I WILL MISS YOU FOREVER MY DEAR CHINTU

A personal tribute to the late RISHI KAPOOR by JYOTHI VENKATESH

Today, Rishi Kapoor, my dear grumpy old friend for the past four decades passed away though he had emerged victorious after battling with Cancer for almost a year in US. Though I was quite friendly with the Kapoors especially Raj Kapoor with whom I usd to drink occasionally in the evenings as well as his Lone Farm House, it was Rishi Kapoor who I used to call Chintu affectionately who was my dear friend as we belonged to the same age group. Today, we at bollyy.com and Mayapuri reproduce this free and frank interview with RISHI KAPOOR by JYOTHI VENKATESH which appeared first in Free Press Bulletin dated August 26, 1979, almost 41 years ago.

The last time I had Whats apped Chintu was when he celebrated his 67^th birthday in New York. Within minutes of my having wished him, Chintu Whats apped me back, “Thank you Jyothi. 11 months 6 days here today in NY hopefully will be back soon.” Even otherwise I used to send him a link of bollyy.com whenever I used to wrote about the demise of a Bollywood celebrity and carry a nostalgic interview about the person, like Shashi Kapoor in  bollyy.com.

Once at PVR Juhu, I had gone to see a Bengali film as the director had invited me for it and I bumped into Chintu who had come to see a Hollywood film there. He called the F&B guy in front of me and while paying him cash for whatever he had purchased at the counter, he winked at me. “I insist ob paying for what I buy and do not try to use my clout as a star.”

I remember I had written to him on Whatsapp that there were rumors that his father the late Raj Kapoor had lifted a foreign tune and rehashed it as his own in the film Awara and he quickly had retorted, “You should brush your knowledge about foreign films. This song was in a film after dad had made Awara. How could he have rehashed that song? It is high time that you retired from journalism Jyothi”. Rishi had every right to chide me because we had made our debut in the film industry, he as an actor and I as a journalist almost around the same time after he had made with Bobby.

I will now miss the days when Chintu and I used to sit at his bungalow and drink Black Label and he used to narrate interesting anecdote  after anecdote to me till he was totally drunk.  Where will I get an actor friend like Chintu today when every other actor is selfish and will not talk to me if I do not have an appointment with him through his pr guy or secretary?

To pin down Rishi Kapoor for an interview is like asking for the moon. One day he is shooting at the Chandivali Studios at the farther end of the suburbs, another day he can be spotted at the Essel Studios at Trombay and there are days when he is shooting at Goregaon or Juhu in one of those private bungalows which are let out for shooting. When I bumped into Rishi at the Hotel Oberoi Sheraton’s Carousel Bar the other day  unexpectedly on the sets of his Khatilon Ke Kaatil, I whisked him away for half an hour to his room downstairs in the hotel for this interview. It was easy for me because I was working in the Accounts department of Hotel Oberoi Sheraton at that time.

As a starter, I asked Rishi whether he had any qualms about losing his ever green bachelor image now that he is all set to marry his sweet heart Neetu. Even before I could finish asking the question, he interrupted me half way with, “I care a damn for image”. He continued, “Did my father Raj Kapoor or for that matter Dilip Kumar or Ashok Kumar lose their bachelor image just because they got married? On the contrary their fans knew that they were all happily married and yet fell for them. Rishi paused for a moment, winked at me and quipped, “Why, my father was the biggest lover boy among all the leading men of the 60’s in spite of the fact that he was the father of all four of us-Dabboo, Chimpu, Reema and I.”

Has he thought of life after marriage and the trail of responsibilities that marriage would bring along with it? I asked Rishi. “Zyada farak to nahi padega in my case”, he said. And went on to elaborate, “I agree I have to care more for home and cannot have late nights like these days. But then even nowadays, whenever I keep late nights, I inevitably spend them with Neetu besides me. After marriage too, I may spend late nights but the only difference will be that I will be spending them with Neetu inside our home.”

Rishi confessed to me that actually he wasn’t at all prepared for an early marriage with Neetu and was more eager to consolidate his career of the moment. “People ask me if I had to encounter problems in convincing my parents about Neetu. On the contrary, it was my parents, who sprang a pleasant surprise on me at Delhi where I had gone to attend the engagement of Rajendra Kumar’s daughter Dimple. They asked me to ask Neetu to rush up to Delhi and forced me to get engaged to her. I tell you, Neetu has worked her way to the hearts of my parents.”

After marriage, Rishi wants to settle down at his current abode-the cottage at Chembur where Raj Kapoor had spent the best years of his life and Rishi had grown up as a toddler. “I want Neetu to get accustomed to the Kapoorian traditions and ways of life and become a part and parcel of my family by living with my parents, at least for a year after marriage before we shift to a new bungalow which we intend buying, just like Dabboo shifted with Babita bhabhi to his flat at Napean Sea Road.”

Rishi is a staunch male chauvinist. “Call me a MCP, I do not mind, but then I wouldn’t like my wife to work in films after our marriage. Tell me why I should Neetu work in films? Basically, I know her very well. She is least interested in working in films. She will be more at home looking after my folks and attending to my needs. She isn’t career conscious like some of the other actress wives.”

Rishi asserts emphatically that the date for the marriage hasn’t yet been fixed. “It looks like the entire world knows more about my marriage than I know. People ask me whether I have decided to get married on December 3. In any case, our marriage will not take place before January next year. Neetu has got to finish all her acting assignments before the year is over.  I am adamant about one thing and that is Neetu should be completely free from any film commitment, including dubbing work once we get married. I do not want her to have any tension after marriage”

On the floors, there is only one single film starring Rishi and Neetu. The name of the film is Dhan Daulat and it is being directed by Harish Shah, the producer of the film, after Dulal Guha walked out of the direction of the film after some difference of opinion with him. “Keeping in mind our marriage, we had decided not to accept any more film with each other long time back, even before Dhan Daulat was launched. To tell you the truth, today on the floors, Neetu has more films with Shatrughan Sinha than me.”

Earlier, Rishi used to work daily on one set and loathed other stars who flitted from one set to another doing triple shifts. Today, however, Rishi has learnt to play the game the way it ought to be played.  I have decided to work in two shifts every day. I find it less strenuous than working in one shit the whole day. It was my illness which forced me to start accepting two shifts every day though I was against the idea. I do not want my producers to suffer because of me getting bed ridden like I was with jaundice nearly for a month last year”

Rishi excused himself and walked up to the camera range to give his shot, after we left his makeup room and arrived at the Bar where Arjun Hingorani was making the lighting arrangements and sent word for  Rishi to report for the shot. After giving the shot with Tina, who has been teamed with him in his Katilon Ke Kaatil, Rishi ince again resumed the conversation.

We talked about his forthcoming films. Rishi admitted that of late he had become awfully choosy. “I have decided not to take up each and every role that I am offered, however irresistible the temptation may be, because I do not want to screw my career up. I have taken up really challenging roles like I have done in Sargam with Jaya Prada. I am fed up of the same kind of dancing roles I am doing in film after film which do not leave me any scope to get my teeth into the role, leave alone do justice to the role. It is up to the audience to accept me or reject me outright, but I think it is a risk worth taking up.”