Mumbai: Rishi Kapoor, set hearts aflutter in his first lead role in the blockbuster film ‘Bobby’ (1973). The actor left behind a rich legacy of cinematic marvels spanning decades as he breathed his last on April 30, 2020.
As today marks the second death anniversary of the veteran star, let’s relive and celebrate his five-decade-odd career by recalling some of his remarkable performances.
Mera Naam Joker
Rishi’s first brush with the camera was in Raj Kapoor’s film ‘Mera Naam Joker’ (1970) where he plays the childhood role of his father. he film also featured Simi Garewal, Kseniya Ryabinkina and Padmini. He managed to grab a National Film Award for the portrayal.
Bobby
Three years later, ‘Bobby’ catapulted Rishi to stardom. With Dimple Kapadia as the leading lady, the romance pulled huge crowds to theatres.
Amar Akbar Anthony
His role of the qawwal Akbar Illahabadi remains popular to this day. Manmohan Desai’s multi starrer featured Amitabh Bachchan, Vinod Khanna and Rishi Kapoor playing three brothers who are separated in childhood and grow up in three different backgrounds of faith.
Do Dooni Chaar
The delightful urban comedy united Rishi and Neetu Kapoor after years, as a middle-class couple in Delhi, who are parents to two teenage kids. Kapoor delighted as the guy next door as the Habib Faisal film, released in 2010, created humour out of everyday situations an average middle-class family faces, highlighted by the ‘challenge’ they face while buying a new car.
Agneepath
The 2012 film directed by Karan Malhotra was a remake of the original 1990 film of the same name, but Rishi Kapoor’s character Rauf Lala was written as an original. “Agneepath” remains special in Kapoor’s filmography because contradicting his feel-good image, he portrayed Rauf Lala as a cold, cruel and calculating criminal, yet deeply caring about his family and dear ones.
D-day
The 2013 action thriller by Nikhil Advani saw Rishi Kapoor excel in an out and out antagonist role, as Iqbal Seth Aka Goldman, a character said to be based on Dawood Ibrahim. The film is about an elite team from India that must infiltrate Pakistan and bring back The Most Wanted Man. The film also starred Irrfan Khan, Arjun Rampal, Huma Qureshi and Shruti Haasan.
SPECIAL MENTION:
Sharmaji Namkeen
Two actors, 1 role – Sharmaji Namkeen is a masterclass between Rishi Kapoor & Paresh Rawal.
After the opening credits of Sharmaji Namkeen on Amazon Prime Video, a gleeful Ranbir Kapoor pops up to note the rarity in Indian cinema — two actors playing the same character in a film — and also to thank Paresh Rawal for stepping in to play the titular role in the film after Rishi Kapoor’s demise. At first, you suspect that, perhaps, Sharmaji Namkeen is a posthumous tribute to the veteran actor with an overarching theme of ‘the show must go on’. But on the contrary, it makes for a fine piece of craft and heart-warming slice of life story, which also happens to be a pleasant jugalbandi between the two stalwarts.
