Veteran actor Rishi Kapoor on Tuesday launched his autobiography, titled "Khullam Khulla - Rishi Kapoor Uncensored", here in the presence of his wife Neetu Singh and daughter Riddhima Kapoor Sahni.
The event, which took place at The Taj Mahal Hotel in New Delhi, was attended by veteran actress Nafisa Ali, Rishi's son-in-law Bharat Sahni, comedian Papa CJ and Union Minister Babul Supriyo, who paid a tribute to the "Bobby" actor by singing his famous song "Khullam Khulla Pyaar Karenge".
Tirupati. With friends Subba Rao and Jairam this afternoon. Presented my first copy to the Lord. Feel Blessed! pic.twitter.com/X0g3W8KVd9
— Rishi Kapoor -"Book" (@chintskap) January 15, 2017
In his autobiography, Rishi has revealed some of the unknown aspects of his life, right from his and his late father Raj Kapoor's affairs with co-stars to his belief on father-son relationships, and his passion for acting.
Rishi has co-authored the book with Meena Iyer.
"The most difficult part while writing this autobiography was to remain honest, and me and Meena had very verticals. So, we had to choose as we had to reflect on cinema, family, career etc. She assembled it all part by part and we took it forward. We took three and a half years to write this book," Rishi said at the launch, where he had a conversation with actor Suhel Seth.Khullam Khulla with Rishi Kapoor Book Launch Tour 1st stop Chennai. New Delhi Tonight @chintskap @HarperCollinsIN @suhelseth pic.twitter.com/PNsUrMMb9W
— JAIRAM (@actionrama) January 17, 2017
Talking about his wife, Rishi said: "I guess she (Neetu) has lost weight. People normally tell me that you don't feed your wife. No, but I must tell you that Neetu and writer Meenu have coped up with a very impatient man."
"Neetu has been with me since last 37 years. Meena has been there since last three and a half years. I really marvel the way they have coped with it."
Talking about Rishi’s biography, whose title has been taken from the famous track of his film Khel Khel Mein, the actor has unapologetically spoken about his father Raj Kapoor’s various relationships with B-town beauties like Nargis and Vyjantimala. Rishi has also revealed about his own alleged affair with Dimple Kapadia. In fact, he also spoke about the cold war between him and Rajesh Khanna, who married Dimple right after the release of Bobby.
During an interview with HT Rishi Admits that he had bought the Best Actor award way back in 1973. The 62-year-old actor was referring to his film Bobby, when he was competing with Amitabh Bachchan, who was nominated for Zanjeer the same year.
Rishi said he felt extremely guilty after that episode, “It was a mistake, and I’m owning it up in the book. But that doesn’t mean after that I bought all my awards. I was so naive then… a 20-year-old brash bacha.”
Rishi Kapoor also opened up about meeting with one of India’s most-wanted men, Dawood Ibrahim, on two occasions in Dubai.
The first time the two met was in 1988, when the actor was invited to the gangster’s house in Dubai for tea. Rishi wrote that the meeting was before the 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts took place and Dawood wasn’t an enemy of the state, so he didn’t think there was anything wrong in meeting him.
The actor described how he was taken to an undisclosed location, where he met Dawood, and the two spoke for over four hours over cups of tea. During their conversation, Dawood told Rishi that he did not drink or serve alcohol, he also said that he had only carried out petty thefts and got someone killed, but hadn’t killed anyone himself.
He wrote, “The year was 1988. I had landed in Dubai with my closest friend, Bittu Anand, for an Asha Bhosle-RD Burman night. Dawood always had a man at the airport to keep him posted on VIP movement. When I was leaving the airport, a stranger walked up to me and handed me a phone. He said, ‘Dawood sa’ab baat karenge (Dawood sa’ab would like to talk to you).’
Obviously, this was before the 1993 blasts in Mumbai and I didn’t think of Dawood as a fugitive on the run. He wasn’t an enemy of the state yet. Or, at least, that was the impression I had. Dawood welcomed me and said, ‘If there is anything you need, just let me know.’ He also invited me to his house. I was taken aback.”
During the launch while sharing some insights about the book, Rishi revealed some of his past incidents right from when he had an awkward encounter with one of his past girlfriends, to sleeping drunk next to his father and his conversation with late filmmaker Manmohan Desai regarding 1977 film "Amar Akhbar and Anthony".
