(L-R) Randhir Kapoor, Ritu Nanda, Rishi Kapoor, Reema Jain and Rajiv Kapoor cut a cake on Raj Kapoor’s birthday

Divya Kaushik (BOMBAY TIMES; December 17, 2017)

It was Raj Kapoor’s birthday on December 14, and his children – Rishi Kapoor, Randhir Kapoor, Rajiv Kapoor, Ritu Nanda and Reema Jain – got together in Delhi with their families to celebrate the legendary actor and filmmaker. The family came together for the launch of a book on the filmmaker, and it was one of those rare events that saw the presence of the extended family and friends. The highlights of the event were two special videos — one paying tribute to Raj Kapoor, and the other, a recorded message from Amitabh Bachchan. Also present at the gathering was Jaya Bachchan, with daughter Shweta Bachchan Nanda.

TRIBUTE TO SHASHI KAPOOR
“My name is Shashi Kapoor,”said Rishi Kapoor, surprising the gathering. “That’s how Shashi Kapoor used to introduce himself to everybody — ‘Mera naam Shashi Kapoor hai’,” said Rishi as he paid a tribute to his uncle, who passed away recently. “We lost him 10 days back, a great talent, but this is life. This evening there were people congratulating me and also offering me condolences. This is life,” said Rishi.



TRADITION OF CELEBRATING RAJ KAPOOR’S BIRTHDAY
While talking about her childhood days, Reema shared that Raj Kapoor’s birthday was nothing less than a national holiday for them as kids. “We never thought of going to school on that day! We would have great fun as he was either releasing his movie, ending the movie or partying on his birthday. So we are just keeping up with the tradition of celebrating his birthday,” she said.

Randhir shared that the family has received love from across the world for the work that their father did. He said, “We all love our parents, but I admired Raj Kapoor for the films he made, for the passion he had for cinema. Me and my sister Ritu have travelled a lot together, and we have seen the love that people have for Raj Kapoor.”

He added, “We were surprised to know that the Chinese also loved Raj Kapoor as much as the Russians did. We recently went on a cruise and we were in Turkey. While we were shopping there, there was a big crowd that recognized us as ‘Raj Kapoor’s family.’ They refused to take any money from us for the food that we ate. They said ‘No, no you are Raj Kapoor’s children, you entertained us and brought so much joy to our lives’. I am grateful to all of them for the love that they have shown for our father.”

AMITABH BACHCHAN’S SPECIAL MESSAGE FOR ‘THE ONE AND ONLY SHOWMAN’
Since Amitabh Bachchan could not come for the event, he sent a recorded message. In his video message, he said that the name Raj Kapoor “signifies only one impression, India.”

“Visit any part of the world and you are identified by his name. Such was, and still is, his presence. It would be very difficult to describe the phenomenon of Raj Kapoor. I remember we were together at a function in erstwhile Soviet Union and the organizer asked him to sing a song. His choice was, Saare Jahan Se Achcha Hindustan Hamara. No one could ever match his love and zest for life and it reflected in his work. In 1982, as I struggled to survive after my accident on sets of Coolie and was lying in ICU, he walked in with his smile and verve, and pulled out a bottle of champagne and said that ‘with this bottle we shall launch the ship of love again for you, so get well soon.’ He was the one and only showman.”


Shweta Bachchan Nanda with mom Jaya Bachchan and mom-in-law Ritu Nanda


(Clockwise from left) Rajan Nanda, Nitasha Nanda, Nikhil Nanda, Shweta Bachchan Nanda, Ritu Nanda and Reema Jain