It has taken me a week to find my thoughts with all this, especially with Irrfan Khan’s death (he will get a write-up like this as well) the previous day these two hit me hard. It is just so sad to lose people so close in succession, I know I never knew both of them personally (no one really does as an audience member and fan), but they hit me hard still.
Rishi Kapoor was first introduced to me in Chandni (1989) where he played the love-struck young man, even though he was too old for the part, but still carried that light energy of his youth with his large sweaters at hand. Then was Nagina (1986) a film which I love deeply even with its very 80s feel.
Only later would I learn of how he acted out of the frame of the camera; with his alcoholism, bullying and bad behaviour. He was human, very human, with all the flaws that came with it. He wrote his autobiography, which I am sure to get to when I feel fit enough to read it.
In his later years, he took character parts and even though he was a star, magnificent with lip-synching and with a bright charisma that shone even under heavy makeup in Kapoor and Sons (2016). He brought the gravitas of his years and of his real-life to the roles later on that made them all the more impactful.
I will miss him, but I am thankful for all the movies he was a part of and the songs he made his own with his star talent and charisma.
This song is especially close to my heart:
Rest in peace Rishi
The Little Corner 