Babita Kapoor's 77th Birthday: Do You Know She Went Against Family To Support Film Career Of Her Daughters?

Actresses Karisma Kapoor and Kareena Kapoor are two of the leading actresses of Hindi cinema. Both the sisters have successfully continued the legacy of the famous Kapoor family but many people do not know that they owe their careers to their mother Babita Kapoor. It was Babita who put her foot down when her husband actor Randhir Kapoor did not want his daughters to join cinema and went against the norms and principles of the Kapoor family to launch her daughters.

Babita was born on April 20, 1947, in Karachi and migrated to the Indian side of the border after the Partition of India. At the age of 18, Babita entered the film industry, making her Bollywood debut in 1966 with the movie Dus Lakh, despite its lacklustre performance at the box office. However, her captivating beauty garnered widespread attention. Subsequently, she starred alongside Rajesh Khanna in the 1967 film Raj, which received significant acclaim from audiences. Within the same year, Babita’s career received a major boost with the release of Farz, a superhit film co-starring Jeetendra.

While she was at the peak of her career, she fell in love with Randhir Kapoor and married him in 1971. However, the Kapoor family accepted her on the condition that she would not act in movies after marriage, as was the norm of the family. Babita agreed and bid adieu to the movies. After three years of marriage, Babita welcomed daughter Karishma in 1974 and then Kareena was born in 1980.

However, the marriage was on the rocks during the early 80s. Randhir Kapoor’s career was going downhill and he became an alcoholic. There were also many family disputes. By 1987, Babita left Randhir Kapoor’s house along with both her daughters. In violation of the rule of the Kapoor family where the women were not allowed to join the industry, she started grooming Karisma and Kareena to enter the film industry.

Leaving the luxurious lifestyle of the Kapoor family, Babita groomed and brought up her daughters alone and sought help from many people in the film industry to launch Karishma in films. Karisma made her Bollywood debut with the 1991 film Pram Qaidi. After this Karishma became the top actress of the 90s. After Karisma, Kareena also entered films very soon. In the year 2000, Kareena started her career in Bollywood with the film Refugee.