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Rishi Kapoor in his career spanning 50 years, gave many iconic films to Bollywood, leaving a charming impact on his viewers with characters like Raj in Bobby, Dev in Prem Rog, and Raju in Sargam. He debuted as a lead star in 1973 in the film Bobby alongside debutante Dimple Kapadia. This was the same year when Amitabh Bachchan established himself as the angry young man with his film Zanjeer. Long ago, during an interview, Rishi Kapoor revealed how his career faced a ‘toofan’ called Amitabh Bachchan and how he felt the actor didn’t credit his co-stars.
Long ago, in a conversation with India TV, Rishi Kapoor, who had a blockbuster debut film, revealed how his career faced a tough competition from Amitabh Bachchan. He said, “I was fighting the ‘andhi’ and ‘toofan’ called Amitabh Bachchan. It was his era, his angry young man era.” The actor revealed how he was challenging the norm. “At a time when every hero started to do action films, posing with guns and weapons for their posters, I was a poor man standing with a guitar in my hand.”
Rishi Kapoor also said how his films gave him a tag of a musical hero, which he is not very fond of. He said, “People introduce me as a musical and dancing hero, but this is not how I wanted to be introduced. I always wanted to be introduced as an artiste, who can entertain and impress his audience.”
Although, Rishi called Amitabh Bachchan a ‘toofan’ in his career, the two heroes complimented each other quite well in films like Kabhie Kabhie (1976), Amar Akbar Anthony (1977), Naseeb (1981), Coolie (1983), and Ajooba (1989). All of these films, having a blend of Amitabh Bachchan’s action and Rishi Kapoor’s quirky and charming attitude, were a hit at the box office. The two stars last featured together in the film 102 Not Out (2018), where Rishi Kapoor plays son to Amitabh Bachchan’s character. The film, made on a budget of Rs 34 crore, collected Rs 102.82 crore worldwide, according to Sacnilk. This also marked their union after a long gap of 27 years. Ajooba (1989) was their last film together.
In his memoirs Khullam Khulla, Rishi had addressed his ‘lingering issue’ with Bachchan. “I must confess there is still a lingering issue I have with Amitabh Bachchan. A big disadvantage of working in an all-star movie in those days was that everybody only wanted to make action films, which automatically meant that the star who could carry off action with the most flair would get the meatiest part. That’s how, with the exception of Kabhi Kabhie, which was a romantic film, none of the multi-starrers I featured in had an author-backed role for me. Directors and writers unfailingly reserved their strongest, pivotal roles for Amitabh Bachchan. And it wasn’t just me. Shashi Kapoor, Shatrughan Sinha, Dharmendra, Vinod Khanna faced it too.
“He has never given due credit to the actors who have worked with him. He has always credited his writers and directors, Salim-Javed, Manmohan Desai, Prakash Mehra, Yash Chopra and Ramesh Sippy. But it is also true that his co-stars had an undeniable role in his success. Shashi Kapoor in Deewaar (1975), Rishi Kapoor in Amar Akbar Anthony and Coolie or Vinod Khanna, Shatrughan Sinha and Dharmendra all contributed to the success of his films where they shared credit with him, even if in secondary roles. This is something no one has realised or acknowledged. But it was the way things were and we accepted it gracefully,” Rishi wrote in his book.
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