‘Of course there was something. I bore the brunt as a kid, I know the fact… Raj Kapoor didn’t need publicity then, now. Vyjayantimala needed it then, even now’

• I’ve been researching on you. I noticed this is perhaps your first TV interview.

I’d rather not talk much about me; I let my work do the talking. But I’m happy to talk to you today. I can share my thoughts, my views, with you.

• But for a Kapoor to be shy is not the expected thing.

It’s not shy(ness). I didn’t see any reason I should be in front of the camera.

• Except the big one.

Well, that’s my bread and butter.

• I believe you still more or less live out of the studio now.

Yes, I’m lucky to land myself some work at this age. I like to work, it’s my passion, and that’s it.

• Don’t talk about your age like that. All of us are at the same stage. We are doing fine. Maybe the fact that your son (Ranbir Kapoor) has made his debut makes you feel all the more responsible.

I have no issues about age. I am pretty happy that Ranbir is now debuting in a film. And he’ll also be taking the responsibility of being there . . . so that’s not really the issue with me.

• Tell us more about yourself. Tell us about your initiation into cinema. We know that you acted in Mera Naam Joker.

These walls we are walking within are of R K Studio, of which we all know. I started my career when I was just two years, in a film called Shree 420. As a baby. We walked in the rain for the famous song Pyar hua ekraar hua. And then, when I was a teenager, I did Mera Naam Joker.

• You were the eternal teenager.

Mera Naam Joker was shot in the studios. Then Bobby, and after Bobby, so many other films. These walls stand testimony to the time we have worked here.

• You got the Best Child Actor Award when you were sixteen.

It redefined the child actor of 16 or 18. Nonetheless, they did give me that award.

• All 16-year-olds in the country wanted to be behind that bush (laughing), watching Simi (Grewal) changing, I think.

You’re talking about that? Right.

• You were the envy of all 16-year-olds.

The film was about adolescence, you know. My part in Mera Naam Joker was well-received. You know, funnily, when the film didn’t do very well, my father was inspired by that chapter, which Simi and I had in that film, to make a teenage love story. That’s how Bobby was born. Bobby was made with a lot of love, had great music, and a great actress in Dimple (Kapadia).

• And a lot of new talent.

Yes, we had (Narendra) Chanchal and Lakshmikant-Pyarelal, who were new for us, the R K banner. There was (Anand) Bakshi. The whole camp was relatively new.

• And your father really wanted to do it with new actors.

When Mera Naam Joker didn’t do well, I guess Raj Kapoor’s ego was hurt. Maybe he wasn’t really comfortable with working with big stars after a failure. So he cast newcomers. The newcomer Rishi Kapoor and the newcomer Dimple (Kapadia) made Bobby. He was inspired by that chapter and Bobby was made, which was a great success. We had a lot of problems after Mera Naam Joker. The studio was mortgaged, but Raj Kapoor did not lose heart. He made Bobby.

• Tell us about how he drafted you?

When Mera Naam Joker was being cast, they needed someone to play my father’s junior in the film. My father asked my mother if I was available, because I was in school and when you’re in school you can’t be disturbed. I was sitting around there, and my father asked my mother if he could take Chintu, my pet name. I was thrilled and I ran into my room and the first thing I did was to practise my autograph. I still have those memories (laughing).

• Stardom is in your DNA.

Like I said, I was an actor by default. It wasn’t like I was being launched or Raj Kapoor was making a film to launch Rishi Kapoor. Raj Kapoor was an inspired filmmaker. He wanted to make a film and by luck, by chance, I happened to fit the bill. (When Bobby was made) I was a 19- or 20-year-old boy and that’s the age when people are in college and don’t necessarily get a chance to work with a great filmmaker like Raj Kapoor. Then there was the huge success of Bobby when I was 21. I beg to be different, not to sound immodest, but I was a big star at 21 after Bobby.

• Yes, you were. And not just you, everything associated with Bobby was a success — the scooter you rode, the dresses you wore, even the slope you came rolling down. Many years ago we went there and people told us it’s called the Bobby slope; honeymooning couples still go down that slope and make videos.

Well, I wonder! Not now, maybe then.

• Your father had a big ego too.

Well, all filmmakers have great egos and he proved time and again that he was a great filmmaker.

• Very romantic too.

Well, romance is a very inherent part — music and romance are a part of Raj Kapoor’s films. The language was not understood in countries like Russia and China but his films were a huge success there because of his music and romance. Well, I guess he knew one language which was understood (everywhere) and that was love.

• I went to cover the Tiananmen Square massacre in Beijing. It was illegal to send stories out of there. But at the hotel business centre, the staff merrily sent our faxes to Delhi. All we had to do, my photographer colleague and I, was to hum Aawaara hoon.

Really? This is something. I have heard several such stories told by my friends who made visits not only to Russia and China but also Turkey and the Arab world.

• But he was a great romantic in personal life too.

Yes, I guess so.

• Did you get any impact of that in the family? Was it the cause of tension?

No. Well, not really. We were very young at that stage.

• But your mom was a tough cookie.

Yes, absolutely. With the passage of time, you don’t really ponder over these things. At the end you realise what kind of work you have done, what kind of impact you have made in life.

• But is it true he was in love with every heroine he worked with?

Let me put it this way: he was in love with the characters he made, the film that he was making. He was so passionate about his film, the music, his work, his actresses. That was all because he was trying to show what he was putting across.

• Was there ever tension in the household?

Not that I remember. I’m sure there must have been but I was too young then. But I’m sure it happens with filmmakers. With every creative man’s life, it can happen.

• Did it happen in your life?

Well, not as yet.

• We will figure out when other people start writing biographies at some point. You have read Vyjayantimala’s biography. She claims your father cooked up some romance between her and him.

That’s very unfortunate. It is not for me to get into controversies and it is not in me to say anything against my senior colleague. It is unfortunate that someone is pointing fingers at Raj Kapoor — I mean, his integrity is at stake. Something that is part of history is part of history. And you believe there was nothing to it. I feel bad that my father is being blamed for conniving and doing something he didn’t do. It’s something you cannot deny.

• You are setting the record straight: there was something.

Of course there was something. I bore the brunt as a kid. I know the fact. Well, I was 11 years of age. I’m very sorry this conversation is taking place but this has gone a little out of hand and the record has to be set straight that it was not Raj Kapoor’s PR working overtime or going overboard. There was definitely something, there was a buzz in it and you cannot deny it. Yes, if you would have kept quiet about it, then it was nothing and was graciously viewed. But you have blamed Raj Kapoor for manoeuvring these things. I’m sorry, but Raj Kapoor’s heirs are very much alive and they are not going take any bullshit from anywhere.

• Raj Kapoor did not make any stories about himself.

Raj Kapoor did not need publicity then; he does not need it now. Vyjayantimala needed publicity then; she needs the publicity even now. You can’t blame somebody.

• Did it cause stress in your family then? You said you bore the brunt.

Let me put it this way: I don’t know about the family, but I did. I went through trauma. But I guess life teaches you a lot of things.

• Did you, as a family, confront your father?

We were too young then.

• Was he a domineering figure for you all?

Not really domineering. Things happen, you know. There’s a dialogue in Sangam that love happens. You don’t plan things; they happen over time. One learns to tide over things. We were too young at that time to take any decisions.

• This is the season of filmi biographies or autobiographies. In Dev Anand saab’s autobiography, Romancing with Life, he says that just as he was about to tell Zeenat Aman he was in love with her, your father stole her from him.

My God! That’s real romance! I don’t know about that, but they were great romantics — Dev Anand, Raj Kapoor, Dilip Kumar. They were great buddies.

• And you were a star in the cusp between that age and today’s age?

Not really. There was a generation between them and me.

• You romanced 23 different heroines.

My God!

• Even Tabu, I believe. Tabu launched opposite you.

As they say, necessity is the mother of invention. I was 21 years and very young and could not work with leading ladies like Hemaji (Hema Malini) or Rekha or Zeenat (Aman) or Parveen (Babi). So I would work with Neetu (Singh) or Maushmi (Chatterjee). I had to work with newcomers.

• Then you married Neetu (Singh). So one was out.

That was much later. I made 11 films with her. And then, like I said, they proved lucky for me. Their contribution to my work, my career, was great.

• Tell us something about your uncles — Shashi and Shammi Kapoor. Which one is your favourite?

I don’t have favourites. Both are my chachas. But our younger days were spent mostly with Shammi Uncle. We were his two very close nephews. Geeta Auntie had passed away and he was all by himself. Chembur used to be all jungle then, and Uncle would take us out. He used to drive the jeep with his feet on the wheel, gun in one hand, a bottle of beer in the other.

• He lived his life like he was in the movies.

Shammi Kapoor and Shashi Kapoor were different, but they contributed in their own way.

• He (Shammi Kapoor) is handling his ill-health very bravely.

Of course. He’s an inspiration to all of us, the way he’s living his life. We are very proud of him.

• He is on dialysis now.

Yes, he is. But things will be better.

• But he is handling it with joy.

Yes, of course. He’s living life to the hilt.

• Tell us a bit about the Kapoor mystique. Quite a few of you now are in the movies. Is it tough to be (just) Rishi or Randhir, or you’ve got to be the Kapoor?

Let me tell you that the Kapoors have been in the industry for some 80 years, giving their sweat and blood to the industry. My grandfather started in the silent era. He started as a child artiste. Then it was my father, my uncles, and then it passed on to my brothers and myself.

• Except the daughters-in-law.

No. Neetu (Singh) left after she got married. I’m very happy to say that my son Ranbir is all set to make his debut. I’m happy he’s taken up the family profession. I don’t know how he’ll do, but I wish him well.

• Your two nieces have done very well.

Now, he (Ranbir) is the fourth generation male actor. We hope he’s also blessed with the same kind of affection, love that we all received from our audiences.

• From your father’s time, which you saw closely, to his (your son’s) time, the life of a star has changed a great deal.

It has become very professional; it has become competitive. Actors in those days were made on a trial-and-error basis. Today, the whole scenario is different . . . (it’s about) what impact you make, how good you are, how successful you are.

• And there’s no place for nakhra any more?

Well, the star tantrum is always there. But if you are not a star, you don’t have room for that.

• Tell me something about the people of your era. You were on the cusp, so you saw the departure of the earlier greats and the arrival of the next greats. And you were in the middle. Tell us about Rajesh Khanna and Amitabh Bachchan, who both rose in your time. One kept rising and was very durable. And one faded away.

I am not capable of saying these things. They are my seniors, my peers. Amitji and Kakaji, as they are lovingly called, were great superstars, pioneers in their own field. And they set parameters in the industry. I am very happy that I was in the same era when they were around.

• What went wrong with Rajesh Khanna? Something went wrong. He just faded away.

I’m not capable of saying that. I directed a film with Rajesh Khanna. I was part of it. He’s a very fine actor, a lovely person. Perhaps he has not chosen to work further. I really don’t have answers on that.

• Let’s go further back. Not many people realise that your father’s full name is Ranbir Raj Kapoor.

My father’s name is Ranbir Raj Kapoor; his screen name is Raj Kapoor. So when my son was born, it was Shammi Uncle who insisted that Ranbir (my son) should be named after his grandfather. When you talk about Ranbir, I must say he is standing right here . .

• You (the Kapoors) made the film Kal Aaj Aur Kal. You could have made Kal Aaj Kal Aur Parson.

It’s all up to him (Ranbir), this is the new generation, to make such movies.

• What’s a great film industry without its great film characters and great families! But yours is the greatest in the whole world. I don’t think there’s any (film family) that has gone on more than four generations. We’d like to see the leap to the fifth, the sixth, the seventh generation. Thank you.

Thank you, Shekhar, lovely talking to you.