On the eve of his 66th birthday, Rishi Kapoor chats about the Muslim characters he’s played on screen, Twitter controversies, and Alia Bhatt
Khalid Mohamed (MUMBAI MIRROR; September 2, 2018)

He’s at Wit’s End, a neat apartment complex in a slim lane in Bandra. Around noon, the mood is distinctly upbeat; his pet dog Dudley scampers through the bespoke appointed rooms. Neetu Singh is pecking on an avocado salad after a yoga session. And he’s in his den snugly settled on a black leatherupholstered chair, sipping an espresso from a copper cup.

Rishi Kapoor, who turns 66 on Tuesday, has never looked so sorted down the years and years I’ve known him. At the outset, he speaks at length about the family resolve to sell R K Studios, ending with, “We’ve taken an impractical decision for practical reasons.” Right.

Next, I bring up the Instagram post by Neetu Singh, saying she’s so proud that her two boys are rocking the movie casbah — he with his emotionally-layered performance in Mulk, and son Ranbir with his tour de force act in Sanju. The Sr. boy smiles bashfully, “Yup, it feels good. I’ve been getting sweet text messages from all over the world. My only regret is that the film was banned in Pakistan. Perhaps because we showed that Indian Muslims continue to be heckled with that awful line, ‘Go back to Pakistan’. I wish they would reconsider the ban.”

The beleaguered Murad Ali Mohammed of Mulk is an addition to the gallery of at least ten Muslim characters the actor has portrayed over the decades.

These choices weren’t deliberate, he emphasises, adding, “Uncannily, I’ve been the good guy as well as the baddie. Rauf Lala of Agneepath and Murad of Mulk are at two ends of a spectrum. There was a time, when, like most actors, I’d shun villainous parts, except in the whodunit Khoj which few remember. Imagine, I’d even turned down the Shah Rukh Khan role of the stalker in Darr. Once, bad guys on the screen were bad news.”

Enacting the lovestruck qawwal in Amar Akbar Anthony for Manmohan Desai was a lark. In Tawaif, his name was Dawood which led the infamous D to invite him to tea during a concert tour in Dubai, circa 1988, and express gratitude for ‘redeeming’ his name. Piquantly, years later he was to portray the D in D-Day.

The Muslim social Deedar-e-Yaar, he points out, may have bombed, but it did deal with the issue of talaaq. As for Rauf Laala of Agneepath, he rewinds, “It took me months to say yes. I’m glad I did. It was among the initial bunch of films, along with Do Dooni Chaar, Aurangzeb and Luck By Chance which got my second innings going.”

Not an actor to be easily creatively satisfied, Rishi Kapoor whoops, “Belatedly maybe, it’s been a thrill ride with Kapoor and Sons, 102 Not Out (right), and Mulk, which is my greatest leap forward. As soon as (writer-director) Anubhav Sinha narrated the story to me, I was on. Mind you, he didn’t bat an eyelid when I said fine, but I will take my full price. No concessions. If he had haggled, I would have shown him the door.” If there was a shadow of doubt, it was vis-a-vis the Central Board of Film Certification. “I thought we may have trod on too many toes. My apprehensions were misplaced. Not one cut was imposed,” the actor exults, “because of the ending, the judge’s verdict. Anubhav was called in after the censor screening and told they would have banned it if it wasn’t for the finale which sensibly answered all the questions raised by the film.”

His voice softens, “The Kapoor family has always been secular. At the height of communal strife around 1947, my grandfather Prithviraj had staged the play Pathan, about a friendship between a Hindu and a Muslim. It ran to 600 packed shows.”

Several actors of late have aligned themselves to political ideologies if they haven’t become practising politicians themselves. To that, he grimaces, “Count me out of that, please. Apart from a few exceptions, the film industry cannot be accused of partisanship or bigotry. Sure, I’ve been trolled about my tweets — like the one about the ban on alcohol in Bihar and the one where I said I eat beef when I’m out of the country. Trolls don’t affect me any more though my family keeps telling me to go easy. Maybe I have.”

Can he top his Mulk performance? “Uff!” he looks at me pityingly. “An actor doesn’t plot and plan his next move. Undoubtedly, I will keep doing some inane films and hopefully, some significant films which raise awareness on social issues — without getting preachy or foisting a political agenda. In fact, there’s Pandit Ki Gully Mein Ali with Sanjay Dutt in the works. It’s a strong subject done with humour. When the subject was first brought to me, I’d said, ‘What! Are you trying to create a civil war?’ [The late] Farooq Sheikh, who was to co-star, then, had called to ask, ‘Aap dar gaye kya?” Since then, the script has been redone. All the details are still to be finalised.”

Lunch is served. Rishi Kapoor’s controlling his lust for food, though. Salad and poached eggs on wheat bread are served. Would I like Chinese instead? he apologises. No, no, all’s perfect. Between mouthfuls, I ask why he’s never been honoured with the Padma Shri, which has been bestowed generously on lesser actors. “You’re bent on spoiling my lunch, aren’t you?” he ripostes. “Look, Kishore Kumar and Shammi Kapoor weren’t given the honorifics during their lifetime. So who am I?”

Fearing Rishi Kapoor’s flash of temper, I’ve saved my last morsel of curiosity for dessert. As soon as Belgian chocolates are offered for dessert, I stammer, “Aa…and what’s your take on Alia Bhatt?”

“What take? Talk straight,” he responds coolly.

“Okay, there’s much curiosity about Ranbir and Alia. You approve of the jodi?”

The straight-off answer is: “It’s Ranbir’s life. Who he wants to get married to is his prerogative. Neetu likes her, I like her, Ranbir likes her. Get it? I can’t be judgmental. After all, my uncles Shammi ji and Shashi ji and I chose our life partners. Ranbir is entitled to choose his.”

The afternoon’s almost done. Rishi Kapoor wants to snatch a nap before a photo-crew arrives for a look-test for his next project. Cradling Dudley in his arms, he sees me to the elevator with the parting shot, “They say nothing is permanent, nor temporary. Could be but right now I’m feeling on top of the world. And I hope it stays that way.”

The actor hasn’t addressed his own link-ups in his biography
DNA (January 24, 2017)

Rishi Kapoor makes some telling points in his pointedly blunt autobiography Khullam Khulla: Rishi Kapoor Uncensored. The title comes from an Asha Bhosle-Kishore Kumar number in a Rishi Kapoor-Neetu starrer Khel Khel Mein (which incidentally was directed by Raveena Tandon’s father Ravi Tandon). It is meant to reflect the bindaas no-holds-barred mood and tone of the confessional biography.

A fair affair?
However there are points in the narrative where the candour gets conditional and selective. While Rishi speaks about his father Raj Kapoor’s extra-marital relationships with Nargis and Vyjayanthimala (the latter denied any relationship beyond the professional in her memoir, and Rishi had responded by openly calling her a liar), there is not a word about his own link-ups, rumoured or real.

The living vs the dead
Says an industrywallah who has been very candid in his biography, “Are we to presume that the only woman Rishi Kapoor has ever been involved with is his wife Neetu Singh? If not, are we to presume that Rishi didn’t want to hurt any living person with his confessions? Is it all right to be candid about the relationships of the dead and not all right to speak honestly about relationships with people who are living?”

Shaheen Parkar (MID-DAY; May 8, 2016)

Away for months, Priyanka Chopra had her mother, Madhu Chopra, visit her during the shoot of her TV show, Quantico, in Montreal. When it was time for her mum to return, the actress tweeted, “Mom love is so pure and needed! Will miss u.” PeeCee’s mom may not accompany her on the sets, but drops in, especially during long overseas stints. Aishwarya Rai Bachchan’s mother, Vrinda Rai, is still often spotted with the actress at shoot schedules away from Mumbai and even during her annual Cannes visit.


Going solo
Today, actresses like Alia Bhatt, Shraddha Kapoor, Parineeti Chopra and Kriti Sanon do not have their mothers tag along on set. Kriti is currently shooting in Budapest for her film, Raabta. Her mother, Geeta Sanon, is not in tow. “My mom thinks I perform better if she is not around watching me during the shoot. Also, my mom works and is a professor so can only drop in during vacations.” Foreign imports like Jacquline Fernandez and Nargis Fakhri also go solo. Says Jacqueline, “My mum (Kim) is always aware of what I am doing and gives her opinion, but ultimately wants me to take my own decisions. Whenever possible, she comes by.”

There was a time when the actresses’s mothers were constant fixtures on set. It was as if a big bad wolf was lurking on and she had to protect her girl from its clutches. The star mum was considered a pain. Filmmakers dreaded her demands, for example, her ‘baby’ would only tuck into a particular type of soup from a fancy Chinese restaurant. The makers had no choice, but to pander to her whims. The male co-star would shun the actress’s mother. He knew she would keep a hawk’s eye on him and a whiff of romance in the air would make her see red.


Ammas of yore
Everyone knew of Hema Malini’s mother, Jaya Chakravarthy, who was considered a formidable star amma during her time. Neetu Singh’s mother, Rajee Singh, always called the shots and guarded her daughter zealously. Shilpa Shetty’s mother Sunanda, who is also an astrologer, was a force to reckon with. So was Madhuri Dixit’s mother, Snehalata, who would travel with her.

Explains actress Swara Bhaskar, “In earlier times, actresses’ mothers went on the sets with them because the general mentality was that ‘respectable’ women did not act. So the mother added a sense of respectability. That was a time when an independent woman also had connotations of being promiscuous or of loose morals, so perhaps it was a guard against that.”


Managers at work
The scenario has drastically changed today as actresses have an entourage accompanying them. From their managers, attendants, make-up and hairstylist teams as well as their PR. The actress is never left alone. So in a way, the managers have replaced moms.

Adds Swara, “The mindset has also changed. Our values as a society have changed and career mindedness and ambition are now largely considered positive virtues and in urban contexts, at least, women can be independent and career focussed. So our mothers do not need to chaperone us anymore.” Swara’s mother, Ira Bhaskar, does not go on the sets. Nor does Yami Gautam’s mother, Anjali. Says Yami, “My mom is my confidante. Mom is like Alfred for me. Not that I am Batman, although he is my favourite superhero. She always knows what’s going on in my life, and she is always there for me, as a friend, and as a parent too. Just like Alfred! She guides me. She will tell me what she thinks. But at the end of the day, it’s my decision. That’s the way I have been brought up. Of course, whenever she is in town she will bring home-cooked food and coax me to eat some more. But then, I can hardly refuse her pahadi delicacies.”


Young start
Alia Bhatt was barely 17 when she started shooting for Karan Johar’s Student of The Year (2012). It was KJo who requested her mom (Soni Razdan) to be her, otherwise Soni was not game. Another actress who started young, Amyra Dastur, says, “I started modelling at the age of 16 before Bollywood beckoned. I still can’t believe the amount of freedom my mother (Gulzar) gave me to live my own life. I’ve never been more grateful to anyone in my life. Even when she was worried about some of my decisions, she never stopped me from doing what I loved or came with me. She’s my superman.”

Adds Kriti about the worried mother factor, “My mom is at times like a regular Punjabi mother who gets worked up about every small thing concerning me.” As Amyra puts it, “Mothers are mothers and they always want the best for their kids.”

Natasha Coutinho (MUMBAI MIRROR; March 12, 2016)