Veteran Bollywood actor Rishi Kapoor passed away on Thursday. Rishi was 67. After a two-year battle with leukemia, Rishi left for his heavenly abode. He was hospitalized at Mumbai’s Sir HN Reliance Foundation Hospital on Wednesday morning, after complaining that he was not feeling well.
Rishi Kapoor wasn’t just known for his impeccable performances but also for being brutally honest. The outspoken actor never minced his words and often made headlines for his controversial tweets and his fiery interviews.
Here are a few controversial statements made by Rishi Kapoor in his honest-to-god interviews:
In the infamous episode of Karan Johar’s chat show Koffee With Karan which featured Ranbir’s ex-girlfriends, Deepika Padukone and Sonam Kapoor had taken personal jibes at the actor. Reacting to their statements, Rishi in an interview with a tabloid said, “It just shows their (Deepika and Sonam) class. I would like to tell them to stop giggling all the time and instead grow up and behave maturely. They are there on the show because they are their father`s daughters and not because of their work! I would advise them to stop talking about their colleagues and running them down.”
Rishi Kapoor had also spoken about his father Raj Kapoor’s alleged affair with actress Nargis. In an episode of Aap Ki Adalat, he said, “We respect this fact that while working together, two people tend to get attached with each other and do move over friendship. We are human beings and a human will love a human itself. It happens with everybody. It is part of life. We are not ashamed of Raj Kapoor’s relationship with Nargis and share a cordial relation with her family. It’s history and we respect that.”
In his memoir, ‘Khullam Khulla: Uncensored’, Rishi Kapoor had revealed that he once bought a Filmfare award in 1973, for his film ‘Bobby’. “I feel guilty about the fact. I was all of 20-21 years of age and I was suddenly a huge star after Bobby, and I was a real brat. Someone told me that, ‘You know, we can get this award, do you want it?’, and I said, ‘Yes, of course,’ and then he said, ‘It will cost you Rs 30,000.’ 30,000 rupees back then was big money. So I said why not,” he had said in an interview.
Rishi Kapoor also spoke about Bollywood funerals and the fashion-conscious celebrities at the ‘Chautha’ on Neha Dhupia’s No Filter Neha. Referring to Vinod Khanna’s funeral, Rishi had said, “This fashion-conscious generation goes for the ‘Chautha’ which takes place in an air-conditioned hall. It is an occasion for them to wear their whites and beige clothes and wear dark glasses. Chautha looks have become similar to airport looks for these actors…These shameless actors have no personal time, for them, everything is about their public appearance. It should be exposed that there is a PR machinery who inform the photographers about the actors flying and them attending ‘Chauthas.’ They are never spotted. They always come dressed up for the occasion.”