Born into the Kapoor family, Kapoor was the third and youngest son of Prithviraj Kapoor. He began his career as a child actor in his brother Raj Kapoor's directorial "Aag" (1948), and had his first adult role in Yash Chopra's political drama "Dharmputra" (1961). Kapoor was married to English actress Jennifer Kendal from 1958 till her death in 1984, and had three children Kunal Kapoor, Karan Kapoor and Sanjana Thapar. He died at the age of 79 due to liver cirrhosis.