Hindustan Times ST (Mumbai) - Brunch
UNFORGETTABLE!
Somewhere up there, Irrfan Khan, Rishi Kapoor and Om Puri are gathered together for a drink and a good time
Earlier this month we lost two stalwarts of the film industry First Irrfan Khan and then Rishi Kapoor
One representing the realistic school of acting, the other pure entertainment And yet, both touched millions of Indians, leaving them bereft
The mind goes back immediately to January 6, 2017 My husband Om Puri passed away due to a sudden heart attack We were in shock As my son and I headed to the crematorium, someone came and stopped the van It was Irrfan He pushed his head through the window and stared at Om Grief, affection, admiration, pathos were in his eyes He was weeping without shedding a tear I will never forget those eyes They spoke a million words then like they did in his films always
It was in 1993 that I first met Irrfan, then Irfan on the sets of Gulzar’s Kirdaar, a series for Doordarshan based on award-winning short stories This story was Khuda Hafiz by Samaresh Basu, starring Om and Irrfan I was amazed by Irrfan’s performance It was past midnight and the boats at Madh Island, the location of the shoot, had stopped, so Gulzar saab asked us to drop Irrfan He was staying
“HOW IS PAKISTAN, YAAR?” IRRFAN ASKED ME WHEN WE LANDED IN KARACHI “THIS IS MY FIRST VISIT”
“MINE TOO,” I SAID
“OH, IS IT? THEN YOU ARE AS
WISE AS ME!”
at D N Nagar in those days as a paying guest and when Om tried to drop him at his doorstep, he said, embarrassed, “Om bhai, no It’s okay It’s too ramshackle I’ll get off here”
As the years moved by, so did Irrfan Over breakfast once at Jehan Numah hotel in Bhopal during the shoot of Maqbool (2003), Irrfan and I got talking He had moved to a bigger apartment, was doing well but spoke with a certain naivety The biggest worry then was leaving his pregnant wife Sutapa in Mumbai while he shot in Bhopal “Can’t be with her and that’s killing me But what to do All the stars, their dates…i have to be here” That was 2003
In 2005, Irrfan had come into his own Mahesh and Pooja
Bhatt, Vinta Nanda, Om, Ishaan and I along with Irrfan were headed to Karachi for the Kara International Film Festival As we landed in Karachi and waited for our luggage, he asked me excitedly, “How is Pakistan, yaar? This is my first visit”
“Mine too,” I said
“Oh is it? Then why am I asking you? You’re as wise as me,” and we both laughed We had a lovely time – not to mention the beautiful ladies who took a shine to Irrfan When one of the top Pak television heroines asked him out, he innocently asked me, “Yeh kaun, tumhe maalum?” When I mentioned her name, he said simply, “Oh achcha Jau kiya dinner pe?” I laughed Up to you, I said, but I marvelled at his childlike impishness
We kept bumping into each other at various festivals worldwide Some years back at a café in Juhu, as Irrfan (by now a big star) entered, he saw me, and immediately joined me for a few minutes By the time he left to join his friends, my two girlfriends had nearly swooned with disbelief He had indeed come a long way from those ramshackle PG days!
Last month I heard he was not well I chose not to believe that after watching Angrezi Medium I was thinking of calling him But that was not to be As I tried to take in the news of his passing away, those eyes looking at my husband’s face haunted me Then, it was as if Om was passing on his mantle to Irrfan The two of them were not only great Indian actors, but truly left their mark in international cinema as well
Gone too soon, Irrfan, is all I can say, and I know Om bhai will admonish you up there, “Abbe khotey… Aur thora jalwa dikha keya anathana…”
The year was 1984 and Rishi Kapoor was already a star An NSD trained actor, Om Puri, staying at a PG dig in Andheri East, was trying to catch a break with Govind Nihalani’s Ardh Satya When he returned home one evening, his landlady told him that Rishi Kapoor had called and said he would call back later Om looked at her and said, “Oh, someone’s playing the fool” “I thought so too,” she retorted Later that night Rishi Kapoor called and it took Om a while to believe it was true Kapoor was a little high and praised Om for Ardh Satya: “…Especially that drunk scene Did you really have a peg or two?”
“Chintu ji asking me genuinely about that scene was one of my best compliments as an actor But what touched me most was that Rishi Kapoor, a huge star those days, actually took the trouble of finding my PG number and calling to appreciate my performance… that was his magnanimity,” Om was to recount later
“AFTER WATCHING ARDH SATYA,
RISHI KAPOOR CALLED MY HUSBAND [OM PURI] TO ASK, ‘THAT DRUNK SCENE… DID YOU REALLY
HAVE A PEG OR TWO?’”
Almost a decade later, the lad from NSD went on to make a mark for himself in Indian cinema and this time RK Films approached him for their home production, Prem Granth (1996), starring Rishi Kapoor and Madhuri Dixit Om had refused initially due to money matters Rishi Kapoor called him (and this time Om had his own apartment and landline!) and said they needed to talk
“I’ll come to the office Chintu ji,” Om said
“No, Om ji, I will come home,” Kapoor emphasised
On the appointed day he came home, and we first had a cup of tea together Then I disappeared while the men talked When I heard the clinking of glasses and “Cheers,” I entered knowing everything had worked out well After a drink Chintu ji left and Om decided to walk him down to his car The compound was teeming with the building children and their mothers as word had obviously got around that Rishi Kapoor had come
These two incidents illustrate the magnanimity of Chintu ji even though he was a star
What followed was a month in Raj Kapoor’s farmhouse in Loni, the incredible hospitality of the Kapoor khandan, and a lifelong association with
Dabboo, Chintu and Chimpoo
The elegance of Krishna Raj Kapoor is something I will always remember The first time I went to RK House in Chembur, Krishna ji asked what I would like to drink A few minutes later I saw her walking towards me in her elegant white sari and trademark pearls, hair perfectly coiffure, followed by a waiter holding a tray and my drink She took the drink and handed it to me She could have sent the waiter with the drink, but no That spelt class I remember calling up Chintu ji after reading his biography Khullam Khulla where he described a similar incident
The last time I spoke to
Chintu ji was soon after seeing Mulk (2018) and just before he left for treatment in New York My son wanted to have a word with him too The last thing Chintu ji told my son was: “Beta, look after your mother”
I can quite imagine Om and Chintu ji laughing together up there “Toh deri kis baat ki… Cheers!”