed in English literature.
06:00He had studied in D.A.V. college in Lahore.
06:04He introduced us to Victor Hugo, Keats, etc.
06:14Ragbir Yadav ji is like my brother Ranjit.
06:28My mother used to introduce us to Ranjit, Ragbir, Anu, Seema, Nikhil.
06:39Since he was very young, I think he was in 9th grade,
06:46he ran away from home.
06:49At that time, our company was set up in Harpalpur, Madhya Pradesh.
06:58He ran away from home.
07:00I think he gave an exam in 8th or 9th grade.
07:04He asked my father's permission to join our play company.
07:18My father asked him what he does.
07:23He said he sings.
07:25He heard the song.
07:27His Urdu was very bad.
07:32He sang a song called Khushiyon.
07:37He was singing Khushiyon.
07:40My father said that his pronunciation was very bad.
07:43My mother said that his voice is good.
07:46He can work on his pronunciation.
07:49Ragbir told him about an incident.
07:51He told him that his pronunciation was bad.
07:54He didn't even know what pronunciation is.
07:57He thought that the rhythm of the tabla was bad.
08:00Ragbir replied that he will be fine if he rehearses on the tabla.
08:07He was told what pronunciation is.
08:10It has nothing to do with the tabla.
08:13This is how Ragbir came to our play company.
08:21All the artists of the play company had good Urdu.
08:27They were experts in classical music.
08:32My mother and father worked with Ragbir in pronunciation and music.
08:42This is how Ragbir grew.
08:44Ragbir was our favorite brother.
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