Last year, Bollywood’s veteran actor Rishi Kapoor passed away on April 30, after battling Cancer.
In 2017, the actor released his memoir titled Khullam Khulla: Rishi Kapoor Uncensored.
Rishi Kapoor was known to speak his heart out and does not sugar coat his words while speaking the truth. Let’s have a look at some of his shocking revelations.
6 Khullam Khulla Confessions of Rishi Kapoor:
1. The Vyjanthimala-Nargis Phase
Rishi Kapoor didn’t think twice before revealing Raj Kapoor’s extramarital affairs with veteran actresses Nargis and Vyjayanthimala. While elaborating on this, Rishi also mentioned his mother’s plight, saying that he had moved into an apartment with her during this period.
“I was very young when my father had an affair with Nargis Ji, and so was not affected by it. I don’t remember feeling anything was amiss at home either. But I do remember moving into the Natraj Hotel on Marine Drive with my mom during the time Papa was involved with Vyjayanthimala.”
“My mother had decided to put her foot down this time. From the hotel, we shifted for two months into an apartment in Chitrakoot. My father had bought the apartment for Mom and us. He did all he could to woo her back, but my mother didn’t give in until he had ended that chapter of his life.”
2. Kabhie Kabhie
Did you know Rishi Kapoor didn’t want to do ‘Kabhi Kabhie’ and almost rejected it? Firstly, he intended to avoid starring in it because the film co-starred Big B and subsequently, almost rejected as Neetu’s role was the more prominent one.
“I’ve mentioned earlier that I was reluctant to do Kabhi Kabhie in the beginning because I had been warned against working with Amitabh Bachchan. The second reason was that I felt Neetu had a more prominent role than I did. That’s why I had said to Yash Chopra, if you want me to do the film, give me Neetu’s role. Naturally, Yash-Ji was confused.”
Rishi, ultimately, ended up signing it after a strict rebuke from his uncle Shashi Kapoor.
3. Rishi Kapoor & Big B- Friends Or Enemies?
Rishi Kapoor used to believe that meaty roles were written for Big B, even in films with an ensemble cast. Apart from this, Rishi also had an opinion that Big B “has never given due credit” to his co-stars.
“To go back to Amitabh, I must confess, here is still a lingering issue I have with Amitabh Bachchan. A big disadvantage of working in an all-star movie in those days was that everybody only wanted to make action films, which automatically meant that the star who could carry off the action with the most flair would get the meatiest part.”
That’s how, with the exception of Kabhi Kabhie, which was a romantic film, none of the multi-starrers I featured in had an author-backed role for me. And it wasn’t just me. Shashi Kapoor, Shatrughan Sinha, Dharmendra, Vinod Khanna faced it too.”
4. Confession Of Buying An Award
Rishi Kapoor has admitted that his relationship with Amitabh Bachchan did not start on a good note and that there was a cold war between them. Rishi’s Bobby and Big B’s Zanjeer released in the same year and Rishi received the best actor award for his role in the film. But, guess what? He actually “bought” it.
“I think that Amitabh was sulking because I had won the best actor award for Bobby. I am sure he felt the award was rightfully his for Zanjeer, which released the same year. I am ashamed to say it, but I actually ‘bought’ that award. I was so naïve. There was this PRO, Taraknath Gandhi, who said to me, ‘Sir, tees hazaar de do, toh aap ko main award dila doonga.’ I am not the manipulative sort but I admit that I gave him the money without thinking.”
5. Yasmin-Rishi-Dimple Love Triange
Rishi Kapoor’s first serious relationship wasn’t with Neetu Singh. He revealed in his memoir that his first steady and serious girlfriend was a Parsi girl, Yasmin Mehta, whom he dated much before Bobby was out.
“By the time Bobby was released in 1973, Stardust, which was the most popular magazine of its time, published a story about a budding romance between Dimple and me. Dimple, who by this time was already married to Rajesh Khanna, was not greatly affected by it. But it put an end to my relationship with Yasmin, I tried hard to get her back in my life, but she did not agree.”
6. Rishi: The Male Chauvinist
Right after Rishi & Neetu Kapoor’s marriage, Neetu took an exit from her film career. Elaborating it, Rishi admitted to being a male chauvinist back then.
“It was, as I have said often, her decision to wind up her career after marriage. I can say with a clear conscience that I did not force it upon her. We did agree before we got married that once we had children, one of us would be the earning partner and the other would be the nurturing parent.”
“But to be honest, I didn’t try to convince her to keep working either. There was a chauvinist in me that didn’t want his wife to go out to work. I wanted Neetu to finish all her commitments before we got married. All I can say in my defense is that my views have changed since then.”
Well, these are some quite shocking revelations. Isn’t it?