Jeetendra was born on 7th April 1942 in Mumbai. His birth name was Ravi Kapoor. It was for his indisputable commercial appeal he was running successfully in the film industry for over 25 years. Jeetendra has done nearly 200 films as hero. Filmmaker V. Shantaram gave him a chance in the movie and thus started the career of jumping jack for the first time and later his career culminated towards producing, working in television, and chairman of the Balaji Motion pictures.
Career of Jeetendra
Jeetendra got his first major break in Shantaram`s `Geet Gaya Pattharon Ne` in the year 1964. His other hit was `Farz` in 1967 with which he came into limelight. This film went on to become a golden jubilee success and his white shoes and t-shirt were very famous which created a trademark for him. His vigorous dancing in Farz and subsequent films like Caravan and Humjoli won Jeetendra the epithet, Jumping Jack. His films consistently achieved commercial success, even though the critics panned a lot of them. Jeetendra was a non actor who knew the market pulse well. In South also he worked in many movies which were super hit and commercially successful where he co-starred with Sridevi and Jayaprada. He also did many of the action films like `Dil Aur Deewar`, `Jyoti Bane Jwala` and `Meri Awaaz Suno`. Jeetendra worked in a trilogy with Gulzar as in `Parichay`, `Khushboo` and `Kinara`. Some of the landmark movies that has left a mark of Jeetendra are `Justice Chaudhry` in 1982, `Mawaali` in 1983, `Himmatwala` in 1983, and `Tohfa` in 1984. These were huge hits despite low critical acclaim.
Jeetendra is married to Shobha Kapoor, and has a son Tusshar Kapoor, who is also an actor, and a daughter, Ekta Kapoor, who is popularly known as queen of soaps in Television. Jeetendra made a brief appearance in one of his daughter`s produced films `Kucch To Hai` in the year 2002 where he appeared along with his son Tusshar. He even made an appearance in a popular TV serial `Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu`. He was also a judge of `Jhalak Dikhla Jaa`, an Indian dance competition on Sony Entertainment Television.
Awards received by Jeetendra Kapoor
He has never won an award, except for Lifetime Achievement Awards because of the tough competition in Bollywood during his era. In the year 1998 he achieved the Guest of Honour Award at the 18th Ujala Cinema Express Awards. In 2000 he was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award in film personalities. In the year 2002 he won Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award, as well as Lifetime Achievement Award at the Zee Gold Bollywood Movie Awards in New York. In 2004 he has won the `Legend of Indian Cinema` Award at Atlantic City, United States. In 2007 he won Dadasaheb Phalke Academy Award.
