It is a season of losses. Financial, economic, social, emotional and human. And then some more, Irrfan yesterday and close on his heels, Rishi Kapoor. T.S. Eliot’s words “April is the cruellest month” seem to acquire an intense meaning and deeper significance.
Both Irrfan and Rishi were brilliant actors, natural, spontaneous, professional, passionate about their craft and profession. They have left a huge tear in the fabric of Bollywood, a void, a vacuum which will not be easy to mend or fill.
We are a sum total of all the people we have met, all the places we have visited, all the books we have read and all the movies we have seen. Bollywood has been a staple on which all of us have been fed since the day we were born. Not surprisingly, these films have helped shape our personalities, our consciousness and our value system. They have been entertaining and instructive, distant and near, fantasy and reality so much so that it becomes difficult to untangle which is which.
A movie is more than just entertainment. It has a life of its own which is measured in terms of its craftsmanship and technical finesse as also in terms of financial success. However, for the cinema lover like me, a movie becomes much more than this. A movie is a memory. It is not only a chronicle of the times, of our socio political history but it also marks important events and milestones. It becomes associated with our personal history and brings back precious memories of when we saw it, who we saw it with, where we saw it and so on. It serves the purpose of triggering priceless memories.
Bobby was given an A certificate when it released and I remember my outrage when my parents saw it without me. Soon it got a U certificate and I watched the movie with my neighbours, at Chanakya. I was a child then and have not met that family for close to 30 years and yet the good times flooded back. I recall seeing Rafuchakkar, Khel Khel Mein, Karz, Hum Kisi Se Kam Nahin, Zahreela Insaan, Barood( the last two were not typical of Rishi’s oeuvre) with my parents. As a child, I copied his dance moves. Kabhi Kabhi, and all all the Yash Chopra movies that he starred in marked my youth. College days were incomplete without songs from his movies that we sang in the canteen. Chandni played a crucial role in my courtship. Rishi was unstoppable. He kept aging, I kept aging but he continued to bring forth stellar performances and unforgettable characters. Do Duni Chaar, Mulk, Rajma Chawal, Kapoor and Sons are etched in my mind. He essayed a negative role of Rauf Lala in the remake of Agnipath with elan.
The chocolate boy, vivacious, vibrant, energetic, ebullient, effervescent, charismatic who encapsulated youth and romance is no more. I can hear his voice in my head, its texture and the range of emotions it could convey. His face will live in my mind’s eye, and his voice will play in my head forever. He gave me immense happiness through his work and as I say goodbye to him, he has triggered millions of memories, caused a long flashback of my personal history.
It was a life well lived, a career innings well played. He brought happiness in the lives of countless Indians. A star, a legend, a showman is no more but the show must go on. RIP.
*Renu Kapoor, PGDAV College, University of Delhi.
MarketingCrow: Welcome to Harsh Verma's (FMS) Blog 