Anyone who thinks that Rishi Kapoor can be cowed down after the recent brouhaha over his tweets on the beef ban has several rethinks coming.

In fact he's done with the controversy, having blocked over two hundred people who were "giving me maa bahen ki gaalis, refusing to listen to reason, saying anti-national or vulgar stuff or using cuss words. I have so many people (including some very prominent politicians) and young people following me. I can't have this sort of thing appearing on my timeline," he says.

An offshoot of the controversy was the threatened ban of his and son Ranbir Kapoor's films by strident religious bodies that could not stomach his declaration of being "a beef eating Hindu who did pooja twice a day and celebrated every festival". His reaction: he posted a picture that he had happened to click a few months ago at an outdoor shoot, of a dhaba called R K Chinese Fast Food, saying that after the ban his family was going to have to earn their living this way. When I tell him that this had been his most popular post, garnering 463 retweets and being favourited 719 times, he has no clue what that means but just knows it is amazingly popular.

With a strange naivete that is utterly endearing but not surprising considering he is such a recent entrant on Twitter, he confesses that he doesn't know all the features of the social media network but will learn in time; he isn't quite familiar with the practice of dispatching direct messages. At the moment he only knows how to tweet and how to block.

He affirms that he will poke fun at himself and his long-suffering but sporting wife Neetu but will never be mean to others.

His bio, which reads, 'Son of a famous father, father of a famous son. That leaves me nowhere', is what he wanted to name his biography, which is currently being written. "But the publishers were not too keen on it, so I put it up on Twitter instead."

He's thrilled to bits that he has been verified within a couple of months of joining the service. "Sometimes it takes a year," he says proudly, laughing uproariously at the huge hungama he created with his very candid observation about his younger co-stars wearing dark glasses even at night, at places where the media (read paparazzi) was going to be. "Are they expecting the sun to come out at night?" he asks. "Or have they suddenly realized that the lights are even harsher than those they face in studios? I suppose they're trying to be stylish, but do they realize how stupid they look?"

He has other equally damning observations up his sleeves. "Tell me, why do today's actors act with their hands in their pockets? They just don't know what to do with them. Do they not understand that their hands are as much a body part as their legs or their face and should also be hanging around?"

"I also want to ask the government why any prominent structure, like a bridge or an airport, is only named after politicians. Rajiv Gandhi died more than 20 years back. When the sea link was made, in fact when it was thought of, he was not even living, and yet it is named after him. Why is it not named after eminent citizens of the city? Why not after JRD Tata, or Lata Mangeshkar, or Dilip Kumar or Azim Premji among others? There is a John Wayne airport in the US; why do we only think of politicians, Indira Gandhi this, Rajiv Gandhi that...?"

That his uncle Shashi Kapoor was recently chosen for this year's Dadasaheb Phalke Award makes Rishi very happy. Completely poohpoohing criticism that it is a bit late he avers that it is never too late and can even be conferred posthumously. An honour he also thinks his other chacha Shammi Kapoor deserves equally. Elaborating on the subject of Shashi Kapoor's award he reminds us of his great contribution to alternate cinema like Junoon, Utsav, Vijayta, 36 Chowringee Lane, ruing that he lost his hard earned money on them. "He would earn from mainstream films to fund the films he really believed in. Ironically those films that flopped then would have done so well in today's age of multiplex and niche films. And let us also remember his continuing contribution to the world of theatre after my grandfather [Prithviraj Kapoor]."

Acknowledging that Shashi is probably the best looking Kapoor - though he admits it is a toss up between him and Prithviraj Kapoor - Rishi hopes to someday emulate his grandfather, father Raj Kapoor and Shashi; by receiving the Dadasaheb Phalke Award. He wishes the same for his son Ranbir and his nieces Kareena and Karisma and says nothing would make him happier than to have a Kapoor in every generation receive the honour.

Voice vibrating with emotion and wiping away a tear, Rishi shares some memories of his "very kind and gentle Shashi uncle and Jennifer's aunty's" Christmas lunches. "We kids used to get very excited because there would also be a treasure hunt with a prize of Rs 100, a huge amount in those days."

He recalls another anecdote, "This happened before I became an actor. I was on an Air India flight to London and we had stopped at Kuwait. At the same time, Shashi uncle was on his way back from London, also on an Air India flight, which had also halted at Kuwait. The airhostess of my flight told me about this and in those non-security-conscious days, I walked across the tarmac to meet him. Without letting anyone see, he slipped a 50 pound note into my pocket. For me, and for those days, this was a massive amount but that's the kind of person he is."

Regarding his own career Rishi is grateful that even at 63, he is being offered roles that vary from negative to gay to fatherly. He will soon be seen as a 90-year-old man in a Dharma film.

The subject inevitably turns to his son Ranbir and I ask him to compare their childhoods. Was he the same sort of father to Ranbir that his father, Raj Kapoor was to him? Once again I've touched on an emotional topic. "Out of respect I was always very scared of my father. I don't know about Ranbir; of course he respects me, but I've never been friends with him and that is my biggest drawback. It's also a deep regret but again, I don't know," he says. "Only time will tell if it is something that's good or not. I used to drink with my dad, though out of respect, I never smoked in front of him. Similarly I can share a drink with Ranbir, but he doesn't smoke in front of me though I know he smokes. I never made friends with Ranbir and though I regret it, I am also not one of those guys who would want to be on back-slapping terms with my son."

"I'm told, and I'm very proud of it, that Ranbir is very well behaved, polite, down to earth, decent, cultured, well spoken, warm, and respects his elders. The credit for all this goes entirely to Neetu. I was diametrically opposite when I was his age, being arrogant and brattish, but what the hell? It was 1974, I was being paid a salary of 5 lakh a month and half the world was crazy about me," he says. "But now I've mellowed."

"My father gave me space when I moved out after marriage and I give Ranbir his space too when he decided to move out and share a home with his girlfriend. In this house, he had one room: how could that be enough for a 33-year-old boy? He's a great son, he listens to me but I don't interfere in his career because my career is mine and his is his. I know I've screwed up my relationship with Ranbir even though my wife kept telling me about what I was doing. It's now too late to change it; both of us will not be able to adjust to the change. It's like there's this glass wall, we can see each other, we can talk, but that's it. He doesn't live with us anymore, which is also a very big setback to Neetu and me. We're building a new home where there will be a lot of place for him and his family. Till then, life goes on."