With his last release Sharmaji Namkeen, the late actor proved that he was more than a lover boy
With his last release Sharmaji Namkeen, the late actor proved that he was more than a lover boy
His swan song, Sharmaji Namkeen, recently released on OTT, almost two years after his demise and Rishi Kapoor’s fans saw him in a new role. Everyone knows he didn’t live to complete the film, and Paresh Rawal stepped into the role without stepping into mimicry mode.
And that, frankly, would have been impossible: was unique to Rishi Kapoor. Rishi was, arguably, the finest actor of the Kapoor family, the first family of Hindi cinema. Make no mistake: Rishi, who was first seen in one shot, alongside his siblings, as a tot in a walk-on role in Shree 420, was always a world-class actor. He made his debut as a hero with Bobby (1973), which was a super hit, but it typecast him as both a romantic hero and a music star. The film won him the Filmfare Award for Best Actor, while he won the National Award for Best Child Actor for Rishi, for his first screen appearance in father Raj Kapoor’s Mera Naam Joker, while Bobby won the National Award for Best Child Actor. had received them. Filmfare Best Actor Trophy.
range of emotions
It took him a long time to get more awards – only when he started playing the role of an old man. Right from his early films like Rafoo Chakkar and Khel Khel Mein, Rishi displayed rare abilities. Writers and directors, even those who have never worked with him, agree with my view that Rishi’s face was like a canvas of emotions. One can express with raised eyebrows or a look will require whole scenes to others. His intonation, body language and dance moves were all incredibly fluid. He was a more natural artist. For Rishi, it was always about natural, cinematic performances.
from Mulki, , Photo Credit: The Hindu Archives
His loverboy image had its advantages, primarily that he was a straitjacked loverboy, Rishi had advantages, the main thing being that he was the only top star of his time to survive the wave of Amitabh Bachchan and single lead roles. Continued to play (even co-starring with him in blockbuster films like Amar Akbar Anthony, Naseeb and Coolie). His solo hits between 1977 and 1992 included Hum Kisse Kum Nahi, Sargam, Karz, Prem Rog, Tawaif, Nagina, Mehndi and Bol Radha Bol.
As for the composers, apart from the composers Laxmikant-Pyarelal (who composed music for many of his films, from Bobby to Rishi’s co-produced Prem Granth), Shiv-Hari and Nadeem-Shravan described how they were the mere characters of Rishi. Thee inspired him to come up with songs that matched his personality. It’s great. Do your best
Sadly, Rishi got his due late in his career. For a long time he never got his real right. After all, images were omnipotent in Hindi cinema then! He once told me, “An actor must have passion. How many people have it? I remember when Yashji (the late Yash Chopra) did it to me in Moscow to receive an honour. He did Do Dooni Chaar (Dr. 2010) as Mr. Duggal, a middle-class school teacher from Delhi and said, ‘I never thought you could do this’.”
Oddly enough, he had said, “No one has given me a chance to do any kind of soulful character before. I think I must have seen Mr. Duggal somewhere in my life. Acting is about experiences and encounters. You keep them in mind and reprocess them when you’re in front of the camera. But it’s not as easy as it sounds.” That bag of brain storage and encounters that we can reprocess the moment we need a movie. But that doesn’t really make it all that easy. !”
In fact, few recognized the huge range of sage – a major requirement in any popular art. In Khoj (1989), he was seen in a negative role, effortlessly overtaking Naseeruddin Shah, but the film did not do well at the box-office. Vicious as a no-no. Rishi spanned the entire spectrum from lover-boy to villainous roles, but it wasn’t until he became the vicious Rauf Lala in the 2012 hit Agneepath. His potential sadly remained untapped.
The sage then told me, “Rauf was a butcher in real life and had now become a pimp. These qualities had to seep into my mind. After all, a soft romantic hero was now becoming a murderer and drug-runner!
Next, his grand, Wodehouse-inspired character in Housefull 2’s Tycoon, Student of the Year’s gay dean, D-Day’s underworld don, Aurangzeb’s corrupt DCP, who was partly a bar-owner, in rapid succession. Came. Chashme Baddoor, and one of Rishi’s personal favourites, the 90-year-old grandfather of Kapoor & Sons. 102 – As a 75-year-old grumpy old man in Not Out and a secular Muslim lawyer in Mulk further proves his versatility. (as a 75-year-old grump) and Mulk as a secular Muslim lawyer all dug deep into this bottomless well of extraordinary talent. Even the last film released in his lifetime, The Body, saw him as a dog cop.
But do they not say that justice delayed is justice denied? Why should true identity always come when no one is there?
Though known for being extremely moody, Rishi was a generous and humble soul. During my first meeting with him, he gave me a huge piece of cake. When I was moody in such an exceptionally talented actor, that was understandable. But he was a friendly, generous and humble soul at heart, best illustrated when he served me a huge piece of cake at our first meeting. When I asked him what the opportunity was, he flashed his distinctive smile and said, “You! You are the opportunity!”