Alvida Rishi Kapoor-Sir --lekin yeh toh bilkul nahin hona thaa !

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By Team Bollyy
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I WISH MY  ENCOUNTERS  WITH RAJ KAPOOR COULD HAVE BEEN BETTER

Chaitanya Padukone

‘Main na rahungi, tum na rahoge, Phir bhi rahegi nishaaniyaan’ are the awe-inspiring lyrics from showman Raj Kapoor’s iconic ‘Shree 420’ movie- song which was picturised on Raj-Nargis with their three little kids, walking in the drizzling showers, one of them being cherubic Rishi Kapoor . Undoubtedly the versatile awesome lead actor, amazing agile dancer and classy director as well, music-savvy Rishi Kapoor has left behind his immortal ‘nishaaniyan’ in the form of numerous movies and dozens of chartbusting filmy songs. It is with shattering shock and disbelief that I reconciled myself to bitter reality that ‘evergreen’ Rishi-jee is actually no more. The ‘zinda dil’ super-actor and romantic-icon Rishi passed away peacefully at 8:45am in the hospital today after a two-year battle with leukemia. The doctors and medical staff at the hospital said he kept them entertained to the last.  A message from the Kapoor family also said “Rishi was grateful for the love of his fans that poured in from the world over. In  his passing, they would all understand that he would like to be remembered with a smile and not with tears.”

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When as a budding film-journalist I first met him at a lavish party at the Taj in Mumbai, during the late ‘80s, and addressed him as ‘Rishi-jee’ , he was taken aback and reacted with “Thanks yaar—for a change, someone has not called me Chintu. You know, honestly I resent it when everyone including juniors refer to me as Chintu. From now on you are my friend as well. ”

Although brutally frank and honest and sometimes short-tempered by nature, he was also sentimentally soft. Every time I met him at the erstwhile iconic RK Studios ( Chembur), he would offer me a ‘lift’ in his chauffeur-driven car upto Mehboob Studios, From there I would take a cab to my Andheri West residence Invariably, the staunch Lord Ganesha-bhakt Rishi would sit next to his driver and ask me to occupy the back-seat. At
traffic-signals, curious gazers would stare adoringly at the charismatic Kapoor and wonder who is this person sitting in the back seat when they glanced at me. Sensing my awkward position, Rishi would quip, “when we stop at signals please wave out to the crowds, let them keep guessing ‘who’ is this new actor”.

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Not that I complied with what he jestfully said. In the recent past, when I went to RK studios, I felt I should click a picture with Rishi as a keepsake for my record. What I observed was thar Rishi was super-sentimental about sitting at his desk and chair posing with me, just below the poster of his milestone ‘Mera Naam Joker’ (1970) movie. Justifed the Kapoor, “ For me my debut movie (MNJ) means the world and then comes ‘Bobby’ and ‘Prem Rog’ . It was in ‘Joker, that I won the coveted ‘National Award’ as a best child actor.

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Whatever some detractors might say, it is an immortal, unique ‘cult film’ and a ‘diffi-cult’ film for my dad Raj Kapoor-saab whose blood, sweat and tears went into its grand- making,” he insisted with an emotional streak in his voice. When there was this (Sept 2017) accidental fire at RK Studios, which fully gutted the studio stage and walls where they had stored the precious RK movies memorabilia, costumes and props, senti-sensitive Rishi was sobbing inconsolably on phone for quite some time when I called him up late-night to speak to him. That’s when I told him I would call him a couple of days later. “Yeh to bilkul nahin hona chahiye thaa’ , he emphatically reacted when I spoke to him in my next call. Now that Rishi-jee has made his untimely eternal exit , I am forced to repeat that same distressing line alvida- ‘yeh toh bilkul nahin hona thaa’, with tears welling in my eyes.

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