Raj Kapoor was an influential filmmaker in Indian cinema who produced, wrote, directed and starred in 18 films that highlighted social issues through a romantic and optimistic lens. His 1955 film Shree 420 criticized an unjust social order that respected thieves over honest working people. Kapoor played a homeless vagrant who wins over people in Bombay with his charm and dreams, representing the marginalized in society. Though facing injustice, Kapoor's characters fight for balance with a mood of awareness and hope that the situation can change. Ultimately, Kapoor's message was one of love and that young people deserve a chance if given economic opportunity and freedom from limiting social influences. This romanticism, innocence and optimism characterized Kapoor's four decades of film