RAJ KAPOOR, DILIP KUMAR HOUSES TO BECOME MUSEUMS IN PAKISTAN

Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has determined the price of the ancestral houses of Bollywood actors Dilip Kumar and Raj Kapoor in the heart of Peshawar at Rs 8,056,000 ($50,259) and Rs 15,000,000 ($93,529) respectively. Both buildings in the heart of this northern Pakistani city have been declared as national heritage. It is here the two great personalities of Indian cinema were born and raised before Partition. In September, the provincial government decided to purchase their ancestral houses to conserve the historic buildings.

Following a report of the Communication and Works Department, Deputy Commissioner of Peshawar, Muhammad Ali Asghar, fixed the prices of the houses.

The archaeology department has asked the provincial government to release over Rs two crore for purchasing these historic buildings.

Raj Kapoor’s ancestral home, known as Kapoor

Haveli, is situated in the Qissa Khwani Bazar. It was built between 1918 and 1922 by the actor’s grandfather, Dewan Basheswarnath Kapoor. Raj Kapoor and his uncle Trilok Kapoor were born in that house.

Dilip Kumar’s over 100-year-old ancestral house is in the same locality. The house is in a shambles and was declared as national heritage in 2014 by the then Nawaz Sharif government.

The owners of the two buildings made many attempts in the past to demolish them for constructing commercial plazas, but all such moves were stopped as the archaeology department wanted to preserve them. The owner of Kapoor Haveli, Ali Qadar had demanded Rs 200 crore from the provincial government for selling it to the authorities.