Rishi Kapoor wanted to do films till his last breath: Used to read scripts during cancer treatment, regretted buying awards for ‘Bobby’ all his life

Today is the fourth death anniversary of Rishi Kapoor. He died on April 30, 2020, at the age of 67. He was diagnosed with cancer in 2018. Rishi was treated in America for 11 months after which he returned to India and it was here that he breathed his last. He was so passionate about his work that even during his treatment in America, he used to ask for and read scripts from filmmakers. Rishi was the representative of the third generation in the five-generation Kapoor family, but his vivacity was such that he kept the members of every generation together. The sage was very fond of food, drink and fun. The stories related to him are etched in the memories of the Kapoor family and fans. On the death anniversary, let’s look at some interesting stories related to Rishi Kapoor’s life… Rishi Kapoor, who was expelled from school when he worked in ‘Mera Naam Joker’, was born on 4 September 1952 to Raj Kapoor and Krishna Raj. Raj Kapoor has three sons Randhir, Rishi and Rajiv Kapoor and two daughters Reema Jain and Ritu Nanda. Shammi Kapoor and Shashi Kapoor were Rishi’s uncles. Father, grandfather and uncle had achieved big success in Bollywood by leaving their acting mark before Rishi Kapoor’s Bollywood debut. After this, Rishi entered the world of acting as a child artist in his father’s film ‘Mera Naam Joker’. There is an interesting story related to this film. When Raj Kapoor gave his childhood role to Rishi Kapoor in the film ‘Mera Naam Joker’, he used to study in school. While working in the film, Rishi was not able to go to school and his teachers did not like this at all. Finally a day came when the schoolteachers expelled Rishi Kapoor from the school. When Raj Kapoor came to know about this, after much effort he got Rishi Kapoor admitted in the school again. Prithviraj Kapoor cried when Rishi Kapoor got the award. Rishi had received the National Award for Best Child Artist for his first film ‘Mera Naam Joker’. While narrating an incident related to this in his autobiography ‘Khullam Khulla’, he had said, ‘When I returned to Mumbai, my father sent me with that award to my grandfather Prithviraj Kapoor. My grandfather held the medal in his hand and his eyes filled with tears. He kissed my forehead and said, ‘Raj has paid off my debt.’ Rishi had a lifelong regret of buying awards. After growing up, he made his Bollywood debut as a hero in the 1973 film ‘Bobby’. The actor had received the Filmfare Best Actor Award for this film, but the truth behind it was told by Rishi Kapoor himself in his autobiography Khullam Khulla that he had bought this award by paying money. He was regretting this all his life. Rishi Kapoor had said that he did this on the instructions of his PR. He was only 22 years old and did not understand where and how to spend the money, so when the PR said that he could get the award for thirty thousand rupees, he gave it, but later he realized his mistake and I realized that he should not have done this. This incident happened in the year 1975 when he entered the gents washroom posing as a girl. When Rishi was shooting the film ‘Rafoochakkar’. Rishi Kapoor was playing the character of a girl in this film. The shooting of this film was taking place in Kashmir. One day during the shooting, the actor had to go to the washroom, but at that time Rishi was in a girl’s getup, so he was shy to go to the gents washroom. When he could no longer bear it, he was forced to go to the gents washroom. When Rishi Kapoor came out, the people standing there were shocked to see him. When people came to know that he was none other than Rishi Kapoor, no one could believe it. Raj Kapoor’s film ‘Rishwat’ was rejected. It was Raj Kapoor who brought Rishi into films, but there came a time when Rishi rejected his film. Actually, Raj Kapoor wanted to make a film in which he wanted to cast Rishi Kapoor. The title of the film was ‘Rishwat’. It was the story of a retired master, whose son becomes a minister and starts taking bribes worth crores. Raj Kapoor wanted Rishi to play the role of his son, but it did not happen. Actually, Rishi was not comfortable playing the role of a corrupt son, so he rejected the role. Later Raj Kapoor died and this film was never made. Had asked Neetu- Don’t you want to get married? Rishi Kapoor married actress Neetu Singh in the year 1980. Rishi and Neetu also worked together in many films. During this time both of them had come close to each other. In an interview, Neetu had said on her love story with Rishi Kapoor, ‘Chintu used to make fun of everyone, so when I used to come on the set, he used to tease me too. I used to get very angry with this. At that time, I was being offered a lot of films with her, because other actresses looked older than her. One day he asked me, don’t you want to get married? I told him that there must be some boy too and he said, I am there. And then we became one. Neetu had also told that Rishi Kapoor used to be a very strict boyfriend. She had strict instructions that she would return home before 8:30 pm and would not do any shooting at night. Once Rishi went to America, he brought dog biscuits, not a gift, for Neetu. Neetu asked him to bring some things for her. Rishi returned with three suitcases. Neetu thought that this time all her requests were fulfilled, but when she opened the suitcase, she saw that Rishi had brought his beloved dog’s biscuits in all three suitcases. Neetu became very angry with him due to this. Despite being injured, he filmed action scenes. Rishi Kapoor did not miss becoming a villain in his second innings. Rauf Lala’s character in Agneepath, released in 2012, was his most different character. Rishi suffered many injuries in the action scenes of this film, but he continued shooting without first aid. He did not use any body double. Rishi Kapoor was given the IIFA Best Negative Role Award for this role. Rishi Kapoor had made some rules for himself, one of which was that he would not work on Sundays. Even if he went out of India for shooting and it was Sunday, he still did not shoot. This is an incident during the shooting of the film Hina, when Zeba Bakhtiar had to go somewhere on Monday. It was Sunday and the shooting of the scene was still pending. In such a situation, the makers had tried to persuade Rishi Kapoor to shoot on Sunday, but he did not agree. He had said- ‘If I shoot for you today, then other directors will say that your principles are not there for their own films, but they are for us, so this is wrong.’ ‘Sharma Ji Namkeen Thi’ was the last film. Rishi Kapoor’s last film ‘Sharma Ji Namkeen’ was released on OTT in 2022. Rishi fell ill during the shooting of this film. Then the era of Covid had come. Rishi died before he could complete the film. Rishi Kapoor had shot 65% of Sharmaji’s character while the remaining character was shot by Paresh Rawal. This is the first Hindi film where the same character was played by two veteran actors. Wanted to work in films till his last breath. In an interview, Anup Jalota had talked about the days of Rishi Kapoor when he was undergoing cancer treatment in America. Jalota had said, ‘He did not feel like living in America and he was missing his country a lot. They wanted that somehow their treatment should end as soon as possible so that they could return to their country. He wanted to work in films till his last breath. He used to miss his acting a lot. He used to say, ‘I am a person who shoots every day, I don’t feel like sitting like this.’ He was so passionate about his work that even while sitting in America, he used to read and ask for scripts from filmmakers. Neetu Kapoor had gone into depression after his death. Neetu had told in an interview that she had become a victim of depression after the death of Rishi Kapoor. To get out of this he had to take the help of a psychiatrist. Daughter Riddhima had recently told in an interview that Rishi Kapoor had called her two days before his death, but she had missed the call. After that, when he called his father, he was not in a condition to talk and then passed away after two days. She still regrets that she could not answer her father’s last phone call.

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