Rajit Kapur

Rajit Kapur (born 27 August 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, directed by Shyam Benegal.

Life Rajit Kapur was born in Amritsar, India on 27 August 1963 in a Punjabi family. 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. 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.

Filmography

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

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