Rishi Kapoor – Forever young
In the four decades that he has been around, Rishi Kapoor’s success has been his biggest failure. For someone who got a National Award for his first film appearance as a child artist in Mera Naam Joker (1970) and followed it up with a Filmfare Best Actor nod with his first adult role in Bobby (1973), Rishi Kapoor’s career has been a constant struggle. Had it not been for who he was, Kapoor would have been considered a greater artist and taken a little more seriously.
Some actors are doomed to be their own victims. From the time the camera revealed him as Raju, the cherubic loser, to the time he became Santosh Duggal in Do Dooni Chaar (2010), Kapoor has been the best second best. Although he played the same character as his more illustrious father, Raj Kapoor, in Mera Naam Joker, it’d not be totally incorrect to think that the showman modeled his performance on his son’s as opposed to the other way round. Such is the brilliance of Rishi Kapoor’s performance as the younger Raju that it leaves you thinking of him even when you see Kapoor Sr.
Mera Naam Joker introduced us to a talented young man and the anticipation of what’d he do next created a buzz for Bobby even before Raj Kapoor could have planned the film. In Bobby’s success Rishi Kapoor not only found his footing as an actor and promised to be more than just Raj Kapoor’s son. He might have been the fount of star-children launches but no other star offspring has justified a claim to fame as well as him.
In Mera Naam Joker the audience never sees the adult Rishi Kapoor but post-Bobby they somewhere never allowed him to grow beyond the sweet poor little rich boy. Ironically, it’s not with Mera Naam Joker but with Bobby that Rishi Kapoor came to be seen as Chintu, and maybe he was doomed to be forever young. He played the impish city slicker lover boy even in Shah Rukh Khan’s debut Deewana (1992) a good 20 years after Bobby. He offered the viewer a chance to see him in a different avatar right after Bobby with Zahreela Insaan (1974), a film that is all about a misunderstood young man, but the gritty realism of the 1970s and a mustachioed Rishi Kapoor weren’t enough to shake off the chocolate boy image. Even though he ended up played the same sweet rebel in many of the films of 1970s like Rafoo Chakar (1975), Kabhie-Kabhie (1976), Barood (1976) or Hum Kissi Se Kum Nahin (1976), Kapoor was as convincing in Laila Majnu (1976) or Sargam (1980). His Akbar Ilahabadi in Amar, Akbar, Anthony (1977) with the pencil moustache, the netted vest and vivid silk shirts along with the paan chewing is nothing less than method acting within the realm of commercial Hindi cinema.
The greatness of Rishi Kapoor lies in the ease with which he managed to create a special place for himself in the 40 years that he has been an actor. Even though he was never as big a star as Dev Anand or Rajesh Khanna, Kapoor, nonetheless, has his own musical legacy of great songs.
But his greatest achievement is the munificence with which allowed his co-stars to go about their roles. He was forever the second fiddle to everyone from Amitabh Bachchan in Naseeb (1981), Coolie (1983) or Ajooba (1991) to Sridevi in Nagina (1986) and Chandni (1989) or Sunny Deol and Meenakshi Seshadari in Damini (1993) and yet these wouldn’t be half the films without him. One of the best tests for any actor is what they do when they don’t have anything to do. Rishi Kapoor is as mesmerising in the scenes where he does nothing as he is in the ones where he’s firing on all cylinders.
Rishi Kapoor did try to going against the grain in films like Duniya (1984), where he matches steps with Dilip Kumar, and Khoj (1989) where he’s not as good as he appears. He did a Laila Majnu, an Ek Chadar Maili Si (1986) or a handful of Muslim socials with as much ease as a Karz (1980) or Chandni but back then, this would be another day at the office and not experimenting.
Maybe Rishi Kapoor never took his career seriously enough. He hardly worried about his bulging frame as long as he could put on a sweater to look the part. He got infuriated and walked out of Lamhe (1991) when Yash Chopra suggested a screen test to see if his second favorite hero could pass off as an 18-year-old Viren. But then had Kapoor shown more interest than what he did who knows what would have become of him. The films loved Rishi Kapoor and he loved films back just enough so as to the relationship never became overbearing and that’s the reason even today at 60 he continues to charm us just as he did years ago as the heart-stealer of a joker.
Poll:
Born a cinephile and a close observer of society, the author is an award-winning documentary filmmaker/writer. He is a regular contributor to leading Indian publications and is currently working on his first book. Find out more about him here.
The views expressed by this blogger and in the following reader comments do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of the Dawn Media Group.
RISHI KPOOR’s performance was superb in TAWAIF
RISHI KAPOOR’s performance in TAWAIF has been superb.
Rishi Kapoor exemplifies two important factors that dictate terms in the world-view defined by Bollywood.
a> Nepotism: Pedigree matters. He’s one in a line of four generations of Kapoors who’ve
lived their lives on Celluloid. Is there anyone in the Kapoor khandaan who’s NOT tried his hand in films? Worth a thought.
b> Chauvnism. Men matter more than women. An evergreen Rishi Kapoor romanced a 16 year old Dimple in Bobby(1971) and a 18 year old Divya Bharati in Deewana (1992). Audience verdict? Both films were hits. Conclusion? Heroes don’t age. They simply get better with time.
For many of us it was Rishi Kapoor’s role in ‘Rafoo Chakkar’ that endeared us to him. And who can forget Mrs. Kapoor’s now famous belly dance number in the same movie.
Totally agree with you Qaiser. What is the point of bringing in a discussion board over an Indian Actor who is already past his prime on a Pakistani blog. Even obituaries of some legends as in the case of Rajesh Khanna, Dev Anand and Shimmi Kapoor were fine, but this seems to be just going beyond the boundary. Dont we have any more creative things to do on the blogs?
Rishy kapoor was a good actor,is a good actor,and will be a good actor but bolly wood should give a chance to new actor more.
you mean Pakistani artists ?!?!?
I think he did a great job as a villain in Agneepath. I have always considered him a very talented actor but i think he is underrated. But…i would also like to add that during his times, people were more focused on the Bachchan phenomenon and frankly speaking, it was very hard to attract attention during the Bachchan reign!
Now I am wondering why Dawn wouldnt publish about Pakistani artists or perhaps introduce its readers to artists from other parts of the world. Believe it or not there are a lot of Pakistanis who think that Bollywood is over rated and so are its dancing acting start
Do not wonder Qaiser sahab. It is because no one in the subcontinent watches Pakistani movies. In the subcontinent only Bollywood movies however bad , are watched. Singers from Pakistan are loved in India. So stop wondering.
We all know that Bollywood is what is watched and spoken by everyone in South East Asia but the point is that if Pakistani media won’t back the local artists, who else will? and do the people in Pakistan really care whether Rishi Kapoor is an under rated artist??
and will go staraight to buy some bollywood movie CD.
I totally agree, it’s as if we are being shoved with news about Tom, dick and Harry of Bollywood. It almost seems like we are reading an Indian news paper.
Because India give work to pakitani artists .. There is huge no of Pak artist including singers, actor, guitarist, models etc. working here…they are really gud bt dint get chance to explore themselves in pakistan.
completely agreed!!
not even dawn, our media has divert there attention towards indian artists.. and also they dnt have concern about ours … they did jst to have ratings and nothing else!! and for ratings they could even highlight veena type stories.
I am an Indian, but agree with you. First a local talent needs publicity and then overseas. We can get info on Bollywood from Indian news media, here, we are keen to know the Pakistani talent.
His downside is His baby face, you cannot get many roles with that face… Not a Bad thing Just a fact.
Short, fat and a nit wit, without his father, he would not be allowed inside a studio, just plane luck, all children are accidents not designed. But his son did not take after him as of now, but all Kapoors gain too much weight.
Rishi Kapoor has been all along through out his career carefree, non-serious and not fair to his talent.
Rishi Kapoor was never an outstanding actor; he was average. On his own he probably would never have made it in bollywood. Belonging to the most influential family helped him a lot.
Rishi Kapoor has done some great movies and Bollywood has always had love and respect for him.
Who cares.
In those years ‘Mera Naam Joker’ is a revolution in Bollywood and completely futuristic to those days. The film exploits the prefabricated metaphors and false screen/hypocrisy of the real-world.
No wonder the film is a flop at its first release but garnered cult like following as time passed and a big hit at its second release. I request all those movie buffs that haven’t got a chance to watch this to give a try. I strongly believe that you’ll agree that it’s a revolutionary to 60’s and 70’s filmy culture.