Also known as Bollywood's Jumping Jack, Jeetendra born as Ravi Kapoor celebrates his 77th birthday on April 7, 2019
Jeetendra with daughter Ekta Kapoor. All Pictures: mid-day archives
The veteran actor, Jeetendra, known for his dance moves, acting calibre and looks, is celebrating his 77th birthday on Sunday. His filmmaker-daughter, Ekta Kapoor also hosted a pre-birthday celebration for her daddy dearest, and prominent names from the television industry attended the bash.
Also considered a sensation in the '80s in his trademark white boots, he was known to combine knee-slapping, leapfrogging, and of course, some PT exercises in his dance routines. As the 'Dancing Star' of Bollywood, Jeetendra, celebrates his 77th birthday, let us revisit some unknown and interesting facts about the veteran actor.
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6 interesting facts about Jeetendra:
Born on April 7, 1942, in Amritsar, Punjab, Jeetendra's real name is Ravi Kapoor. His parents Amarnath and Krishna Kapoor were into the imitation jewellery business. Jeetendra and Rajesh Khanna attended the same school - St. Sebastian's Goan High School in Girgaum and later Jeetendra went to K.C College - Churchgate.
Jeetendra joined the film industry in 1959 with V Shantaram's Navrang. There is a very interesting tale about Jeetendra's first on-screen appearance. He was supplying jewellery to V. Shantaram, who ended up casting him as actress Sandhya's double in the 1959 film Navrang. Rajesh Khanna is believed to have encouraged and tutored Jeetendra during his early days in the film industry.
Though Jeetendra's first feature film was V. Shantaram's Navrang, his big Hindi film debut is considered as the 1964 movie - Geet Gaya Patharon Ne, directed by V. Shantaram.
Do you know Jeetendra has done nearly 200 films as the main lead? It's a feat matched by just a handful of his peers since the inception of Hindi cinema.
Himmatwala, starring Jeetendra and Sridevi, was a turning point for both the stars. However, not many know that Rekha was the original choice for this film.
In this photo: Tusshar Kapoor and Ekta Kapoor as kids with dad Jeetendra and mom Shobha Kapoor.
In 1974, Jeetendra married his childhood sweetheart Shobha Kapoor, who is now the MD of Balaji Telefilms. In an interview with mid-day, Jeetendra was quoted saying, "I remember sending a telegraph to my wife Shobha that time saying I love her and in return, she had said 'fake'."
He is 77, but continues to look fit and younger than his age. It won't be wrong to say that Jeetendra could give actors half his age a run for their money. We wish him a very happy birthday!
Also Read: Parveen Babi: Lesser known facts about the late veteran actress
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