When Rishi Kapoor couldn’t face the camera, would faint with fear on film sets: ‘I went into deep depression after Karz flopped’

Since the Karz vs Qurbani battle happened soon after Rishi tied the knot with Neetu Kapoor, he also started blaming his marriage for his “diminishing fan base.” “I felt every ounce of confidence drain out of me. Karz had held great promise, I had thought it would do wonders for my career. It had wonderful music, and some great work by the cast and crew. I believed it would be a resounding success and earn rave reviews. When that didn’t happen, I was shattered.”

Rishi Kapoor, Simi Garewal and Subhash Ghai on the sets of Karz. (Photo: Express Archives)

Subhash Ghai, the director of the film, was also disappointed when Karz failed to create any impact on the box office. Ghai had launched his banner Mukta Arts with Karz and the film’s failure affected his reputation. In an old interview with Mumbai Mirror, Ghai recalled, “We opened with 20 per cent collections.” Ghai said that his distributors and exhibitors pointed out that the film was 10 years ahead of its time. He recalled that three days after the release of the film, Rishi Kapoor was hospitalised because of depression. “On Sunday, I learnt that he had been admitted to the hospital for depression. He had worked hard on every scene and was so proud of the film, requesting several preview shows for his friends before its release. The no-show came as a shock and I had to get Raj saab (Kapoor) to reassure him that we’d made a good film irrespective of its commercial failure,” he said.

Rishi himself spoke about his dejected attitude after Karz’s failure and said that at the time, he was shooting for four films simultaneously but “couldn’t bring myself to go to work.” One of these films was Raj Kapoor’s Prem Rog. “My father was a worried man. Doctors were called in to analyse my condition, psychiatrists were consulted. Meanwhile, four film crews were considerate enough to hold everything and wait for me to get well,” he shared.

Rishi admitted that he realised that his condition was the result of Karz’s failure much later. “It dawned on me much later that my breakdown was the direct result of Karz’s unfortunate fate at the box-office. I would regain some of my lost confidence when I had a drink in the evening with my friends. But on set the next morning, I would tremble with fear. I became paranoid and kept fearing that one of the big set lights was going to fall on me. But in my brief moments of clarity I also knew that I had to pick myself up and get back to normal. And although the process was slow, I managed to climb out of it and regain normalcy,” he shared.

Karz might not have worked at the box office but the film, which also starred Tina Munim, Simi Garewal, Pran, Prem Nath, is one the most cherished films of the 1980s.