Born in the first family of Bollywood and to the legend showman father Raj Kapoor, Rishi Raj Kapoor was born on 4 september,1952 in Mumbai. Rishi Kapoor had four siblings, two brothers and two sisters. Rishi Kapoor’s both elder and younger brothers Randhir Kapoor and Rajiv Kapoor also went on to become actors though the younger brother Rajiv Kapoor was not as successful as the other two brothers. In fact, Rishi Kapoor was the brightest stars of his generation known for his boisterous dancing style and spirted dialogue delivery.

Rishi Kapoor made his debut in film industry at a very young age of three years in a song sequence of his father’s movie ‘Shree 420” in 1955 but his formal debut was made as an adolescent in the movie ‘Mera Naam Joker’ directed by his father Raj Kapoor where he portrayed younger version of the lead actor, his father. Rishi Kapoor’s dream moment as a lead actor came in 1973 with another debutant adolescent Dimple Kapadia in his father’s directorial movie ‘Bobby’. The movie went to become the biggest hit of the decade and Rishi Kapoor became a super star sensation overnight. Rishi won the Best Actor Filmfare award for Bobby. Many years later Rishi Kapoor disclosed the real fact about making of Bobby. He said people believe that this movie was made to launch him, but the truth is that his father wanted to make a love story and he could not afford to sign the then super star Rajesh Khanna, so he took his son instead in the movie. The movie turned out to be the biggest grosser of that era and helped Raj Kapoor to get rid of the debts incurred by the losses of movie ‘Mera Naam Joker’.

Following the success of ‘Bobby’ Rishi did a range of different genre of movies like romantic, light-hearted comedy and classic socially oriented films. Rishi Kapoor gave hits after hit with almost every big stars and big heroines of his time. Some of his most successful and famous movies were Jahreela Insaan, Kabhi Kabhi, Doosra Aadmi. Rishi Kapoor went on to become young heart throb after stupendous success of his reincarnation thriller movie ‘Karz’ in 1980. This movie was an example of cult classic and sensational music for a young generation like me, Rishi Kapoor became an instant hero. Rishi Kapoor’s other hit movies include Prem Rog, Saagar, Naseeb, Coolie, Dosti Dushmani, Ek Chadar Maili Si, Laila Majnu, Sargam and Deewana to name a few.

Rishi Kapoor made his directorial debut with the movie ‘Aa Ab Laut Chalen’ in 1999 with Rajesh Khanna, Akshaya Khanna and Aishwarya Rai. The movie remained his sole dole directorial venture of his life. Rishi delivered several superlative performances in the second league of his career as a character artist in movies like Hum Tum, Fanna, Namaste London, Agneepath, Housefull,102 Not Out, Rajma Chawal and Kapoor & Sons to name a few.

Rishi Kapoor married to his co-star of 15 movies Nitu Singh and together they had a son, film star Ranbir Kapoor and daughter Riddima Kapoor. Rishi will always be remembered for his fearless and blunt opinions on political and social issues without bothering about its consequences. He was a very honest and genuine person and a great foodie, typically in Kapoor family tradition. Rest in peace Rishi, you will be missed for long.

-Yugal Parashar

Rishi Kapoor- a glittering era gone by