Back To Back Star Tragedies: Rishi Kapoor Dies in Mumbai

April 29, 2020, morning: Irrfan Khan, an actor of incredible talent and in his prime dies in a Mumbai hospital.

April 30, 2020, morning: Rishi Kapoor, veteran actor and a hugely popular romantic hero since the seventies, dies in a Mumbai hospital.

Both of them contracted cancer about two years back: Irrfan had a rare form of endocrine cancer while Rishi had leukemia.

Different styles, but both relatable: Rishi Kapoor was not the next-door boy like Irrfan, he belonged to the most famous Hindi film family—the Kapoors—while Irrfan had a humble beginning; of course, both rose to the pinnacle of success doing different kinds of roles and with different styles; however, both connected with the masses instantly.

Both had still something to offer: At 53 Irrfan’s potential for more and more realistic and serious cinema was ruthlessly cut short while at 67 Rishi was steadily graduating to serious character roles with admirable ease and skill, and his tragic demise can still be called premature.

Two of the biggest celebrity deaths in India in two days; this is as unprecedented as perhaps the times we are going through. Before the boxed-up and suffocated film fraternity and the larger film lovers had time to recover from one the other cruel blow was applied immediately. Is this the impact of the COVID times? Well, we should not try going deeper into it, because these two off-screen tear-jerkers would further accentuate the anguish and helplessness of the Indian people, haunted by the killer virus and the lockdown.

His father, the iconic Raj Kapoor, launched his son Rishi Kapoor in 1973 in the jubilee hit movie, ‘Bobby’ before which Rishi made his film debut with a small role in ‘Mera Naan Joker’ (1970) where Raj Kapoor played the title character. Rishi was immediately accepted by the masses as a lovely and handsome young hero in spite of his boyish looks, and since 1974 he never looked back, performing in numerous commercial ventures and giving regular hits. In fact, both of his starting films had given him awards: National Film Award for Best Child Artiste in ‘Mera Naam Joker’ and Filmfare Best Actor Award for his first lead role against Dimple Kapadia for ‘Bobby’ in 1974. He was honored with Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award in 2008. From 1973 to 2000 Rishi Kapoor played romantic lead roles in 92 films; married his co-star Neetu Singh in 1980 and appeared against her in 12 movies between 1973 and 1981. After 2000, Rishi started looking at character roles and earned several Filmfare awards for his roles in several films. Notable among them are ‘Yeh Hai Jalwa’ (2002), ‘Namastey London’ (2007), Love Aaj Kal (2009), Patiala House (2010), ‘Kapoor & Sons’ (2017), and there was an onscreen reunion with his wife in the film ‘Do Dooni Chaar’ (2010).  His last movie to be released (December 2019) was ‘The Body’, a mystery thriller with Emraan Hashmi. His most memorable film in a realistic character role was ‘Mulk’ (2018), directed by Anubhav Sinha.

Popularly known as ‘Chintu’, Rish Kapoor had an immense impact on us as school children from the early seventies. Our craze for him increased further due to a rather funny reason: our parents did not allow us to watch ‘Mera Naam Joker’ and ‘Bobby’ as both of the films allegedly had some ‘adult’ scenes, and our hunger was only abetted when mother decided to narrate the stories to us in dramatic fashion! Of course, in later years we began watching his movies in the cinema houses and started loving him for his looks, for his smiles, and for his comedy or romanticism or heroism. Like his uncle Shashi Kapoor, Rishi also seemed to have a positive aura or vibes in his looks and personality that made him likeable to us instantly.

The film industry and the film lovers believed, as per the news in circulation that Rishi Kapoor was getting well and better, after his prolonged medical treatment in the US. But sadly, that came to be untrue. He was hospitalized due to some complications and departed as if on a mission. 

His family stood behind him all the time and released a press brief that Rishi Kapoor has always been a jolly and positive person never allowing situations get the better of him, and did not even allow cancer disturb him—living his life cheerfully, for his family, fans and friends. Therefore, the family appealed to all to receive the news with a smile and not with tears as Rishi would prefer it that way. Yes, we look at him smiling, remembering all the decades of his endearing performances and knowing it very well that he is bound to influence our hearts forever; incredible it sounds, we only said this the previous day for Irrfan. Rishi Kapoor leaves behind his wife actor Neetu Singh, and mega-star son Ranbir Kapoor—one of the finest actors in the younger generation. We pray for the eternal bliss and happiness of the lovable super-star and a super human being. Filmography!

Irrfan Khan Dies in Mumbai: Huge Tragedy in the Time of Coronavirus

Irrfan Khan, a powerhouse of incredible acting talent, passed away in a Mumbai hospital today morning leaving a vacuum in the Hindi film industry, a loss irreparable. He was only 53, and had so much to offer to the film lovers yet.  There was disturbing news circulating in 2018 about Irrfan contracting a serious disease which, after months of distressed speculation, was confirmed as neuro-endocrine tumor, one of the rarest forms of cancer. Since then he was fighting, fighting and fighting. He got treatment in the US and then in London for months. He returned to India a few months back, and could not take part in the promotion of his last movie, Angrezi (English) Medium, and the movie too could not be released due to the nation-wide lockdown. More saddening, he lost his mother only a few days back and could not attend her last rites in Jaipur, again due to the lockdown. Irrfan’s demise is a huge tragedy to strike when the country is reeling under Coronavirus and lockdown.

The highlight of his 32-year career in the film industry was the incredibly varied roles and characters he played in Bollywood movies, and also in Hollywood and British productions. Keeping in mind the versatility of his acting prowess roles were written for him that can be compared only to that of Amitabh Bachchan in the latter's post-2000 career; the ultimate crowning glory for an actor. And most importantly, Irrfan Khan was never a modern hero of Bollywood in terms of the desired attributes: handsome, tall, powerfully built with preferably body-building obsession, fighting and dancing abilities and so on. He never danced around the trees chasing the heroines. And yet, he played hero, protagonists in numerous movies—both mainstream and commercial, endearing himself to all types of moviegoers of the country. He did every kind of role, living the characters, with his typical matter-of-fact acting and a unique casual style of dialogue delivery.

Irrfan with Tabu for The Namesake

Irrfan Khan started his career in 1988 with a small role in the highly acclaimed ‘Salaam Bombay’ and after that had years of struggle trying to establish himself through various roles in mostly off-beat films. The final recognition as an exceptionally talented actor came with his two films, ‘Haasil’ (2003) for which he got the Filmfare Award for Best Actor in a negative role and the internationally acclaimed ‘Maqbool’ (2004). He never looked back since then.  One outstanding film that comes to the mind is ‘Paan Singh Tomar’ (2011) in which he played the title character and won the National Award for Best Actor. It was followed by stupendously realistic movies like ‘Lunch Box’ (2013), ‘Piku’ (2015) and ‘Talvar’ (2015), and also Hollywood movies, ‘The Amazing Spider-Man’ (2012), ‘Life of Pi’ (2012), ‘Jurassic World’ (2015) and ‘Inferno’ (2016). His comedy-drama ‘Hindi Medium’ (2017) became the highest grossing movie of his career giving him another Filmfare Award for Best Actor, and the release of the sequel ‘Angrezi Medium’, Irrfan’s last performance, had to be postponed as we mentioned earlier. Although Irrfan mostly played serious intense characters his comic timing was also established in movies like ‘Piku’ and ‘Hindi Medium’. He was awarded ‘Padma Shri’, India’s fourth-highest civilian honor, in 2011.

During the last two years not many of his movies were running in the theaters which makes our hearts cry now, for missing his powerful screen portrayals; however, as a consolation, his lovable movies like ‘Billu’ (2009), ‘The Lunchbox’, ‘Hindi Medium’, ‘Piku’, ‘Talvar’, ‘Jazbaa’ (2015) and so on were being constantly shown across the small screens of the movie channels. In his personal life he was a devout loving husband and a caring father, leaving behind his co-actor wife and two sons.

As the film fraternity of India and international admirers shower an unending stream of messages of shock, anguish and condolences we deeply mourn Irrfan Khan’s untimely demise and pray for the eternal bliss of his soul. One of the finest actors of all time, Irrfan Khan will live on in our hearts, forever. His painful struggle hoping against hope symbolizes what planet earth is going through at this moment—uncertainty looming large over every field of activity including the film industry all over the globe. Filmography:

Paan Singh Tomar: Serious Bollywood Cinema With A Strong Statement!

Paan Singh Tomar was a real-life hero of India—a great athlete specializing in Steeplechase run winning National awards for the country. He was in army service while achieving his medals during 1958-64. He was seven times national champions and also represented India in Tokyo Asian Games in 1958. His record in 3000 Steeplechase stood the test of time for nearly a decade. After retirement he returned to his native village and tried to live happily as a farmer. But eventually the pride of India turned into an outlaw and was killed by Indian police in 1981. As a great sportsman he was unheard of, but carried a big award as a most-wanted dacoit of India’s notorious Chambal Valley.

The melancholic story of this real-life hero inspired director Tigmanshu Dhulia to make this movie titled Paan Singh Tomar that released all over India on March 2, 2012. There is no dearth of dacoit-genre films in India, but Dhulia opted for the serious kind of cinema with a strong statement. Powerful story-telling, apt technical support, brilliant cinematography and seamless editing, lilting background scores and powerhouse performances have made this movie an altogether different experience within the genre.  No wonder the movie has attained the status of ‘run’ away hit. 

Talking of performances Irrfan Khan steals the thunder as usual in the title role. It was palpable how much efforts and labor he had put in to live the role apart from all the running. His characteristic wry humor adds to the personality of Pann Singh Tomar. Fresh in the Indian army Paan Singh boasted of his maternal uncle as being a ‘baghi’ (rebel) and not a dacoit. The memorable dialogue in this context ‘Rebels breed in Chambal while dacoits are found in Parliament!’ rings the air. After being forced into the career of an outlaw Paan Singh kept up the ironical comment ‘Nobody heard of me as a national champion, but the moment I became a dacoit the whole country knew me and I came to carry a huge cash award on my head!’.

The first half of the movie vividly describes Paan Singh as an athlete with his victory run of steeplechase. For his straight talking and running talent army officials decided to send him for physical training to develop into a sportsman. Honest and loyal to the core of his heart Paan Singh at the time of war regretted being a sportsman as he was not sent out to fight the enemies. Retiring in prime age Paan Singh returned to his native village and immediately got entangled in a land feud with his relatives. He did everything possible from his patriotic fervor to establish peace and amity. Failing in that he approached his army bosses for help and they guided him to the local authorities. But corrupt admin and police insulted and humiliated him. While a police inspector threw away his medals his relatives back in the village raided his home killing his old mother brutally and his family just escaped.

That was the turning point and he had no option but to take up the gun and constitute a gang with members who were also equally repressed and tortured. The second half of the film narrates his career as an outlaw leading finally to his entrapment and killing by police. In this half the director had a tricky problem of choosing between a normal dacoit drama and the enigma of Paan Singh Tomar. With a masterful balancing act he succeeds in taking his film forward without romanticizing or condemning the real-life hero while fondly preserving his true characteristic spirit till the end. 

And, so when it is over we leave the theater with a heavy heart feeling painfully for the pitiful conditions of Indian sportsmen who are not successful cricketers. Deeply moved by this unsung hero the word of mouth spread far and wide working wonders for this wonderful movie. The strong statement made by the movie in favor of Indian sports fraternity lingers on.