I first met Rishiji (Kapoor) at RK Studio for Patiala House (2011). He said, “Achcha so you made Chandni Chowk To China (2009). After watching the trailer, I told the whole world that this guy is the next Ramesh Sippy. It was a mind-blowing trailer! But when I saw your film I was so upset. You made me sound like a c*****a.” My relationship began with him on that note. Recently, when he saw the trailer of Batla House (2019) he said it’s ‘fantastic’ adding, “Tu trailer hamesha achcha hi kaatta hai.” I started laughing. He spoke bluntly. He’d say, “I don’t need to be diplomatic.”
After working with Rishiji in Patiala House, I grew close to him. So I went to him with the role of Nassar sir (RAW Chief Ashwini Rao) in D- Day (2013). He said, “Pagal ho gaya hai tu. I’m not a supporting actor. Give me a leading role!” Then he showed me some rushes of his character Rauf Lala from Agneepath (2012). That made me believe he could play Iqbal Seth aka Goldman (the character was reportedly based on a gangster) in D-Day. He did the look test and agreed to doing the film.
Irrfan played the role of an undercover intelligence officer Wali Khan, who captures Goldman Iqbal and brings him to India in D-Day. Both of them came from different schools of acting. One was from the National School of Drama. Irrfan struggled a lot as an outsider to make his mark in the industry. Rishiji had grown up on father Raj Kapoor’s film sets. He had also seen actors like Balraj Sahni and Dilip Kumar perform. He believed in the old school of acting like, ‘I’ll stand on my mark. What’s my cue?’ He didn’t like live sound. He preferred dubbing. Irrfan loved sync sound. When I told Rishiji that we would have to do sync sound, he said, “What nonsense. I’ll dub my portions because
I enhance my performance while dubbing.” Irrfan was easy-going. He didn’t take his craft as seriously as Rishiji.
Irrfan began shooting for D-Day after Life Of Pi. There was already this talk of the film winning an Oscar. He was also associated with films like The Namesake and Slumdog Millionaire. Of course, Mr Kapoor was a brat and a star with a certain aura. But he always accorded respect to actors. There’s a scene in D-Day where Irrfan’s son asks him on the phone, “Abba aap aaoge na?” Irrfan improvised the scene on the spot. Rishiji was stunned by his take. He got up and hugged him saying, “Kya baat hai!” Eventually, Irrfan got to know Rishiji well. They used to hang around the bonfire at night. Irrfan loved old music, Raj Kapoor saab’s films... They would talk about those things.
After their demise a particular scene from D-Day went viral. We had taken a three-hour drive from our hotel to the location in Kutch to shoot the scene. Anyway, we finished the shot, we got into the car to drive back to the hotel. The camera was rigged onto the car. Irrfan said, “Keep the camera on. Let’s see if we get something interesting between us here.” That’s how the scene, which went viral, came about (in that Irrfan laughs as Rishi holds his stern, no-nonsense demeanour even though he’s captured). Irrfan’s biggest contribution as an actor was that he’d always take out something from nothing. Just as this delicious moment of irony between the two great actors. Like Rishiji, I too tend to be brutally honest. But I haven’t achieved the kind of success he had. So the bluntness can come across as arrogance. I have to be a bit diplomatic. Another thing I learned from him is that we filmmakers should show our films to everyone. He’d say, “Raj Kapoor saab showed his films to people and would ask for feedback. He believed he made films for people, not for himself.”Another thing Rishiji would say was, “Please stop referring to a film as ‘first half’ and ‘second half’. It’s one story. This ‘first half’ and ‘second half’ is because people want to sell samosas.”
Rishiji was a big foodie himself. Once in a while he’d get food from his house like yakhni pulav, mirchi ka salan, tawa gosht... He loved Chinese food from China Garden. He’d call up chef Nelson (Wang) and say yeh bana mere liye.
Be it up-down, hit-flop, good times-bad times… for Rishiji it was always about living life to the fullest. Joie de vivre was his hallmark. I didn’t get the opportunity to meet him often after he fell ill. But I believe he was the same till the end… full of life.
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