The Evergreen Kapoor

For Rishi Kapoor, acting was living in the moment. And the effortless actor adapted to the times like nobody else could

- Suhani Singh

I have a memory of Rishi Kapoor that has become a much-recited anecdote at parties over drinks, a setting that I think Chintu ji, as he was affectionately known, would have approved of. The episode involved him walking into a frozen yogurt parlour in Bandra to sample the flavours before picking green apple. As the only customer seated inside, I watched this scene with curiosity and then shock. “Pick salted caramel!” I wanted to scream. I didn’t for it was Rishi Kapoor. He was a tad intimidating, his bindaas attitude evident in his tweets.

But he was also very generous. He presented me two books about his father, Raj Kapoor, written by his sister, Ritu, to help research for a piece. He was seated in his office at RK Studios, where his journey in the film industry began as an assistant director on Kal Aaj Aur Kal, directed by his elder sibling, Randhir.

It was with his father though that Rishi took his first steps in cinema. First as a child actor (Mera Naam Joker), later as a leading man (Bobby). He was only 20 when he had his taste of stardom. “It’s true that I had an incredibly easy entry into the film world. I didn’t have to struggle for fame and fortune,” he writes in his autobiography Khullam Khulla: