Experimentation defines his new role

Nonika Singh

So who is the real Rishi Kapoor? Well, for the record he says he is a boring father and husband whose only adrenaline rush comes from acting and after downing four pegs of whiskey

Affable and angry in an equal measure, the Chintu Baba of yesteryear can be grumpy, gracious, caring, distant, agreeable. All at the same time. In a way Rishi Kapoor is a bit of all the characters he has been playing in a host of films.

In Patiala for the shoot of Smeep Kang’s Jhoota Kahin Ka, the actor opens up about his recent outing 102 Not Out. He says, “Imagine a film with no heroine, no item number and no glamour doing wonders.”

But to those who insist that he has overshadowed all else in what he calls a path-breaking film, he doesn’t quite agree, “All three of us, including Jimit Trivedi, not just Amitabh Bachchan, who is a thorough professional and a great actor, have done well.”

“Tell me for how long shall we continue to harp on the same lost and found and rich girl-meets-boy kind of stories.” 

Happy to be part of the new-age wave of cinema, he shares his new look in upcoming films Mulk as well as in Rajmah Chawal, followed by a refrain, “Which other actor is experimenting so much?”

But if you are looking for Rishi Kapoor in the sum total of his parts, he is baffled and asserts, “That is the art of acting…to make you believe I am Rauf Lala of Ageenpath, cantankerous Babulal of  102 Not Out,  ninety year old of Kapoor & Sons while none of that is me.”

So who is the real Rishi Kapoor? Well, for the record he says he is a boring father and husband whose only adrenaline rush comes from acting and after downing four pegs of whiskey. Certainly he is the son of legendary Raj Kapoor, from whom he acquired an undying passion for work. 

Privileged member of the exalted first family of Bollywood, any talk of nepotism makes him see red. In a mellower tone, he is more rational, “We are not thrusting ourselves on others. We are here by the vote of people. In our family, too, some have clicked with audiences, while some haven’t.” Kapoor legacy makes him beam with joy and pride even if he can’t find time to keep the baton of RK banner flying; “I am too busy as an actor.”

Yet he found time to pen a tell-all biography. “Books have been written on Kapoors, who have been batting on the film pitch for 90 long years but none by themselves.” He’s brutally frank in his biography. When asked if there was there any moment of trepidation or hesitation?  “None,” is the monosyllabic answer with which he dismisses many a query, including whether Chintu is still alive in him.

But then that’s Rishi, not the one to couch his responses in hyperbole or euphemisms. An actor who has survived 45 long years in the filmdom, who takes adulation and fandom with a pinch of salt, who abhors the very word Bollywood and finds comparison with Hollywood preposterous, if not ludicrous, he won’t pretend to be anyone else.

Take him or leave him — both Rishi the actor and the person won’t budge an inch. Oh, yes, he might be willing to make concessions for a film in Punjabi, a language he is not quite fluent in. Think Punjab and he can see food, especially Pal Da Dhaba in Chandigarh and chole bhature in Amritsar. Back home in Mumbai, dining table conversations are bereft of  talk about films for, “I don’t like to take my work home.” Having grown up literally around studios on staple diet of cinema, who understands both the art and craft of cinema better than him?  But Rishi who dubs himself student of cinema, would not be caught in the pedantics of it all.

Ever eager to learn and imbibe, it’s with child-like enthusiasm he looks at his director Kang for the all important green signal; OK and Cut. As he is set to nail yet another part of a rich Jat farmer hypothetical questions such as whether his best is yet to come fall by the side.