More than five months after Rishi Kapoor's demise, Randhir Kapoor reminisces the good old days spent with his brother and how they wouldn't need anyone else when they were together.
Goodbye are the hardest, especially when we have to bid a ‘forever’ adieu to someone close to us, it creates a void within us. In 2020, we've sadly said goodbye to prominent celebs, whom we have grown to love over the years. It was on April 30, 2020, when the nation had bid adieu to the veteran actor, Rishi Kapoor and for his fans, it felt like an end of an era. More than any of us, it was his wife, Neetu Kapoor, children, Riddhima Kapoor Sahni and Ranbir Kapoor, and the entire Kapoor family who were devastated by the news. (Also Read: Randhir Kapoor Remembers His Late Brother, Rishi Kapoor On The Sets Of 'Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Li'l Champs')
It has been more than five months since Rishi Kapoor had left for the heavenly abode, but the Kapoor family had not left a day when they haven’t remembered him. His memories will forever remain Not Out in his family and his fans’ hearts. When Rishi Kapoor was admitted in the hospital for his leukemia treatment, his brother, Randhir Kapoor and niece, Karisma Kapoor had visited him in the US. Neetu Kapoor had posted a selfie from the hospital with everyone in the frame and had captioned it as “The bestest brothers ever. Their conversation is only food though #family #bond #forever.”
In an interview with ETimes, when Randhir Kapoor was asked to rate himself as a brother, he recalled the good times spent with Rishi Kapoor in their office and retorted, “I have been a very good brother. I miss Rishi very much. We used to work together and sit in the same office.” Speaking of the tragic untimely loss, Randhir Kapoor continued, “It's an emotional loss to me. We had many common likes and dislikes. We both were fond of good food and booze. We would often party by ourselves. We would call up each other and tell each other: 'Kya kar raha hai? Agar tum nahin aate ho, to chalo main aa jaata hoon'. When together, humko kisiki bhi zaroorat nahi thi. We didn't need a crowd to entertain us. I miss that. Hum waise hi khush-mijaz the. Hasi khushi kat rahi thi zindagi. Ab usmein se ek musafir utar gaya. Dekhen aage kya hota hai.”
Revealing what they used to discuss or talk about when they sat or drank together, Randhir Kapoor recalled, “Anything and everything. And that's simply because we were happy amongst ourselves. It could be even about space. We often travelled together, so sometimes that too.” When asked to name Rishi Kapoor’s best film, he answered, “I liked him in 'Prem Granth'. I also liked him in the film he did with Sunny Deol and Meenakshi Seshadri- 'Damini'.” When probed if he wanted to say Prem Rog, Randhir Kapoor called Rishi Kapoor the best of their generation and remarked, “Oh, yes. I wanted to say 'Prem Rog' only. He was terrific in 'Prem Rog'. Basically, he was a very good actor. I think he was the best in our generation. In the entire period of action era, ek aadmi chale ja raha tha apna jhanda leke. I saw 'Mulk' the other day. He's done it so well. We'll all miss him.” (Also Read: Randhir Kapoor Reveals Who Was A Better Student Between The Kapoor Sisters, Kareena And Karisma)
A few days after the demise of Rishi Kapoor, the official page of Star World had released a clip from Karan Johar’s chat show, Koffee With Karan. Karan had invited Randhir Kapoor and Rishi Kapoor on his show, and the brother duo had revealed how the former had nicknamed the latter, Chintu. Randhir ji had said, “In school, I had found a poem that had the following lines, ‘Chote se Chintu miya, Lambi si Pooch, Jaha jaaye Chintu miya, wahaan jaye pooch.’ Since he was the newly born, Chintu became his nickname.” In fact, in 2019, Rishi ji had expressed his struggle on establishing his name as Rishi Kapoor and the dislike of his nickname had led him to not give his children, Riddhima Kapoor Sahni and Ranbir Kapoor nicknames.
In honour of his memory post his demise, Rishi Kapoor’s nieces, Karisma Kapoor and Kareena Kapoor Khan had posted throwback pictures on their respective Instagram handles. In her tribute post, Karisma had shared a throwback picture with Raj Kapoor and Rishi Kapoor adoring her baby version. Karisma had captioned it, “Always looking over family.. chintu uncle will miss discussing food and restaurants with you.. #uncle #legend.” Kareena had posted a throwback childhood picture of Rishi Kapoor with his brother, Randhir Kapoor, which she had captioned as “The best boys I know... Papa and Chintu uncle” followed by heart emojis. (Also Read: Randhir Kapoor Opens Up On His Role As A Father Of Kareena Kapoor Khan And Karisma Kapoor)
Rest in peace, Rishi ji, until next time…