Peshawar: The provincial government in Pakistan’s Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa has decided to purchase the ancestral houses of legendary Bollywood actors Raj Kapoor and Dilip Kumar to conserve them. The historic buildings are dilapidated and facing demolition threat, The New Indian Express (TNIE) reported quoting PTI.
Both the houses in the heart of Peshawar city have been declared as national heritage. The Department of Archaeology in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province has decided to allocate sufficient funds for purchasing the two buildings, PTI quoted an official as saying.
Both the stalwarts of Indian cinema were born and raised here in their early days before the partition. An official letter has been sent to the Deputy Commissioner of Peshawar to determine their cost, Dr Abdus Samad Khan, the head of Department of Archaeology was quoted as saying by PTI.
Raj Kapoor’s house
- Known as Kapoor Haveli, is situated in 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 the building.
Dilip Kumar’s house
- Over 100-years-old, it is also located in the same locality.
- The house is in shambles and was declared as national heritage in 2014 by the then Nawaz Sharif government.
According to Dr Abdus Samad Khan, 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 keeping in view their historic importance.
However, the owner of Kapoor Haveli, Ali Qadar, said that he did not want to demolish the building and made many contacts with the archaeology department officials to protect and preserve this historic structure which is a national pride, PTI reported.
The owner has demanded Rs 200 crore from the KP government to sell it out to the government.
In 2018, the Pakistan government decided to convert the Kapoor Haveli into a museum, at the behest of the late Rishi Kapoor, the report said.
