Rishi Kapoor birth anniversary: When Ranbir Kapoor revealed ‘most precious gift’ he, sister Riddhima received from their father

Late actor Rishi Kapoor’s memoir, Khullam Khulla: Rishi Kapoor Uncensored, is as unfiltered and entertaining as he was. The book began with a moving foreword by his son, actor Ranbir Kapoor, which captured the essence of their personal equation as well as Rishi’s professional legacy.

On Rishi’s 68th birth anniversary, here is revisiting Ranbir’s emotional note to him. Ranbir had revealed the ‘most precious gift’ Rishi had given him and his sister, jewellery designer Riddhima Kapoor Sahni. “As I sit down to analyse my relationship with my father, I would say that the most precious gift he has given my sister Riddhima and me is that we can love our mother unconditionally. He showed us by example that she was at the centre of all our lives and our home. With her as our bedrock, none of the ups and downs in our lives could really touch us,” the 37-year-old actor had written.

The second gift, Ranbir said, was that Rishi was a ‘good husband’ to Neetu Kapoor. Despite having ‘intense fights’ and staying upset with each other at times, he loved her ‘in a very solid way’ and respected her. Their marriage became an exemplar of love and relationships for Ranbir and Riddhima as children.

Ranbir was also inspired by Rishi’s work ethic, even after decades of being in the industry, and lauded his efforts to reinvent himself in the second innings of his career.

Talking about their personal relationship, Ranbir had said that it was ‘one of complete reverence’ and wished they were ‘friendlier’. “I feel that Dad modelled his relationship with me on the one he shared with his own father. And it is true that I have never crossed a certain line with him. But there is no sense of loss or vacuum here,” he had written, adding that he himself would like a more relaxed equation with his children.

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Ranbir revealed that though Rishi appeared to be ‘boisterous and loud’, he was actually ‘very reserved’ and bottled up his emotions. He added that his father got himself ‘into a spot sometimes’ with his forthrightness on Twitter, but there was no agenda behind what he put out.

As an actor, no one was ‘on the same level as Rishi Kapoor’. Ranbir also praised his ‘natural and effortless’ style and lauded his father for being able to ‘entice an audience’ despite being overweight.

“Now, with his second innings — Agneepath, Do Dooni Chaar, Kapoor & Sons, and others — my father is winning more accolades and awards than he ever did in his first stint. Nothing can keep a good actor down. A man who has withstood the test of time for 44 years in showbiz must have something special in him — there’s little else I need to say in summing up,” he concluded.

Rishi died on April 30, after a two-year battle with cancer. In a statement, his family said that he kept the hospital staff ‘entertained’ even in his last moments and ‘remained jovial’ throughout his cancer treatment. The family added that ‘he would like to be remembered with a smile and not with tears’.

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