Rishi Kapoor refused to star in Hum Tum, said ‘bakwas hai’, recalls Kunal Kohli: ‘It’s a guest appearance, you have given me 7 scenes’

Rishi Kapoor worked in the movies all his life without ever taking a sabbatical but his appearance in Kunal Kohli’s Hum Tum marked the beginning of his second innings which saw take up meaningful character roles, even if they had smaller screen time. In Hum Tum, Rishi played the role of Saif Ali Khan’s father who is still nursing his broken heart even though he separated from his wife decades ago. In a recent interview, director Kunal Kohli recalled his time with Rishi Kapoor on the film and shared that the actor refused to star in the film at first because it was just a guest appearance.

He recalled, “When I narrated the role to Rishi Kapoor, he said ‘I am not doing this’. When I asked why, he said ‘Guest appearance hai, mujhe nahi karna, kya hai? Bakwas hai. Saat toh scene diye tune mereko, nahi karna mujhe’. (It’s just a guest appearance. I don’t want to do this. Nonsense. You gave me just seven scenes, I don’t want to.)” Kunal then convinced Rishi to hear his scenes and the actor agreed. “Then he went ‘this is nice, this is also nice’. He said ‘give me some more scenes. Why should I do a guest appearance?’ I said ‘sir, I can have you in more scenes, you will just be hanging around. Here, every time you come, there is an impact’. I said ‘every scene of yours… there is an impact, every dialogue has an impact. I said I can add ten more scenes but they won’t have an impact. Then he said ‘Haan theek hai chalo karte hain (Let’s do it).'”

In the same conversation, Kunal said that Hum Tum was a big bet for YRF as before this, his only directorial, Mujhse Dosti Karoge, had not worked. The film starred Hrithik Roshan, Rani Mukerji and Kareena Kapoor. Hum Tum was also a career changing film for Saif Ali Khan as prior to this, he had never had a solo hit in his entire career. The film also starred Rani Mukerji in the lead role with him. Kunal revealed that Yash Chopra gave him and Aditya Chopra a budget of Rs 7.5 crore to make this film. “He said ‘isme banana hai banao, nahi toh mat banao (make it in this, or don’t make it)’.”

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After Hum Tum, Kunal made Fanaa and Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic with YRF. Fanaa was a big hit and starred Aamir Khan and Kajol, along with Rishi Kapoor, and Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic, starring Saif Ali Khan and Rani Mukerji, flopped at the box office.