Raj Kapoor was broke, slept on floor, and ‘abused Jesus’ as Prithviraj Kapoor got cancer treatment: Bina Ramani’s account

During the candid chat, she shared that when Raj wasn’t at his best financially, he used to take buses and sleep on the floor at her house in San Fransisco. “In those days, my then husband Andy Ramani had a job with Air India, in New York. I had two little children. Raj Kapoor was broke. Mera Naam Joker had flopped badly and his father was sick with cancer in the hospital. For Andy to get to the office, he would have to take buses, Raj also took buses,” Bina said.

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The socialite further added, “He denied taking a cab and said ‘I don’t know how long father will be here, it would be expensive’. He had run out of money by then. Some money that the Hindujas had from Sangam, they owed him, they didn’t pay him completely, that let him down very badly at this particular time, for a good six weeks or so.”

While Bina Ramani used to cook for him sometimes, he used to enjoy playing with her children. “I had two bedrooms, it was for my two children and Andy, me. There was no dining area, just open space, no walls. I cooked for him, there were 1-2 Indian dhabas as well. He would sleep on the mattress, always on the floor. My toddlers played with him, he loves children.”

She also revealed that Raj was a Hindu, but believed in all the religions. “He was a Hindu, but he believed in Islam as well. He was a man of multiple facets. He had Sai baba’s picture, a little Ganesh ji, and a photograph of Jesus in a frame,” she said.

After hearing any bad news from hospital where his father was admitted, the actor-director used to feel very upset. Bina even saw him abusing a photo of Jesus once late at night. “At night, he was yelling and I came out to see what happened. He was in distress most of the time after getting bad news from the hospital. He was fed up, his father wasn’t getting better, that too added up,” she shared.

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She continued, “So, he had Jesus’ picture in his hand and was completely abusing him, in Hindi and English. I asked him, he said that ‘I have loved him, have given my full love to him, he has returned his love to me, how dare he let me down?’ He had the thinking that if you don’t talk to your God, no one will listen to you.”

When asked about the success of Raj Kapoor’s Bobby, Bina recalled how she bought the costumes from the US, for Rishi Kapoor and Dimple Kapadia before the film’s shoot. “I bought the costumes for Bobby. There was a cheap store called Alexander children’s clothes where I used to shop for my children so I thought of checking it out. And, for about 500 dollars, we got Chintu as well as Dimple’s clothes. The knot blouses, shorts, Chintu’s polka dotted shirts, and a lot of others,” she concluded.