Famed RK Studios to become a shopping complex
The studio owned by the Kapoor family was gutted in a 2017 fire
The show will no longer go on at the iconic 71-year-old RK Studios. It will now make way for a swank residential complex and shopping plaza through its new owner, realty major Godrej Properties Ltd, an official said on Friday.
The GPL has purchased the 2.20 acres RK Studios premises in Chembur, north-east Mumbai, founded in 1948. It was gutted in a major fire on September 16, 2017.
GPL, which has inked the deal for an undisclosed amount with the Bollywood’s Kapoor clan, plan to now convert it into a modern residential apartments complex and a luxury retail centre spread over a saleable area of around 32,516 square metres.
Veteran Bollywood actor Randhir Kapoor, son of the founder of RK Studios, the legendary Raj Kapoor, said: “This property in Chembur, has been of tremendous significance to my family over the many decades that RK Studios has operated from there. We are excited to have chosen GPL to script a new chapter for this location and build upon its rich history.”
The studio property sale deal comes eight months after late Raj Kapoor’s widow, Krishna, died at the age of 87, on October 1, 2018.
Soon after the blaze, which also reduced to ashes memorabilia and costumes from the RK Films and Studios banner films over the past seven decades, the Kapoor family expressed their inability to revive it or continue maintaining it.
The RK Studios was the shooting venue for some classics of RK Films like ‘Aag’ (1948), ‘Barsaat’ (1949), ‘Awaara’ (1951), ‘Shree 420’ (1955) and many more.
Raj died in June 1988 after which some of his incomplete films like ‘Ram Teri Ganga Maili’ (1989) and ‘Henna’ (1991) were also made here.