The September 5, 1952-born Rishi Kapoor, easily one of the most underrated actors in Hindi cinema and also one of the most accomplished, always had a valid complaint about his long-lasting stardom: that in his times as a leading man, there were very little work by way of different or challenging roles, unless you had a “reputation” for being a “great actor”—a label usually given by the media rather than by your work. In Hindi cinema, over-the-top melodrama was often interpreted as great acting!
Many of Rishi’s filmmakers as well as co-stars (male and female) have confided in me that Rishi, inarguably, was one of the greatest actors they had worked with or knew, whose one lift of an eyebrow or a small gesture could convey what other actors could not through their entire facial and body language or the best of dialogues. His mastery at enacting songs was no less spectacular and composers as assorted as Laxmikant-Pyarelal, Shiv-Hari and Nadeem-Shravan raved about how Rishi even brought their songs to life.
Rishi became was the only hero who withstood the Amitabh Bachchan and Action onslaught with a bevy of solo hits (apart from the multi-hero ones). Rishi Kapoor stood his ‘romantic’ ground all the way till Deewanaand Bol Radha Bol in 1992, which released almost two decades after his romantic debut in Bobby. In fact, he was most noted for excelling in stories centered around his female co-stars, be it Bobby or Saagar (Dimple Kapadia), Nagina or Chandni (Sridevi), Sargam Jayapradha), Tawaif (Rati Agnihotri), his home productions, Prem Rog (Padmini Kolhapure) and Henna (Zeba Bakhtiar and Ashwini Bhave) and more.
Rishi, who actually made his first appearance as a tot in the 1955 Shree 420 achieved the impossible: a National Best Child Actor award, no less, for his first featured role as the adolescent version of Raj Kapoor in Mera Naam Joker (1970), shot when he was not yet 18!
He also went on to win the Filmfare Best Actor award for Bobby, and later confessed that in his second innings he got the scope and scripts that challenged the actor in him, mentioning movies like Chintuji, Agneepath, Kapoor & Sons and 102—Not Out.
But for all that, I would rather focus on those extraordinary turns that won the day and helped make him one of our most potent talents. And that included two movies in his tenure as a romantic leading man as well.
Raahi Badal Gaye / 1985 / Director: Ravi Tandon
As was the trend then, Rishi Kapoor too had his share of double roles (Raaja, Bol Radha Bol, Karobaar), but it was in this movie that he excelled in two roles: that of a tourist guide in love and a flight lieutenant. Shabana Azmi and Padmini Kolhapure co-starred in this musical romance.
Khoj / 1989 / Keshu Ramsay
In this unlikely Ramsay-directed movie, Rishi plays Ravi Kapoor, a man whose wife goes missing while on vacation. And when the cops find a woman who says she is his wife and every evidence including Ravi’s daughter’s statement shows that, the thoroughly-bewildered Ravi has to prove that she is not the woman he has filed a missing report about!
Kucch To Hai / 2003 / Anurag Basu & Anil Verma
The man was a terrifying professor in a college. He is reputed to have murdered his wife and is now reinstated in the staff. Rishi’s visage alone is intimidating and his performance, though in a cameo, was fantastic, proving that great actors do not need length to make an impact on screen. As with Agneepath, Kal Kissne Dekha and a few others, Rishi also did not shirk away from playing terrific negative roles.
D-Day / 2013 / Nikkhil Advani
The great actor played Dawood Ibrahim himself in this masterful yet unsuccessful espionage drama. And so believable was his roguery that he chilled you to the core.
Aurangzeb / 2014 / Atul Sabharwal
This time, Rishi Kapoor was the corrupt cop who joins forces with a man to expose illegal activities, but his game and personal agenda is something quite different. Without any overt looks or body language, Rishi Kapoor was dangerous menace personified.
Mulk / 2018 / Anubhav Sinha
Mulk told the struggles of a Muslim joint family to reclaim their honor after a member of their family takes to terrorism. Murad Ali Mohammed (Rishi Kapoor) is a lawyer by profession, whose daily routine includes performing Namaz at a nearby mosque followed by a cup of tea from a stall owned by his close Hindu neighbor. But his world collapses when his nephew gets involved with terrorists. Rishi was spellbinding as Murad and though the film did not do well, it was appreciated.
