Raj Kapoor’s Ancestral Haveli to Become Commercial Complex

The historic ancestral home of late Bollywood actor Raj Kapoor in Pakistan’s Peshawar city is facing demolition threat as the current owner of the house is adamant on building a commercial complex on the site. In 2018, the Pakistan government decided to convert the ‘Kapoor Haveli’ in Qissa Khwani Bazar in Peshawar in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province into a museum, heeding to a request by Rishi Kapoor who passed away. The haveli is currently owned by Haji Muhammad Israr, a wealthy jeweller in the city. The provincial government wanted to buy the haveli keeping in view its historic importance and conserve it in its original shape for the tourists. Israr, however, wants to demolish the building and construct a new commercial building at this prime location. He made three/four attempts in the past to demolish the building but could not do it as FIRs were registered against him by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa heritage department. There were reports that the provincial government has failed to convert the building into a museum due to differences with its owner over its price.  Local residents fear that the building may automatically collapse unless the government takes timely action to conserve it. The ‘‘Kapoor Haveli’‘was built by Basheswarnath Kapoor, the father of Bollywood pioneer Prithviraj Kapoor. The Kapoor family, originally from Peshawar in Pakistan, migrated to India after the partition in 1947. In 1990, Rishi Kapoor along with brother Randhir Kapoor visited their ancestral home where his grandfather, Prithviraj and his father Raj Kapoor, were born.