Sharmaji Namkeen: More A Rich Tribute To Rishi Kapoor, Less A Great Movie!

The Amazon original movie ‘Sharmaji Namkeen’ (Savory Mr. Sharma) that released on Prime Video on 31^stMarch 2022 is all about one of the greatest actors of Bollywood—the lovable romantic hero since the seventies who started graduating to endearing and at times intense performances in character roles since the 2000s—Rishi Kapoor. The movie actually reminds us how dearly we miss the stalwart who passed away on 30^thApril, 2020. Rishi Kapoor after being cast in the titular role in this movie and shooting started accordingly fell seriously ill. He had to undergo prolonged treatment in the US. Movie director Hitesh Bhatia and the producers waited for him to get well and return to the shoots. It was just impossible to replace him. His tremendous actor-son Ranbir Kapoor said how eager too was his father to complete the film. Rishi Kapoor did get well, returned to India by the end of 2019 and the shooting schedule started anew from December. Sadly, it was short lived. The superstar fell sick again and never returned to the sets.

 

It created a crisis now, because all connected with the movie felt at the innermost parts of their hearts that the movie had to be completed out of pure respect for the great actor who had his swansong as the endearing Sharmaji in this movie. Ranbir also thought about getting into his father’s shoes, but he felt the prosthetics would be far too heavy to do justice to the role. Finally, another great actor of Bollywood, Paresh Rawal, came forward to complete the role, again out of pure love and respect for Rishi Kapoor. And history was made. ‘Sharmaji Namkeen’ became perhaps the first Bollywood film ever to have two stalwarts doing the same role. To the credit of the director and the editor the intercuts between the scenes of Rishi Kapoor and Paresh Rawal have been done expertly and seamlessly, like Rishi Kapoor cooking in the kitchen and Rawal coming out or the former inside a car in one scene and Rawal in the next.

 

The movie starts with a lot of promise as the widower Mr. Sharma is given voluntary retirement by his company and the ever-ebullient and the busy bee Sharmaji wonders and ponders on what to do now. His two sons, the elder working and the younger studying, are not much of a help as they only argue with their father apart from gorging on the delicious dishes cooked by him. So, the premise was very real and palpable in Delhi middle-class environs. However, the thin storyline becomes even thinner with most of the characters including the sons, the elder son’s fiancée, most of the kitty party ladies and others are left rather half-baked. The film, in reality, becomes a series of conversations involving the rotating characters.

 

The most disturbing part of the storytelling has been the background score and songs. It seems the filmmaker-writers have become much too conscious that what they are churning out is an out and out comedy, and so the background music from the very first frame tries to be sounding grotesquely comic while there are hardly any genuine laughs generated in the labored process except for a few rare moments. On the top of that constant disturbance comes the staccato bursts of the background songs that are utterly unnecessary.

 

No doubt the film avoids loud, predictable and cliched drama; but in the climax it succumbs to the usual dramatic twist indulged in by most commercial movies in order to convince the characters steadfastly opposing the protagonist. It is also surprising why at all should the eldest son oppose the exercise of Sharmaji’s exemplary culinary talents, particularly in the present modern society where cooking has become gender neutral with male chefs in gay abundance, and why should Sharmaji himself hide his activities. Most of the dialogues too seem to be manufactured with conscious care rather than allowing them come out naturally from the characters and the situations.  

 

Of course, the movie is immensely watchable for a one-time view, and Rishi Kapoor, Paresh Rawal and Juhi Chawla keep you engaged for most of its two-hour duration. And considering this posthumous release of Rishi Kapoor’s last performance the movie is unmissable. Another highlight of the film is the director’s treatment of the kitty parties, showing the ladies with their genuine painful backgrounders, the monotony and ennui of mundane existences and the spirit of celebration. And the ladies here discuss everything under the sun, including the taboo subjects for ‘family’ entertainers. Juhi Chawla as the ever-smiling Veena Manchanda and Sheeba Chaddha as the intriguing Manju Gulati shine out among the kitty party women. Rishi Kapoor and Paresh Rawal fit in with them as if ecclesiastically. Unfortunately, leading actor-comedian Satish Kaushik is almost wasted.

 

We thank the filmmaker-producers and the crew of ‘Sharmaji Namkeen’ for giving us a chance to behold Rishi Kapoor again in an endearing performance and allowing us to pay our tributes to him one more time. We thank our favorite artiste Paresh Rawal for taking up the huge challenge to get into Rishi Kapoor’s skin so that the movie could be completed. As the beginning with Ranbir Kapoor and the end credits combined with the old evergreen songs show the film is indeed a rich tribute to Rishi Kapoor.

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!